What I’m Watching: The Detour

The Detour: Season 1, Episode 4 “The Restaurant” (B-)

I’m not a big fan of vomit humor, and as a result this first scene felt like a bit much. I understand why it was there and it made plenty of sense is context, but it was still disgusting and made me hope that no one ever throws up all over me like Jared did to Robin. I’m also not too fond of Vanessa as a character and what she’s contributing over the phone as she regales Nate with tales of dead cats and sex in their home while they’re away. What did work in this episode was the parenting debate that went on between Nate and Robin about whether they should take their kids to Conquistadors. The horrible inaccuracy of everything the restaurant stood for was entertaining, as was Nate’s reaction to all of it. The chink in the armor conversation was amusing, and this show is all about misunderstood intention. Jared’s stupidity as it plays into that is helpful, and Robin doesn’t tend to do a great job clearing things up since she likes to stand by and watch it happen rather than aggressively defend against it. Though it’s also not one of my favorite elements of the show, the complete ineptitude of Billy Evans, the journalist who doesn’t know a thing about his profession, makes for a decent distraction, and it’s clear that Nate is running from a world of misery as things back home keep spiraling out of control and getting much, much worse for him.