What I’m Watching: Life in Pieces (Season Finale)

Life in Pieces: Season 3, Episodes 21 and 22 “Video Piercing Model Hangover” and “Sixteen Spanish Car Leak” (B

This show has perpetually been on the bubble every single year, and it was finally renewed for a fourth season just a few days before these episodes aired, after most others series had already had their fates announced. This two-part finale included a series of segments that felt more interconnected than usual, with one particularly uplifting and unusually sentimental development. Colleen and Matt, hardly the definition of stability, have been trying for the entire season to have a baby, and for them to find out that their very willing surrogate was already pregnant when she was about to be inseminated was a truly unfortunate but hardly unpredictable blow. Jen and Greg discovering that they were pregnant after Lark was starting to do things for herself was a heartwarming moment of excitement, one that had to be hidden due to Colleen and Matt’s own efforts. I’m not sure how this adoption process will work, but it’s good that they’ve already moved on to another option instead of getting stuck following their latest hurdle. John being hired as a model for a stair chairlift was mildly entertaining, far more so than him and Joan trying to learn Spanish. My wife and I related very much to the thank you notes plotline since we sent out our own thank you notes a full year after our wedding, with what we thought was a clever note about how those who are late have much more fun. Sam coming home to the surprise party her family convinced her they weren’t throwing and asking her boyfriend to be her first in front of all of them was pretty hilarious and a definite high point of these two episodes. I’ll continue watching this show next year at midseason because it’s fun enough, but I’d love to see it become just a bit more consistent.

Season grade: B-
Season MVP: Zoe Lister-Jones as Jen