What I’m Watching: Life in Pieces

Life in Pieces: Season 4, Episode 6 “Recovery Discipline Psycho Labor” (B)

This was actually a better episode than this show has produced in a while, though there were still pieces of it that I found to be lackluster. Tim getting Joan to walk with him was actually pretty sweet, and their excitement at playing skee-ball together was perfectly harmless. Tim has always been looked down upon as part of the family, and it was good to see him exert some control in the direction of his relationships, even expressing his disappointment at what Joan had or had not said to him previously that had hurt him. It makes absolute sense that John would reluctantly volunteer at Sophia’s school and befriend the one man everyone found completely terrifying, who didn’t do himself many favors by showing up in the middle of a horror movie with a chainsaw that he claimed could saw through bone. It was touching to see Sophia go to apologize to Mr. Sissel, though its endearing nature ended abruptly with the entire class screaming when they came in holding hands. Jen and Greg trying to rush through Lark’s birthday party so that they could give her own last bit of full attention was entertaining, and I enjoyed Joan’s reaction to some of their antics and the way that they predicted exactly what Colleen and Matt would do by pretending to have forgotten the gift. The sudden adoption of Lucas has been relatively heartwarming, though I’m never fond of an opportunity to see Dougie, one of this show’s worst characters. At least it led to a wonderful moment with Matt telling Lucas he couldn’t climb into bed with them only to realize that it was actually the best possible result.