What I’m Watching: Casual

Casual: Season 3, Episode 2 “Things to Do in Burbank When You're Dead” (B-)

I like this show, but I feel like this season is off to a very slow start. The entirety of this episode was Alex and Val acting, as usual, like something other than brother and sister. Alex trying to make a wager so that he could win some guy’s shoes represented just how unseriously he takes the world, and the way that Val clings to him even though she knows it’s not good for her is somewhat annoyingly cyclical. We’ve seen them like this before, and just because they’re not living together anymore and they now know that they don’t have the same two parents, there’s nothing new to it. It is interesting to see Alex trying to be protective of his sister to his mother and learning new information that he probably won’t share with her since it will send her reeling. Imagine how codependent she would be on a new brother given how close she is to the one she already knows about. I don’t think that’s Alex’s primary motivation, however, since he craves the attention of someone else and is already miserable being alone by himself at home. I’m just waiting for a line to actually be crossed when they move into true incest, but I think this show will probably not go there. I was saddest not to see Laura at all for this entire hour since she’s actually my favorite character on the show lately, and I hope that she’ll be prominently featured in the next episode and after that.