What I’m Watching: Life in Pieces

Life in Pieces: Season 1, Episode 4 “Prison Baby Golf Picking” (B-)

I think it’s fair to say that, like on “Modern Family” in its early days, the most effective plotlines on this show tend to be the ones involving new parents Greg and Jen. Putting Greg into a situation where he has to stand up for his wife to his mother was a very relatable and entertaining arc, aided by Heather, who turned out to be just as domineering at times as her mother, and Matt, who was there to serve as nothing but an unhelpful face for Greg to look to for emergency assistance when he got himself stuck in another unfortunate trap. Tim beating his father-in-law at golf was fun because of how Greg and Matt reacted, and of course because John had the perfect plan to catch his smug son-in-law off guard by planting a big kiss on him right before the final shot. The new beds plotline wasn’t all that involving, and I think that Heather trying to talk to her son about morning wood and Tim advocating the proper way to pick one’s nose were the most memorable moments. I wasn’t fond of the first segment with Colleen’s ex-fiancé since I think that Chad is such an unnecessarily exaggerated character who doesn’t contribute anything positive to the show since he’s so outlandish. It’s also hardly an effective use of Jordan Peele, akin to Keegan Michael-Key’s casting as the record label head in “Pitch Perfect 2.” I do like Colleen, and I hope that her relationship continues to last, which is likely given that Matt was willing to have dinner with her ex-fiancé right before he went to prison.