What I’m Watching: Indebted

Indebted: Season 1, Episodes 8 and 9 “Everybody’s Talking About FOMO” and “Everybody’s Talking About Pleasure” (C+/B)

I’m not sure why it is that NBC decided to air a double dose of this show this week, and I mistakenly thought that the tenth episode was the last one, unaware that thirteen episodes were actually ordered and filmed, at which point this show will almost certainly be ended. The first of these two episodes was the weaker one, since it’s already a stretch to believe that Rebecca goes along with her in-laws’ shenanigans but somewhat understandable given how Dave defers to his parents’ whims. Joanna, on the other hand, has her own life, and though she’s prone to extreme sensitivity and sentiments of being ignored all the time, she’s better at resisting the overwhelming and overbearing influence of her parents. The amount of food they ordered to cheer her up explains why they’re broke but not how they still have enough money to do that, and the overall message that Joanna isn’t connected enough to social media was amusing. Dave and Rebecca’s antics were far less entertaining. I did enjoy the second half-hour more, with Dave and Rebecca doubting their sex life because of Stew and Deb’s inappropriate interference and Deb’s absurd references to the pregnancy developments of a woman they’d never met. Joanna’s plotline was actually even better, as she tried to resolve her issues with how her father reacted with her coming out by bringing over the girl she was kissing, only to eventually realize that his eyes were scarred not by her sexual orientation but by jalapenos (or jolly peenies, as Deb calls them). I couldn’t figure out where I knew Jenny from, and it turns out that actress Emily Pendergast played Jonah’s wife on “Veep,” a very different but similarly subservient role.