The warmly romantic “Officer of the Year” and the cameo-filled “Celebrate Me Scones” close out Playing House’s second season, a season marked by strong storytelling and anchored by honest performances.
As Playing House’s second season winds down, “Kimmewah Cup” continues to explore how the transitions in Emma and Maggie’s lives have affected their friendship, but the episode overall is a retread of themes and ideas the show has done better in the past.
USA’s surprise hit has style and resonance to spare, but it’s still got some bugs to work out.
“Employee of the Month” continues Playing House’s trend of strong emotional episodes, as it deals with the aftermath of “Knotty Pine,” and Mark and Tina’s decision to get a divorce. The focus on grounded, personal stories, like relationships unraveling, the unwavering support of friends, and feeling scared in the midst of transitions, is the show at its best.
“Knotty Pine,” the fourth episode of Playing House, marks the mid-point for the season and the show’s finest installment, deftly moving between comedy and drama to deliver the best of both genres. The episode culminates with an emotional conversation between Tina and Mark about the future of their relationship, a powerfully broken moment for a comedy, but one that feels completely at home in the world of Playing House.
“Cashmere Burka” continues to strengthen Playing House’s identity as a small-town show: just like in a small town, the people who live there are involved with various aspects of daily life. So bringing back side characters to play the ensemble in an episode, or quick scenes at Rosie’s, or the long and tumultuous story about chicken salad that Emma tells, all of those things build towards making Pinebrook feel like a lived-in place.
Television writer and show developer Eric Kripke is headed back to television, this time on USA Network. The channel formally announced that they had picked up the upcoming comic series Amped for a show development. The show will be based on the upcoming DC/Vertigo series, which Kripke will also be penning, Variety has announced. Amped …
Eliza Coupe has an uncannily innate ability to seem like the most composed and least poised person at the same time on screen. It is a trait that Happy Endings used well, even if it didn’t fully embrace it until the final season, with the delve into Jane’s increasingly slapstick Car Czar. When dealing with the messiness of Brad or Alex’s tomfoolery, Coupe’s Jane Kerkovich-Williams was the only one keeping everything together, yet when she was unable to live up to her own standards of perfection she fell apart before you could squeak out a trademark Kerkovich “What?”