What I’m Watching: Indebted

Indebted: Season 1, Episode 10 “Everybody’s Talking About Neighbors” (C-)

It’s been well-established that Deb and Stew don’t have a great ability to “read the room,” and that they often don’t realize that Dave and Rebecca are rolling their eyes while spending time with them. Aside from the occasional visitor – usually a new date of Joanna’s – we haven’t seen too many non-family members interacting with these socially unaware parents, and that all changed in this half-hour. Sure, Dave and Rebecca were perhaps a bit too uninterested in knowing even the slightest details about their neighbors, which seems strange given that they do in fact have children, but they were perfectly content with their arrangement. Deb and Stew took it way too far by scheduling event after event, and their new friends were eager to ask their more relatable generational peers for desperate help in getting out of this forced socialization. What I didn’t really buy was how everyone did decide to stay longer out of a combination of guilt and empathy for this couple that just wanted to make new friends since I don’t think most people – Joanna included – have nearly as much patience for Deb and Stew’s regular antics as Dave and Rebecca do. I was excited to recognize one of the neighbors but disappointed by the lackluster role given to Stephanie Allynne from “People, Places, Things” and “The L Word: Generation Q.” She did seem most put off by Deb and Stew, but, like this episode, wasn’t nearly as funny or entertaining as she could or should have been.