Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Ben & Kate: Recap and a Quick Look into the Show


   I said a few posts back that I was going to start adding more shows to the blog and I'm finally getting around to tackling Tuesday night television. So today starts the additions of Ben&Kate, New Girl, The Mindy Project, Go On, and The New Normal! We'll start with one of FOX's new comedies, Ben&Kate. First, if you haven't seen it, let me give you a quick summary: Kate Fox (Dakota Johnson) is a single mom in her twenties who dropped out of college when she got pregnant with her daughter, Maddie (Maggie Jones). She has a crazy brother, Ben (Nate Faxon), who pops in and out of her life unexpectedly, but has now come back for good to live with her and help her raise Maddie. Along with their two friends, Tommy (Echo Kellum), who is in love with Kate but isn't sure what to do about it, and BJ (Lucy Punch), who is just a beautiful, British, enigma, but also my favorite character in this new quirky sitcom, they are all just trying to find their way through life. While the show has not been a hit, it hasn't gone under yet (as NBC and CBS have already had happen with new sitcoms). It is a cute show with some lovable characters but let's just say I'm not going to be upset if my DVR screws up and forgets to record it. If you haven't been watching this show, you don't even have to start at the beginning to get into it. The show doesn't have much of an order to it, you can understand every character's role and purpose in the show in each episode. No, it's not a hit, it probably won't ever be, and I think it is definitely an acquired sitcom, but I do think it's worth giving it a chance. My guess is we will get 2-3 seasons from it, tops, so check it out while you know it's still around! I hope that it can grow into something more and get better with time, but when the announcement of it's cancellation comes, I won't be surprised.

   Now for last night's episode: Kate has started dating down-the-street-neighbor and single dad, Will (recurring guest star, the gorgeous Geoff Stults). While her relationship seems perfect, she knows something is bound to go wrong soon. Will invites her to come see his cover band, ZZ Scott, and when she and BJ show up to the concert, Kate finally finds the one thing wrong with him: when Will plays guitar, he makes his sex face. And it is NOT pretty. Later that night, Will is trying to get comfy with Kate but she can't stop laughing, and finally tells him about his face. Obviously this causes tension between the two, only to be severed by Kate's realization in the end that she has trust issues and she was just looking for something wrong with Will so she could push him away. Classic single moms, always looking to be let down. But, as all the good guys say, Will isn't going anywhere. Cue make-up scene! While Kate seems pre-occupied with her relationship, BJ starts to feel unimportant in Kate's life, which is not acceptable because BJ should be the most important person in everyone's life! According to her. She stumbles upon a Women's Support Group for divorced women and they welcome BJ and give her advice on how to handle what is going on with Kate. While this makes BJ into a wise and compassionate person for the first time in her life, I doubt it will be there next week.


   As for Ben and Tommy, they just keep getting themselves caught up in bad situations. Actually Ben causes bad situations and Tommy bails him out. This time was a bit different. Tommy scored Ben a job at the country club he works at so he could earn some extra cash while thinking up his next 'great idea'. Unfortunately for Ben, the only job Tommy could get him was the snack girl job. And yes, the title of the position is actually 'Snack Girl'. Ben finds out from some golfers that the best way to earn cash is to poach for golf balls in the middle of the night and sell them back to the golfers. It's also illegal because he would be trespassing but that doesn't stop Ben. Even Tommy's begging doesn't convince him it may be a bad idea. As Tommy follows Ben and tries to stop him from poaching, the police show up and both of them get fired from the club. Ben, being the smooth talker he is, tries to get Tommy his job back but the boss doesn't care. As any normal person would be, Tommy is furious with Ben and stops talking to him. After multiple failed tries to call him, Ben decides there is only one way for him to make it up to Tommy--have Tommy hit an entire bucket of golf balls at Ben at short range. Because that is clearly the best and only way this can be fixed...oh boys. As expected, they only get through one ball before Ben keels over and Tommy forgives him. In the end it kind of works out. I say kind of because they are not very clear on whether Tommy gets his job back but I'm going to assume that he does. They do, however, get their first investor in their new business idea, which honestly I don't even know what it is. Something with trains... Anyways, as with every episode, everyone lives happily ever after! Until next week when Ben will screw something up again.

Photos courtesy of FOX

No comments:

Post a Comment