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 7 “Denver” (B)

If the tone of the season premiere is individualistic and bizarre, this second episode certainly is as well. Louie Anderson took home the Emmy last year for his portrayal of Christine Baskets in an episode that found her trying to get Chip to come to church. In this installment, Christine was mostly on her own, planning a trip to Denver just so that she might take a man she met named Ken up on his offer to call him up if she was ever in town. Arriving to find that she was the guest of the day didn’t come with all the fanfare it should have, and her enthusiasm about having a Denver omelette in Denver was equally shot down by the assertion that it was actually invented in New York. Just as she decided to check out early, she got that call and had a sincerely wonderful time with Ken, making up a few lies in the process but ending up having an extremely sweet and worthwhile experience. Back at home, Chip was eager to please his mother and agreed to take Mee-Maw to the doctor only to have her push Martha out of the front seat, drive for the first time in a decade, and take them straight to the casino. I was not at all prepared for her to get up, dance, and then promptly drop dead, something that just happened in a flash and brought Christine’s blissful visit to a swift end. I still don’t know what to make of this show, but it is strangely watchable.