This is a weird show. I’m enjoying it but it’s only because I’m weird too. Recent episode has a very pregnant Postal Inspector implying that Nate is the father of her unborn child. If that’s true, I missed that episode!
Anyone else familiar with the shiow?
Season 1 was funny and unusual with a strong narrative, weird characters, and a bit of a central mystery. I loved it.
Season 2 took the characters to some darker places, but began to stretch the boundaries of believability. I liked it.
Season 3 so far is a disjointed, incomprehensible mess. I keep watching it, the way you can’t look away from a train wreck in progress.
I’m not holding my breath for a Season 4.
I think Season 3 is funnier than Season 2, personally.
I rewatched Season 1 and I thought it wasn’t as funny the second time around. Maybe it was the mystery and/or shock aspect that increased the humour value when I first watched it.
I liked season 1 the best, although some episodes were better than others. They really went after the red-neck back-country types: Montezuma’s restaurant, child brides, strip clubs galore. There were two episodes that stood out: S1E7 The Road has an interesting way of explaining to the children that they might have been aborted (“going to Europe”), and S1E10 The Beach has a hilarious acting turn by the daughter. Her Fist-bump starfish is great, as well as how she as a twelve-year old girl deals with unwanted advanced from one of her “boyz”.
Someone in season 2 was a great song writer. I can’t find online clips, but S2E2 The Club party scene, and S2E8 The Job has a very catchy Christian(?) rock song.
I haven’t seen anything close to that level of originality in season 3. So far it’s been Jason Jones playing like he’s Chevy Chase with lots of pratfalls. That hasn’t stopped me from watching though.
There was an amusing scene in one of the third season episodes in which the son talked to the father about his friend who was, apparently, intersex or gender fluid. The kid kept talking about “they” and the father was totally confused. It was a bit of a “Who’s on first?” moment.
I don’t think Nate is the father of the baby, but there might have been shenanigans on that hockey trip. Or at least the AGENT thinks something happened.
I liked S1 a lot and these last two are ok enough. If you space out for a second you have a hard time following the rest of the entire season, which is a lot of pressure for a sitcom.
We’ve been watching the episodes entirely out of order. We started with Season 3, then went back and watched Season 1 and 2 in pieces. I’m not sure I have any idea what’s going on, but I’m ok with that. I like the show. It’s ridiculous and oddly human. These days my choices are reality (sweet mother of god), dystopia (zombies, vampires, Altered Carbon, and Happy!*), and a handful of shows like this. I think I’d go mad without this.
*Answer me this: is Happy! insanity on film or what the hell is it? Define it. I dare you. Imagine pitching it to the network. Heh.
The agent went to the sperm bank where Nate stored some samples and then picked him to be the donor she wanted
I think the show is hilarious. My wife, not so much. Ever since Justified, I’ll give anything with Natalie Zea a chance.
Wow, I don’t recall that episode at all! Thanks for clearing that up.
Happened in the post-episode tag, I believe.
Yes, that was exactly it.
I still don’t know why she had all those agents after him in the first place, however. Did we ever find out?
They’re doing weird things with time. It’s easy to miss if you’re not really paying attention (and probably don’t work at all if you’re not watching in order).
Nate is the biological father.
Sometime in his past, Nate clearly said that he donated sperm to a sperm bank.
Before the Parker investigation started, Agent Edie had been about to be artificially inseminated. She changed her mind about the whole thing. And then started following the family around. (to new york & alaska). After she fell in love with Nate in Alaska (and he either didn’t notice and/or rejected her), and the case fell apart, she went back to her pre-Parker life.
She then decided she really wanted a baby, went to the sperm bank, started looking through photos and found Nate. The consultant tried to talk her out of that one (said something like “there are better choices”), but she insisted it was the one she wanted.
So - yes, the baby’s Nate’s, but he doesn’t have a strong reason to think that he is There have also been a few subtle (and not so subtle hints) that there’s unreliable narration going on - so, all of the flashbacks where they’re talking to their lawyer or any of the investigators are somewhat suspect.
That says, it’s funnier than it deserves to be.
Is there anywhere I can watch old episodes that doesn’t involve TBS? I’m sure only the current season is available On Demand. I could probably use the TBS app but from the reviews I’ve read it sounds like performance-wise it is about on par with CBS All-Access.
Oh I remember all those scenes and being REALLY confused. It makes sense now. Again, it’s a lot of thinking and paying attention for a sitcom!
The TBS app does suck. Your cable provider might have episodes on demand in their app. I watch them on my computer with my cable login on tbs’s website. It won’t work for me on chrome because my password is wrong and it won’t let me change it. It’s ridiculously tedious sometimes to legally watch something.
I like this show and I still think it’s funny but it has become harder to follow this season because of all the timeline jumping. I’d guess that’s intentional, but there have been a couple of times where I thought that I must’ve missed an episode somehow
BTW, the entire plot of the first season was that Jason Jones’ character wanted to go to a big meeting of his company management to warn them against selling a hand sanitizer with triclosan. As it happens, a few months after the show ended, the FDA banned it in the real world. I assume Jason Jones and Samantha Bee (his wife and the co-creator of the show) were well-aware of the controversy surrounding it.
By the way, Gordon Pinsent is awesome and he should be in every TV show (comedy, drama, documentary, doesn’t matter).
While there were far too many ahem detours in the plotting this season, the last few episodes have managed to reel things back in a bit. The show is at its best when all four family members are together. The season finale should be fun.
Agreed - the family is best at playing off each other - which is why it was fun seeing them stuck in the plane and then lost in the mountains (“somewhere behind the mountain”)