What I’m Watching: Breeders

Breeders: Season 1, Episode 4 “No Lies” (B+)

I like that this show conveys much of its plot through humor, revealing subtler drama underneath that’s just as effective. That was present most in the unexpected bonding between Michael and Paul, who came to a serious moment of clarity when Paul understood how much playing house and spending time with his family meant to the man whose own daughter called him by his first name. Paul suggesting that he should stay longer but only for a set amount of time was generous and fair, and they’ll continue to have lighter interactions like Michael overhearing Paul muttering his real feelings about Liam to himself. Not everything the man who couldn’t remember where his reiki certificate came from and admitted that life was not his strongest suit did in this episode was productive, like encouraging his grandchildren to rip apart the house looking for presents and guiding his grandson through his mother’s wedding album. Paul’s parents seemed much more upset than anyone else, and Ally and Paul do have a good understanding even if they don’t quite agree on the decision to have gotten a new mortgage, whether Ally had postpartum (or postnatal, in British terminology) depression, and whether they should upsize or downsize. The montages of Ally’s after-birth behavior and Paul’s ability to lie were entertaining and enlightening as always, and I liked the reference to how kids beat paper in the game of Kids, Paper, Scissors, which Paul’s father seemed to think was something more concrete than just a metaphor.