Saturday, June 13, 2020

What I’m Watching: High Fidelity


High Fidelity: Season 1, Episode 9 “Fun Rob” (B+)

I wasn’t sure if we’d have another episode focused on a supporting character, but instead we saw a different side of Rob that had some unexpected implications. I probably would have liked to see a spotlight on Cherise, especially since we only saw how Rob threatened to fire her if she was late one more time and then was surprised to see her working a side job checking coats. Channeling “Fun Rob” was a worrisome idea, and it turns out that persona is just as self-destructive as the regular Rob. I recognized Jessica Hecht from “Friends” as Rob’s mother, who suggested she have sex while she was videochatting with her in the bathtub, a calmer run-up to the wild night that Rob was about to have. She did call a lot of people to try to make plans, and I always enjoy this show’s rapid-fire sequences like when she imagined the many ways she could react to meeting Lily. Tanya, played by Tara Summers from “Ringer” and “Boston Legal,” was unfavorably compared to the bag of bits at the bottom of a chip bag that you eat only as a last resort, but all she was guilty of was not getting her a cake, providing the most cringe-worthy moment of the episode when Rob acted like she didn’t need the attention they weren’t giving her. I was thrilled when Clyde called her and said that he didn’t want to leave things the way they were, but of course she didn’t bother answering her text he sent her. Instead, she met up with Mac, which ended somewhat shockingly in him being furious at her for revealing that she cheated on him the night they got engaged. How they still ended up flirting when he brought the keys is hard to believe, but that certainly looks to be where things are headed in this season’s final episode.

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