What I’m Watching: The Great Indoors

The Great Indoors: Season 1, Episode 15 “Relationship Jack” (B+)

We’ve seen how Jack responds in a handful of situations, but I don’t think we’ve ever really seen him happy. It was Eddie’s initial reaction to hearing him use the word “blankies” that first sounded the alarm, and things only got worse from there. I kept waiting for Jack to suddenly snap out of it and start being mean again, but even his insults were tempered to the point of secret cuddling time. I was pleased to see that even Rachel found it to be too much, and that she was desperate to work with Roland to figure out a way to get the regular Jack back. It’s completely true that Jack immerses himself in everything he does if he likes it, and the allure of staying on a couch barely moving for two full days doesn’t seem like something that would normally be up hi alley, but apparently it enabled him to fully change his behavior, even stooping to the level of asking Esther a follow-up question to her morning anecdote. Clark slipping into the Jack persona was an entertaining if highly unbelievable experience, and the way that he managed to appeal to Esther, Emma, and Brooke just by dressing and speaking differently was pretty absurd. I hope that somehow he’ll be able to keep a bit of that to pursue the relationship with Emma that seems to have been put on hold recently. Roland’s alcohol references, if repetitive, remain consistently amusing, but not as much as the fact that he couldn’t remember the exact number of times that he’d been married.