What I’m Watching: Indebted (Series Finale)

Indebted: Season 1, Episode 12 “Everybody’s Talking About The Shiva” (C+)

It’s perhaps a bit too on the nose that the episode that I’m one hundred percent certain will be the last one ever produced by this show deals with death. I saw the title ahead of time and wasn’t sure if a character we had met would be the one being mourned, but in just short of a dozen episodes, this show hasn’t actually introduced many recurring players. The one it did is perhaps the most obnoxious, Richard Kind’s Doctor Uncle Artie, and his return was not very welcome at all. The focus on shiva as a social event was entertaining if not entirely accurate, though there certainly are some pressures involved in hosting and feeding those visiting during a vulnerable time. Deb passing the torch to Rebecca felt unrealistic since she always loves being the center of attention, and evidently the newfangled ideas she and Dave like to come up with have rubbed Deb, Stew, and Artie the wrong way multiple times in the past. Kugel empanadas and shiva selfies were particularly wild notions Rebecca was excited to introduce, and it’s no wonder a rival shiva started in the extremely decked-out basement we got to see for the first time. Artie offering Deb and Stew the Florida house only to be convinced by Rebecca to keep it was pretty much just a way of keeping the door open for a second season, one which I’m still sure will never come. Joanna, who had a list of qualifications for her future girlfriend, went hard at the bartender, who naturally turned out to be a cousin that for some reason she had never met or didn’t recognize. I was amused because I knew actress Kate Berlant from her scene-stealing performance in the film “Safe Spaces” as Fran Drescher’s daughter, a fact that ended up being funnier when the two characters ended up once again being related here. This show started out fine and plummeted fast, a sign of the times that old-fashioned sitcoms need to be a little more creative if they’re going to be worthwhile.

Season grade: C+
Season MVP: Adam Pally as Dave and Abby Elliott as Rebecca