What I’m Watching: United States of Al

United States of Al: Season 2, Episode 6 “Veterans Day/Roz-e Sarbaz” (B+)

I appreciated the opening scene of this episode since I’ve done the same thing on birthdays in the past, trying to map out all of the places that are offering freebies and figuring how the best route to get the most food. This was a fitting installment to deal with many of the complicated aspects of celebrating Veteran’s Day, with both Lizzie and Riley grappling with the lingering effects of being at war. We don’t usually see the serious side of Lizzie, who wanted to take advantage of some time alone to go through a box that ended up being much better to do with her father there. Art was in fine form enjoying the procedures of the day that made him feel like he was still doing what he used to do. Riley getting the news about his disability rating came with a lot of baggage, and Al was eager to make him feel okay about it while he struggled to reveal it. Bonding with someone else who had similar reservations about their public perception turned out to be very helpful. My favorite part of this episode, however, was seeing Hazel clearly into a boy and flirting with him, only to see her crush subverted by an interfering Al, who humorously applied his own notions of what a romance should be on the kids. Hazel’s reaction to Al being present and saying embarrassing things was great, for once enabling Al to be the adult and Hazel to the helpless and horrified child.