Tuesday, February 23, 2016

What I’m Watching: The Grinder


The Grinder: Season 1, Episode 14 “The Retooling of Dean Sanderson” (B+)

Eventually, Dean had to realize a bit of his own ridiculousness, but naturally that was going to happen on his own terms and still be something that would infuriate and annoy Stewart since it was still over-the-top. Insisting on being at the meeting with the prospective client and then ruining it due to his delusional theatrics was a great impetus for Stewart to recommend that Dean try therapy, something that backfired right away. Maya Rudolph, who used to be on TV but has graduated to film roles recently, was a fun choice to play Jillian, the therapist who Stewart loved so much before his brother went to see her and then found was constantly turned against him but refused to admit it at any point to him. The new Dean doesn’t look all that different from the old Dean, but it was still a delight to watch it happen. The biggest surprise of the episode was that Debbie, who has consistently been a background player even to her own children, took inspiration from Dean and from Jillian and decided to take the reins of her life, quitting her job when she got too frustrated by her bosses that didn’t speak to each other. I hope that she’ll become more of a central figure now, trying to decide what to do with her life and her career after so many years of a frustrating job. Something tells me that Dean is going to have some ideas, some of which could actually be good.

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