Emmy Episodes: Catastrophe

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.

Catastrophe: Season 3, Episode 6 (B+)

I know that this is a popular show, but it’s just one that I never got into. I did enjoy the pilot, which was nominated just last year for writing. Amazon debuted the third season back in April, and this is the most recent episode, the finale. The late Carrie Fisher is nominated for her performance as Rob’s mom, who is quite the personality. Her presence at the funeral of Sharon’s father definitely took a lot of attention away from the deceased, and she managed to be extremely inappropriate within moments of first appearing. She did dominate the episode in a memorable way, which makes a great case for recognizing her posthumously for this turn. I was most excited to see Ashley Jensen, from “Extras” and “Ugly Betty,” who I forgot was in this show and seems to have quite a meaty role. I’ve obviously missed a lot since the first episode, but I guess Rob has a drinking problem that he’s been keeping under wraps recently, something his mother reacted very angrily to given how his father had hurt her when he was drunk. As Rob panicked and Sharon struggled to find a way to cry about her father’s death and then finally did when she was at a pub, things were set for an unfortunate and extremely dramatic finish, as Rob got into a car accident and had to reveal, in that moment, that he wasn’t going to pass the breathalyzer test. There aren’t many episodes of this show (eighteen in total), and so maybe it’s something I’ll choose to get into at some point.