[7.8/10] A lot to like in this one. There’s plenty of great laughs and fun character situations, but also that touch of poignance that elevates the best episodes.
God help me, I’m on board with the Alexis/Ted stuff. Sure, they’re kissing each other in a mutual celebration of Alexis passing her high school exams feels a touch cliché, but I like where the show goes with it. For one thing, the two actors are hilarious in the immediate awkwardness that ensues and continues throughout the episode. The way they fumfer around over the concept of an “adult kiss” stands out as such a ridiculous and amusing sidestep of what really happened.
I also appreciate the more serious place they go with it, where Alexis tries to re-initiate things, and it’s Ted who backs off. Outside of last season’s finale, the show hasn’t done much examining of how Ted feels about all of this, and I appreciate the sign that he’s not ready to reignite anything.
David’s storyline is somehow just as funny and almost as sweet. There’s a good character throughline for him here, where he’s clearly afraid to fail given that he’s taking his first real gamble, and so wants to do a “soft opening” with expectations set as low as possible rather than risk something bigger. Instead, whether by accident or by Patrick’s design, his effort at “exclusivity” gets everybody talking about it and even lining up to get into the store.
The ensuing scenes are great, particularly David’s run-in with Twyla and Bob asking who they can bring. Roland and Jocelyn trying to buy some “tea” is a funny bit of continuity. And David and Patrick’s hug at the end is enough to suggest something more that might blossom while also just vindicating their success here and now.
But my favorite storyline in the episode is Johnny and Moira reckoning with their giant portrait from their old life. There’s a lot of meaning in the subplot. My favorite scene is the one with Johnny and Stevie. It’s telling that Johnny’s attached to the gargantuan portrait, one where they look “successful” rather than happy, because seeing it made the family feel like they were together, even if they weren’t. Stevie not only gets in some of her trademark hilarious sarcasm, but points out that now the Roses are together all the time, rendering the symbolism a pale and unnecessary substitute for the present reality.
Johnny and Moira reach that conclusion on their own though. They see David opening a successful business while being hard at work. They see Alexis passing her classes and taking a big step toward self-improvement. As Moira says, they’re not those people anymore. Maybe they were happy with beach houses, but they’re a better, closer family than they were when that portrait was made. It’s a monument to a version of them that no longer exists, and one that they don’t need anymore. It’s uplifting to see the Roses happy with the real thing, not needing the image.
My one hope/fear is that this isn’t the show just giving us the warm fuzzies in the penultimate episode because they’re going to tear it all down and give us the Schitt’s Creek equivalent of The Empire Strikes Back in the finale. We’ll have to see!
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParentSpoilers2020-06-28T04:22:57Z
[7.8/10] A lot to like in this one. There’s plenty of great laughs and fun character situations, but also that touch of poignance that elevates the best episodes.
God help me, I’m on board with the Alexis/Ted stuff. Sure, they’re kissing each other in a mutual celebration of Alexis passing her high school exams feels a touch cliché, but I like where the show goes with it. For one thing, the two actors are hilarious in the immediate awkwardness that ensues and continues throughout the episode. The way they fumfer around over the concept of an “adult kiss” stands out as such a ridiculous and amusing sidestep of what really happened.
I also appreciate the more serious place they go with it, where Alexis tries to re-initiate things, and it’s Ted who backs off. Outside of last season’s finale, the show hasn’t done much examining of how Ted feels about all of this, and I appreciate the sign that he’s not ready to reignite anything.
David’s storyline is somehow just as funny and almost as sweet. There’s a good character throughline for him here, where he’s clearly afraid to fail given that he’s taking his first real gamble, and so wants to do a “soft opening” with expectations set as low as possible rather than risk something bigger. Instead, whether by accident or by Patrick’s design, his effort at “exclusivity” gets everybody talking about it and even lining up to get into the store.
The ensuing scenes are great, particularly David’s run-in with Twyla and Bob asking who they can bring. Roland and Jocelyn trying to buy some “tea” is a funny bit of continuity. And David and Patrick’s hug at the end is enough to suggest something more that might blossom while also just vindicating their success here and now.
But my favorite storyline in the episode is Johnny and Moira reckoning with their giant portrait from their old life. There’s a lot of meaning in the subplot. My favorite scene is the one with Johnny and Stevie. It’s telling that Johnny’s attached to the gargantuan portrait, one where they look “successful” rather than happy, because seeing it made the family feel like they were together, even if they weren’t. Stevie not only gets in some of her trademark hilarious sarcasm, but points out that now the Roses are together all the time, rendering the symbolism a pale and unnecessary substitute for the present reality.
Johnny and Moira reach that conclusion on their own though. They see David opening a successful business while being hard at work. They see Alexis passing her classes and taking a big step toward self-improvement. As Moira says, they’re not those people anymore. Maybe they were happy with beach houses, but they’re a better, closer family than they were when that portrait was made. It’s a monument to a version of them that no longer exists, and one that they don’t need anymore. It’s uplifting to see the Roses happy with the real thing, not needing the image.
My one hope/fear is that this isn’t the show just giving us the warm fuzzies in the penultimate episode because they’re going to tear it all down and give us the Schitt’s Creek equivalent of The Empire Strikes Back in the finale. We’ll have to see!