Tuesday, March 7, 2023

What I’m Watching: Not Dead Yet

Not Dead Yet: Season 1, Episode 5 “Not Moving On Yet” (B)

One of the advantages of a premise that is decidedly inventive and not tethered to reality is that it’s possible to make your own rules. For instance, there’s no reason that Monty should have been able to return given that she had already sent in his obituary, but Cricket was going through something difficult and just needed a slight push from Nell to change her perspective to something that would fill her with happiness and nostalgia rather than sadness and longing. It was definitely taxing for Nell to have to try to be in the moment with a furious Sam when both Monty and Jesse were talking her ear off, and she’s also doing a lot of public conversing without a headphone in, including her chocolate-assisted closet rendezvous that at first impressed and then offended Dennis. It was sweet to see her romance with Jesse progress as they navigated their biggest challenges, namely not being able to touch each other, and I’m curious whether we’ll see him again in the future. For now, a perfect opportunity for Nell to read Sam into what she’s going through now paved the way for unexpected drama, where she revealed her miscarriage and got an immediate groundswell of support from her best friend. I appreciate that dramatic pivot and hope this show continues to do things like that. Edward even got his own moment of warmth when he made up for his ill-advised spontaneous gestures with a romantic piano performance that also pleased Cricket. Lexi pointing out that both Nell and Sam have money and can afford their own meals was a humorous part of the Fettucine Factory BOGO plotline, which ended in a funny way with her paying the waiter $1000 to sit with her so that she could take advantage of this unbelievable offer available only for two people.

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