What I’m Watching: The Detour (Season Premiere)

The Detour: Season 2, Episodes 1 and 2 “The City” and “The Club” (B+)

I had forgotten all about this show, and upon its return, I’m reminded more than anything of two descriptors: irreverent and funny. It’s hard, if not impossible, to track this show on a narrative course, mainly because there’s so much ridiculous bad stuff that happens to Nate and they’re constantly interviewed at some future point about all the events that have happened without any real sense of time. The beginning of this episode was a fantastic fake-out, showing Nate and Robin seemingly discussing her secret identities but actually just playing a game, pretty poorly. Robin being on the no-fly list led to a huge effort to get to New York City, and it’s clear that they’re not ready for the city, especially not Jareb, whose “wait for the white man” comment nearly got them into a brawl with Harris, played by Erik King, best known as Doakes on “Dexter.” I love that Jareb flashed forward through his whole life which somehow saw him being Jewish at his wedding and then ending up in jail, and that he was totally into their new neighbor, who was also being courted by a friend-seeking Delilah. “People are dying because you can’t parallel park” and “D as in dagel” were some of my favorite lines from the first episode. I didn’t expect to see James Cromwell as Nate’s new boss who enjoys spending his time encouraging kids to get off their phones and play with fire extinguishers and pranking his IRS tenants. Nate getting diagnosed with gonorrhea of the eye after his terrible club visit by someone he didn’t think was nearly smart enough to be a doctor was a peculiar end to the second episode, but what else can you expect from this show?