Once again, I wouldn't go as far to call this a great episode of "The Big C," but it definitely had its perks. While I thought the first two episodes of the season were subtle in the way they raised the tensions between characters and continued the journey of Cathy Jamison without driving stupid storylines into our head, I thought the last two episodes had moments that had very unintelligent storytelling devices surrounded by some great moments. Last week, the whole sex angle, despite being funny, made the episode feel extremely normal and sub-par. This week, the whole thing with Shawn's house being haunted was just insane. I can understand why a man on heavy medication for bipolar disorder would think he was going crazy, but the show played up these moments as if we were stupid and would actually believe that there was something in the roof? And was anybody actually surprised to learn that it would be an animal or something like that?
I apologize for ranting about this little plot, but it wasted a large amount of time. With Rebecca gone for the week, it's as if the writers didn't know how to tie Shawn into the show and use it as an opportunity to bring Andrea over to claim that Marlene was haunting the house. I do like how Marlene's presence still lurks at the corners of the show, even though she died last season. But I don't like how dumbed down they made Shawn's character this week.
But everything else was pretty good. I'm not exactly sure what Adam is going through right now and I hope the show focuses more on it, but I think something about his mom's sickness is taking a toll on him. I do like that Adam is getting something to do besides getting mad at his mom. Also, next week's plot with Adam looks hilarious yet ridiculous. In other words, I can't wait to see what happens.
And with Cathy and Paul, things remain funny and great for us, the audience, but terrible for the characters themselves. Cathy wants to start her trial but can't due to her insurance not going through. Things get further complicated after Paul loses his job due to him taking so much time off for Cathy. I know the show is on Showtime and can get away with swearing, but boy, you should hear the mouths on Cathy and Paul in this episode. Hearing them drop F-bomb after F-bomb was awesome. It symbolized not only how frustrated they are but also how awesome they have become this season when acting together. We also get our first Hugh Dancy guest-star appearance, and while he didn't exactly blow me away here, I'm looking forward to seeing how he meshes with the show. And please, oh please, Big C writers, don't let him and Cathy have a fling. The last thing the show needs is to descend into "cheating wife" category again.
Besides the Shawn plot, I was pleased with the episode but am looking for more of the first two episode content and less of the broad humor from the last two. Not that the broad humor is horrible. But the show in the first two episodes seemed fresher than the last two.moreless
