What I’m Watching: The Detour

The Detour: Season 1, Episode 7 “The Road” (B+)

I like that this episode slowed things down a little – as the family was literally stopped in traffic for the duration of the episode – and went back in time to fill in some important gaps in this family history instead of driving the plot forward with more present-day shenanigans along the road to somewhere in Florida. I enjoyed how Delilah and Jared showed up in the middle of Nate and Robin’s differing recollections of how they first met and got together to ask questions and react negatively to the horrors about which they were learning. As if their road trip wasn’t enough of a mess, what came before it is even crazier. Getting cocaine all over each other while trying to keep it away from Vanessa was one memorable moment, and his past as a pretty terrible hockey player whose one goal was to distract and enforce was cringe-worthy and entertaining at the same time. Nate’s comparison of Magnum condoms to not wearing tight pants was hilarious and shed considerable light on the way that Delilah and Jared came to be since they didn’t go to Europe. The kids appearing on the ultrasound screen was great, and this is one situation in which Delilah did not seem any more intelligent than Jared, who got stuck on the fact that he was a bastard. The revelation that they’re not even married is pretty shocking, but that’s the least of their problems. Robin not even being able to finish listing the two things she told Nate to never do before he interrupted her to tell her to relax only served to cement her anger, and now Nate is on a road trip all by himself with absolutely no hope of getting back on track.