What I’m Watching: Brockmire

Brockmire: Season 2, Episode 2 “Platoon Player” (B+)

I’m starting to get seriously worried that Amanda Peet is no longer a cast member on this show. The limited articles I can find suggest that she’s still involved, but she’s not in the opening credits and there’s been no mention of her anytime recently. Brockmire is a decent character, to be sure, but he’s also a lot and Jules represented a helpful distraction, a layered person with issues of her own. At least we’re getting to see more of Charles, who tried to have a normal family dinner that went considerably awry. I was a fan of his stepdad Terry who everyone loved to insult since he just didn’t have much of a personality and proved his worthlessness by failing to be offended when Brockmire took a shot at him. His mom saying that she developed emotional cancer because of his departure was deeply manipulative, and her first appearance was quite memorable. His dad was a pretty angry military man, and I love that Brockmire said that he had turned his daughters into very strange robots before once again thanking him for his service in the same breath. The fact that Charles chose to leave with Brockmire is a tribute to the fact that, however unpredictable he may be, he acknowledges Charles’ success and isn’t trying to push him into anything that he doesn’t want to do aside from sleeping with a prostitute, unlike Charles’ family who just can’t believe that he’s accomplishing anything.