Saturday, January 4, 2020

What I’m Watching: Work in Progress


Work in Progress: Season 1, Episode 4 “161, 153, 137, 122, 106, 104, 102 (We're Still Counting Almonds.)” (B+)

This episode featured our main character going a bit off the rails, which was both entertaining to watch and very informative about what Abby’s experiences in the world have been. Her obnoxious coworker asking her about her bathroom behavior was a real trigger, representing just the latest inappropriate behavior on her part, resulting in a confession of OCD that she tried to mirror by saying that she always had to check twice that she had locked her car. Evidently, being mistaken for a man has happened many times, and Abby is ready each time now with some awkward small talk to try to stave it off and then a very dramatic speech to confront it when it does still occur. Telling the two librarians to read a book wasn’t nearly as empathic as she wanted, and I love that she passed out only to find Chris there waiting to see if she was okay, to which she responded that he wasn’t allowed to be in there. The title’s reference to still counting almonds, coupled with Abby’s one-way bench therapy, show that she is still working through depression and anxiety, even if things are mostly going well in her life at the moment. The early montage of her eagerly greeting everyone around her with a different broken or bruised body part because the sex is great but apparently dangerous was fun, and if there’s one thing I value on this show more than anything, it’s the offbeat, optimistic tone that persists even as unpredictable developments occur.

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