Monday, February 28, 2022

What I’m Watching: United States of Al

United States of Al: Season 2, Episode 14 “Kiss / Maach” (B+)

It’s fun to see this friendship blossom between Lizzie and Lois, and to watch how it affected Art, first through jealousy and then legitimate concern about taking away another mother figure from Lois if they ever broke up. The impact of them spending so much time together is much likelier to have an adverse effect on Lizzie’s life since she’s still very far from fifty and therefore might regret something like, say, bursting in during a class to plant a kiss on her very frazzled boyfriend. Brett seemed quite pleased even if he didn’t expect it, and I imagine that will accelerate the progression of their slow-moving relationship. It was funny to hear Wayne warn Riley not to go to Vanessa and tell her he knew what it was like for her to have a spouse away at war, and even though she was confused about why he was there, his surprise visit went pretty well. My favorite plotline from the episode started with Hazel asking Riley for $20 just to have “pocket money,” followed up by an equally unsuccessful ask from Al and then her needing to get a job. Al’s hatred of dogs didn’t stop him from following her to make sure she was safe and then insisting that she not give up when she started to find the work too difficult. She used that to her advantage the next morning by forcing him to get up with her at 5am by calling him a quitter, which even involved Riley’s half-awake participation.

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