4x01 Dead Guy in Room 4

[7.6/10] I’m pretty sure this is Schitt’s Creek’s best season premiere yet. Not only does it pick right up after last season’s finale, wasting no time in needing to establish new situations or conflicts, but it brings laughter and sweetness at a level above the show’s usual opening salvos.

The impetus for all of this, as the title suggests, is the discovery of a dead body in one of the rooms. It’s a good story motivator, because it causes Johnny and Stevie to have to scramble and cover for the coroner, Moira a reason to agonize over her attendant moral dilemma, and David and Alexis to have to try to find somewhere else to sleep, with corresponding developments that test their relationships in interesting ways.

The elder Roses’ material is pure comedy. I got a big kick out of Johnny and Stevie going around and trying to enforce a “mandatory” Happy Hour, offering cinnamon rolls and vodka so as not to let their patrons onto the fact that the coroner is wheeling out a dead body from the place they’re staying. In the same vein, I’m not a big fan of Roland, but I appreciate the running gag that he is abjectly terrible at playing any situation cool. Johnny’s fumbling attempts to make small talk at the “happy” hour and the blank responses he gets is a great capper to the whole thing, and wrings its laughs from the awkwardness of the whole setup.

I also like Moira fretting that she may have contributed to the old man’s death by not giving him a painkiller when asked. It’s the kind of Moira overreaction to a meager situation that regularly brings the laughs, and it also gives Patrick the chance to make a good impression and save the day. Moira agonizing over this is funny in and of itself, but when her internal journey seeps into her trying to reassure the guests at Johnny’s shindig, it’s particularly amusing.

Speaking of Patrick, a lot about him seems a little too good to be true, almost to the level of wish-fulfillment, but it’s also very sweet, so it gets a pass for the time being. To be frank, he seems almost too perfect, but hopefully the show finds ways to bring him down to earth a little bit as he and David’s relationship blossoms. There’s definitely something interesting about exploring this relationship as, to echo Alexis, he takes his first peak out of the closet, and I appreciate it if for no other reason than it’s not something you typically see on network sitcoms. In the same way, there’s something adorable and heartwarming about he and David telling each other that their kiss felt like the first time, like feeling what they were supposed to feel: Patrick because it’s his first time kissing someone of the gender he’s attracted to and David because it’s his first time kissing someone he genuinely cares about (er...burn on Stevie, I guess).

Unfortunately, Alexis’s interlude with her former paramour does not go as well. To be honest, I had forgotten all about Heather, Ted’s fake cat girlfriend, which definitely makes his and Alexis’s kiss much more disconcerting. That said, I actually like how mature Alexis is about hearing that as the reason she can’t crash at Ted’s place, even as she’s clearly putting on something of a show and feels a little stung by it. The show’s clearly headed for Alexis/Ted at this point, so the existence of Heather feels like a diversion, but still, it’s a decent bump in the road, and I like that Alexis and Ted are on the same page about whom to hire -- a subtle sign of their connection that works.

Overall, this is the best and funniest season premiere that Schitt’s Creek has managed so far, which may not be a high bar given some past stumbles, but which is refreshing nonetheless.