Emmy Episodes: Baskets

It’s always my policy to watch every Emmy-nominated episode each year, which leads me to sample a handful of shows that I don’t tune in to on a regular basis. For the second year in a row, I’m making a special effort to spotlight each of those installments to offer my perspective on shows that I don’t review each week.

Baskets: Season 2, Episode 1 “Freaks” (B)

I watched two episodes of this show last year - the pilot and the fourth installment, which was Louie Anderson’s winning selection - and didn’t particularly love it. It’s not that it’s a bad show, but rather than it’s an odd and gloomy show defined more by its peculiarity than anything else. Plus, you have Zach Galifianakis playing twin brothers named Chip and Dale and Anderson playing their mother. I obviously missed a lot throughout season one, since now Chip has run away from home, leaving his mother and brother behind, though they barely appeared in this episode aside from the first scene. After experiencing some misery shaking coins out of his shoes and struggling to enjoy a can without an opener, Chip got adopted by a group of kindly homeless wanderers who, as luck would have it, were in the market for a clown. I couldn’t figure out where I knew Mary Wiseman, who played Trinity, from, and I think that it may be “Longmire,” though she’ll obviously become much more high-profile with her forthcoming role in “Star Trek: Discovery.” The best part of this episode was Trinity’s reaction to Chip telling her that she was the straight man: “I’m a bisexual woman.” As if the tensions between the two of them, laid out in an honest confrontation from her, weren’t bad enough, having them all do heroin while squatting in a random house was a sure sign that this wasn’t the place for Chip to be. I’m already skipping episodes ahead to Anderson’s submission, so I’m not sure what will happen after Chip opened the door to find the police there to greet him. This is a good submission for Galifianakis, but there’s no denying this is a strange show.