What I’m Watching: Life in Pieces

Life in Pieces: Season 1, Episode 7 “Nanny Tent Earrings Cheeto” (B-)

This episode was among the more charming installments this show has aired so far, though it still hasn’t reached a level of true quality just yet. The first vignette was fun because it took the notion of babysitter interviewing a bit further than usual, moving past the nanny flirting with the husband, or at least him thinking that she was, to Jen running a background check on her only to discover that the nanny ran her own background check on the onetime flasher. The wink that the nanny gave Greg at the end was a perfectly quick and fleeting finish to the vignette. The boys camping out together and dealing with the nightmarish tent divers was amusing if nothing more, and it’s fun to see Tim be such a child, existing in his own universe and making Matt and Greg look like the mature ones. Heather bubbling up and calling Matt out on his suspected offense of using the money she gave him to buy Colleen new earrings was a decent usage of Betsy Brandt, whose choice of this show as a follow-up to “Breaking Bad” still intrigues me a lot (I respect it and I think it was a good one; it’s just such a different role and show). John’s wooden puppet was horrifying and disturbing, but the fun that his children and grandchildren had scaring each other by putting it places was truly entertaining, particularly when John himself got in on the joke and succeeded in startling his wife.