Friday, February 1, 2019

What I’m Watching: The Kominsky Method (Season Finale)

The Kominsky Method: Season 1, Episode 8 “Chapter 8: A Widow Approaches” (B+)

That’s it for this show, a short run that nonetheless earned it plenty of praise, including Golden Globe wins for both the show and Michael Douglas’ performance. This was actually a much more fitting showcase for Alan Arkin, who started the episode off worried about having dinner with a widow who was after him because of Eileen, but of course he’s able to talk about it with her and get her approval, including a subsequent instruction to apologize to Diane for the way that he treated her. Things got bad fast when Norman lashed out at her for trying to monitor his drinking and, more generally, take the place of his late wife, but we learned that there’s much more to it than that. Running out of his house to get away from all the voices is a sign that the loneliness is getting to him, and calling Sandy from a random gas station indicates that he might need to spend more time around others who are looking after him. Sandy’s relationship with Lisa seemed to be proceeding okay despite his past missteps, but now he managed to go ahead and screw it up again by forcing her to choose between having him as an acting teacher or as a student, of which she humorously chose the latter. A second season hasn’t yet been commissioned, apparently because Douglas is wary of making more episodes than just eight, but I’m absolutely up for more of this story and getting to see these two friends navigate getting old together.

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