What I’m Watching: Grace and Frankie

Grace and Frankie: Season 4, Episode 11 “The Tub” (B+)

Well, this was quite a change to see for Grace and Frankie at the start of this episode, with an informative flashback to explain how it is that they discovered that maybe they shouldn’t be quite as independent anymore. I’m not sure we’ve reached that point just yet, or whether their new living situation is going to be permanent, but both of them experienced an unfortunate downturn in this episode. Grace got sentimental when she visited Phil’s site which had a banner on it that read “no longer in business,” and she made the mistake of trusting a contractor who seemed quite trustworthy at first but appears to have ruined the house and robbed them instead. Frankie was thrilled to drive her granddaughter around, but her track record behind the wheel wasn’t great to begin with, and therefore the fact that she followed an ice cream truck which led her to right by the Mexico border isn’t all that surprising. Bud, who is usually frustrated but still amused, didn’t seem to find much humor in this situation at all. I’ll be curious to see how assisted living suits them, since something tells me that they both might warm to some of the amenities more than they expect. It was a relief to see that Robert and Sol were both equally perturbed by the suggestion of an open marriage, despite support for the idea from Peter and an eager visit from the dashing young Roy. It’s a sign that maybe their troubles will soon be behind them.

What I’m Watching: The Detour

The Detour: Season 2, Episode 3 “The Tub” (B+)

This show is hilarious. Even if its plot isn’t always the most sensible or linear, its lines and its themes are really very funny. I don’t think that anything in this episode topped Delilah running around yelling “cockblock” like a chicken and epitomizing the word to the utmost (or upmost, if you’re ready my other reviews) effect. That said, I also enjoyed her insistence on being involved in the friendship between Jareb and the neighbor he’s in love with, rebutting his claim that there’s no such thing as a three-wheeled bicycle and then contradicting three’s a crowd with three’s company. Tying this all in to Robin wanting to have another baby was fantastic, and stopping in the middle of potentially irresponsible sex to browse some very slow wi-fi was just one of the great moments, including Robin responding to “I want a vasectomy” with “I want a crib.” The walls being thin only makes the drama in the apartment all the more extreme, and I think they’ve been through more than enough after what happened to Nate, which I can’t really describe on this blog. The camera angle when Delilah and Jareb entered the room was particularly disturbing, and I came close to throwing up along with those on screen. I liked the casting of Marceline Hugot, who I know best as Gladys from “The Leftovers,” as Judith, the neighbor who was somehow forty-eight weeks pregnant and whose water broke just from Nate touching her, a situation that he only made worse by continuing to dwell on the absurdity of her still being pregnant.