What I’m Watching: Dead to Me

Dead to Me: Season 1, Episode 4 “I Can’t Go Back” (B+)

Obstacles and roadblocks may emerge, but it seems that the relationship that’s the most stable on this show is the one between Jen and Judy. When Judy woke up in Steve’s bed as his pretentious podcast alarm went off, it appeared that things were moving very fast when he decided not to put the house on the market and to have her move back in. Yet somehow, after everything that happened over the course of this episode, Judy most trusted her new friend Jen, who went to Steve’s door to aggressively tell him to put the house back on the market because he and Judy weren’t actually getting back together. The experience has also empowered Judy to be comfortable driving again, which isn’t nearly as worrisome as the fact that a vengeful Steve is likely to try to manipulate Judy by using the secret they share. He won’t report her to the police, but it seems inevitable that Judy will confess to Jen or that Jen will discover it on her own at the worst possible moment. Going to the bar to track down Bambi went pretty much as expected, with Jen being exceedingly harsh and Judy trying to pick up on helpful information that might reduce the tension. I like that, after Jen stormed out, it was Judy who pretended to be Jen and told Bambi that she was Ted’s wife, only to learn the terrible truth that Ted had made Bambi think his situation was what Jen’s is now, a low blow that makes it hard to be sympathetic to the dead man.