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I also caught up on the rest of Schitt's Creek
... just in time to wait for the new (and final!) season next year along with everyone else.
(And I'm writing about it now because I went to bed early like a sensible person and woke up wide awake two hours later. ಠ_ಠ This is what I get for trying to be a competent adult.)
Anyway, I know I've talked about this show a little bit already, but it continues to be a delight. It's a very sweet big-city/small-town culture-clash sitcom run by a father-son creative team, Eugene and Daniel Levy, who also play father and son on the show; Daniel's sister also plays one of the characters on the show, though not part of the core family. Daniel Levy is gay IRL and the show's main pairing is a gay one (there are also a couple of major het couples - and I give the show special props for having a couple in their sixties with an active sex life - but I'd say David and Patrick's arc is the core of the show in season four and five).
It's definitely got its share of embarrassment-squicky humor, and is probably one of the most sitcom-esque sitcoms that I've ever enjoyed this much -- I mean, unlike something like The Good Place that's nominally a sitcom but doesn't really feel like one, this show is definitely a sitcom. The characters are all very broad and over-the-top in that sitcom kind of way, and anytime I haven't watched the show in awhile, it takes me a little while to get back into the swing of it and stop finding them annoying. But I finished the season wrapped up in a warm ball of love for everyone. I really appreciate this show's commitment to digging down for the humanity in the characters, even the annoying ones, and pushing them to recognize each other's humanity as well.
It's also rare among TV sitcoms for not giving me the screaming heebie jeebies at how the romances are portrayed. The messed-up ideas about relationships that some of the characters hold are clearly supposed to be messed up and something they're trying to unlearn, and I'm really pulling for all of the main pairings in the show. (Even as much of a loser as Roland is, he's good to Jocelyn and clearly very invested in the relationship and in their kids.)
I teared up in multiple places during the last couple of episodes, including:
- David crying when Patrick proposed.
- Moira telling Stevie how much she admires Stevie's commitment to being her own person. I think that it hit me so hard because of how rarely you see that kind of affirmation for a woman who presents herself the way Stevie does. Whatever the final season eventually does with her, I sincerely hope a makeover to a more feminine presentation isn't going to be the final form of Stevie's developing self-confidence (and honestly, this is one of the few shows I have at least SOME confidence won't do that).
- David's expression of utter love when Stevie was singing. I'd noticed that the David-Stevie friendship had been somewhat backburnered this season, but the season finale really hit it hard, between David telling her about the engagement before anyone else, and Stevie almost missing her big show just to pick him up his gift (also: "Patrick asked for my blessing", omg) and David's "That's my friend up there!" to some random audience member. But really, it was the look on his face when she was singing that really got to me.
One thing that didn't make me cry but was still delightful (and heartbreaking) was Stevie's entire reaction to Johnny being in the hospital. Especially that part where she's just sitting on the chair curled up into a little ball while they're waiting for news, and then when he comes out and he's okay she doesn't get up and hug him or anything, she just starts crying. Stevie.
I thought that I was done trusting shows this much but APPARENTLY NOT, because I'm about as sure as I can be that whatever else happens in season six, this show is going to cap off with a Big Gay Wedding and I expect to end up pretty satisfied with everyone else's endings as well.
I also finally saw the Christmas episode (okay, this was a little while back, but I'm just now getting around to saying something about it) and I'm setting that part off from the main part because I ended up being really uncomfortable with it in a way this show normally doesn't make me uncomfortable. It was cute and sweet and also massively squicky in a way that I normally wouldn't expect because usually the show is better than this, on this particular thing.
This is one of those shows where the creators have a very firm stamp on it - you can tell it's basically a labor of love for the Levys, and with the main showrunner being Jewish and gay, playing a character who is also Jewish and gay, the show usually handles those two things reasonably well, at least from my perspective (being neither). It sometimes misses the mark on other things, but that's something I usually trust it not to completely fuck up on.
So why on earth did the show center an entire episode around a Jewish character trying to have the perfect family Christmas? In particular, without a word of explanation about it? I love Christmas, it's a major cultural holiday for me and one of the highlights of my year, but I also recognize the overwhelming cultural hegemony of Christmas in the Western world, and let me tell you, nothing really makes the uncomfortable aspects of that pop out in sharp relief like an entire episode about a Jewish character trying to achieve the True Meaning Of Christmas without the show having a single visible shred of self-awareness about it or any mention of any other holiday traditions of any kind besides that one.
It's particularly frustrating because, if they really needed to do an episode like this, a much more reasonable option is RIGHT THERE: Moira, a canonically non-Jewish character married for most of her adult life to a Jewish guy. And it's entirely in character for Moira to either hit a snapping point where she's lost everything else but she is Going To Have Christmas This Year Dammit, or for their former big family Christmases in the past to have been mainly something Johnny was doing for Moira (or something they used to do as a publicity stunt, which was actually what I initially assumed was going on there) that he is now trying to resurrect for her sake, and the kids' sake, and not something he's doing for himself per se. I mean, it'd still be nice if the show would maybe have the characters have a conversation about their own traditions including something other than Christmas and not hit the Meaning Of Christmas notes quite as hard as this episode did, but at least if Moira is the driving force behind it, the actual plot makes sense.
Otherwise it just felt kind of weirdly self-hating and creepy, like Johnny's been brainwashed by Christmas. It was clearly supposed to be one of their warm-fuzzy everyone-coming-together episodes, but for me it really didn't land.
(And I'm writing about it now because I went to bed early like a sensible person and woke up wide awake two hours later. ಠ_ಠ This is what I get for trying to be a competent adult.)
Anyway, I know I've talked about this show a little bit already, but it continues to be a delight. It's a very sweet big-city/small-town culture-clash sitcom run by a father-son creative team, Eugene and Daniel Levy, who also play father and son on the show; Daniel's sister also plays one of the characters on the show, though not part of the core family. Daniel Levy is gay IRL and the show's main pairing is a gay one (there are also a couple of major het couples - and I give the show special props for having a couple in their sixties with an active sex life - but I'd say David and Patrick's arc is the core of the show in season four and five).
It's definitely got its share of embarrassment-squicky humor, and is probably one of the most sitcom-esque sitcoms that I've ever enjoyed this much -- I mean, unlike something like The Good Place that's nominally a sitcom but doesn't really feel like one, this show is definitely a sitcom. The characters are all very broad and over-the-top in that sitcom kind of way, and anytime I haven't watched the show in awhile, it takes me a little while to get back into the swing of it and stop finding them annoying. But I finished the season wrapped up in a warm ball of love for everyone. I really appreciate this show's commitment to digging down for the humanity in the characters, even the annoying ones, and pushing them to recognize each other's humanity as well.
It's also rare among TV sitcoms for not giving me the screaming heebie jeebies at how the romances are portrayed. The messed-up ideas about relationships that some of the characters hold are clearly supposed to be messed up and something they're trying to unlearn, and I'm really pulling for all of the main pairings in the show. (Even as much of a loser as Roland is, he's good to Jocelyn and clearly very invested in the relationship and in their kids.)
I teared up in multiple places during the last couple of episodes, including:
- David crying when Patrick proposed.
- Moira telling Stevie how much she admires Stevie's commitment to being her own person. I think that it hit me so hard because of how rarely you see that kind of affirmation for a woman who presents herself the way Stevie does. Whatever the final season eventually does with her, I sincerely hope a makeover to a more feminine presentation isn't going to be the final form of Stevie's developing self-confidence (and honestly, this is one of the few shows I have at least SOME confidence won't do that).
- David's expression of utter love when Stevie was singing. I'd noticed that the David-Stevie friendship had been somewhat backburnered this season, but the season finale really hit it hard, between David telling her about the engagement before anyone else, and Stevie almost missing her big show just to pick him up his gift (also: "Patrick asked for my blessing", omg) and David's "That's my friend up there!" to some random audience member. But really, it was the look on his face when she was singing that really got to me.
One thing that didn't make me cry but was still delightful (and heartbreaking) was Stevie's entire reaction to Johnny being in the hospital. Especially that part where she's just sitting on the chair curled up into a little ball while they're waiting for news, and then when he comes out and he's okay she doesn't get up and hug him or anything, she just starts crying. Stevie.
I thought that I was done trusting shows this much but APPARENTLY NOT, because I'm about as sure as I can be that whatever else happens in season six, this show is going to cap off with a Big Gay Wedding and I expect to end up pretty satisfied with everyone else's endings as well.
I also finally saw the Christmas episode (okay, this was a little while back, but I'm just now getting around to saying something about it) and I'm setting that part off from the main part because I ended up being really uncomfortable with it in a way this show normally doesn't make me uncomfortable. It was cute and sweet and also massively squicky in a way that I normally wouldn't expect because usually the show is better than this, on this particular thing.
This is one of those shows where the creators have a very firm stamp on it - you can tell it's basically a labor of love for the Levys, and with the main showrunner being Jewish and gay, playing a character who is also Jewish and gay, the show usually handles those two things reasonably well, at least from my perspective (being neither). It sometimes misses the mark on other things, but that's something I usually trust it not to completely fuck up on.
So why on earth did the show center an entire episode around a Jewish character trying to have the perfect family Christmas? In particular, without a word of explanation about it? I love Christmas, it's a major cultural holiday for me and one of the highlights of my year, but I also recognize the overwhelming cultural hegemony of Christmas in the Western world, and let me tell you, nothing really makes the uncomfortable aspects of that pop out in sharp relief like an entire episode about a Jewish character trying to achieve the True Meaning Of Christmas without the show having a single visible shred of self-awareness about it or any mention of any other holiday traditions of any kind besides that one.
It's particularly frustrating because, if they really needed to do an episode like this, a much more reasonable option is RIGHT THERE: Moira, a canonically non-Jewish character married for most of her adult life to a Jewish guy. And it's entirely in character for Moira to either hit a snapping point where she's lost everything else but she is Going To Have Christmas This Year Dammit, or for their former big family Christmases in the past to have been mainly something Johnny was doing for Moira (or something they used to do as a publicity stunt, which was actually what I initially assumed was going on there) that he is now trying to resurrect for her sake, and the kids' sake, and not something he's doing for himself per se. I mean, it'd still be nice if the show would maybe have the characters have a conversation about their own traditions including something other than Christmas and not hit the Meaning Of Christmas notes quite as hard as this episode did, but at least if Moira is the driving force behind it, the actual plot makes sense.
Otherwise it just felt kind of weirdly self-hating and creepy, like Johnny's been brainwashed by Christmas. It was clearly supposed to be one of their warm-fuzzy everyone-coming-together episodes, but for me it really didn't land.