I thought the symbol of the sit-com was to show how Kevin views himself being a self-involved narcissist that he is and Alison’s pov is the real world where everything is not so bright.
I think it's also meant to present how Kevin draws other people in, they are in this world and experiencing it through his lens. I think Alison's world is darker than the real world also, it's more real but not reality.
Now that I've seen the 2nd season I'm happy they ended it where they did. There's no need to drag it out any longer, the story works as it should with the two seasons and that's better than a show overstaying its welcome.
I think it ended well, but if we had 3 seasons I think the father would have had a bigger moment when "reality" takes over, like Neil did. I'd love to see that rather than him just getting sick of his son and fucking off, because this is such an effective tool to examine the previously 2d characters.
Try looking at the show through the lens of the five laws of Stupidity. Allison is a helpless person who thinks she’s intelligent at the start of the show. She, then, transforms into an intelligent person as the show progresses. In contrast, Kevin is a bandit disguised as a stupid person, and by the end of show he transforms into a genuinely stupid person, who inflicts maximum loss on himself. Had Allison not completed her transformation, i.e., had she not stopped being a helpless person, she would’ve suffered maximum loss as well. The other characters make more sense through this lens as well.
Maybe it's time for another one of those preparing for a new showrunner marathons like you did with past Chibnall episodes. It would be interesting to look at RTD's past episodes and think about how he would work 15 years later.
watched this series after finishing fleabag and it was perfect since phoebe waller-bridge just wouldnt continue on further.. (or hopefully she changes her mind and makes S3) . anyone who enjoyed the female rage, i think you are gonna love it too
Another way to have a season 2 while also killing off Kevin: Allison goes through with it, than marries a different guy called Kevin, who is *also* a sitcom-narcissist, so she wants to kill him. And she does it. Repeat for 12 seasons.
I remember seeing the trailer for this months ago and really looking forward to it and forgetting all about it until now! Can't wait to dive in (I'll watch this video once I've seen it).
Well now This sounds like something along the lines of WandaVision sans the superhero antics Might actually put this on my bucket list, since I unironically love sitcoms but I also love it when people satirize them
Haven't seen this show but what you were describing about bleeding separate tones and formats together as a character study kind of reminds me a bit of Who Framed Roger Rabbit, with its combining of wacky children's animation and noir, two genres which in many ways are diametrically opposed. One bright, colourful and fast paced, the other slow, downbeat and cynical, often with a desaturated colour palette, and this contrast reflects the character journey of Eddie Valiant
I watched the first part of this video a few days ago, then watched KCFH, now I'm back. Fascinating show, but I think it has some problems. The dialogue is sometimes frustrating - the characters are always just posturing or reacting, never really sharing. There are moments when it feels like characters should be connecting on a deep level, but it never happens. In addition, Allison's behavior becomes so erratic as the show progresses that it makes no sense. By the 8th episode I completely lost track of what she wanted. Her argument behind the diner with her lover made no sense. To me it felt like sloppy writing, as if the writers were trying to communicate Allison's increasing feeling of being trapped, but they were unable to create convincing links between that feeling and the requirements of the plot. Still, I liked most of it and I'll definitely watch the next season. Regarding the shooting: I actually didn't know whether Kevin had been shot until he reappeared. For one thing, this is an experimental show, so I figure anything is possible. What's more risky than killing off a main character? Second, I didn't know another season was in the works. While I'm waiting for more episodes, I better watch Bojack Horseman, since I've never seen that one.
this is really old but I just finished the season 1 last night, and I think i have an explanation for the diner conversation you mentioned. that conversation is a callback to an earlier talk with her lover, when she enters late night and tried to have their first deep convo since he's back. he mentions how "people who feel like everyone has left them, are sometimes the only ones isolating themselves", and she gets upset and leaves. in this conversation he brings it back and says "you decide when we're talking, when we are not, when we are having an affair. you are always in control, you just like to pretend you are not." I didn't see this as victim blaming, but I thought this was an interesting narrative where Allison was responsible for a lot of the chaos she created by the end of the season, but her anger towards Kevin becomes so heavy and delusional that she cannot recognise she is very much in control, and causing her own wrath. This was what I took from it.
My boyfriend started watching this by himself, but then got me to watch it too, because he thought I'd enjoy the style-flipping and genre subversion. He was not wrong. I'm not sure if we're really supposed to believe that she will kill Kevin. But maybe that will happen in the final season. Either way I love the concept and execution.
They probably should have killed Kevin, and find some other way to bleed the two styles together. Maybe have him come back as a ghost to haunt Allison, like some sitcoms have gimmicks of a family member being a robot or something. And the scenes with Kevin are presented as if he's a ghost in a sitcom, but from Allison's perspective it's clear this is just her sliping sanity. Or not. Just don't have him in the show. Since this show is based on pissing on sitcom conventions, it would be on brand if the namesake of the show was fucking dead since season 1.
Worst case scenario for this amazing show would be to milk its premise to death and back again by running too long - the "How I met Your Mother" mistake, even though that shitty show doesn't really deserve to be named in the same breath as this complete gem. And, frankly, Kevin is so utterly helpless without Alison, she could "kill" him by simply going on an extended solo vacation (or an inpatient program in a mental hospital, which would probably be more appropriate...) and let her menace of a husband kill himself though his own recklessness and foolishness.
So many interpretations. The sitcom is how Allison views the repetitive nature of her life with Kevin. The sitcom is a power Kevin has as a main character on a tv show, Allison wakes up and the single cam is the real world vs the rendered world of the sitcom. The sitcom could be Kevin’s narcissism. The sitcom also shows up before she met Kevin in season 2 with her mom at her dads funeral, could just mean it signifies a repetitive life. I think Kevin has a superpower though, I see a lot of similarities with “I’m thinking of ending things” by Charlie Kaufman. Also on Netflix
I just finished watching this show and loved it! I think them bringing it to prime video outside of the US will probably gain the show a lot more attentions.
2:11-2:16 Their is a Netflix show that technically dose this, the Netflix show is called Hilda. Season 1 of Hilda is a masterpiece for the exact opposite reasons Bojack Horseman is a masterpiece. And season 2 of Hilda tends to get as dark as Bojack Horseman by having a higher kill count than Breaking Bad and it's best episode The Deerfox is an amazing hybrid of Appa's Lost Days, The View from Halfway Down, and the Camp Camp episode The Forest.
Maybe I will watch this, but as you said the formula demands that Kevin will not die and the show wants its viewers to think it is going to become something grittier than it will be.
OTHER PEOPLE, PROBABLY: Well-deserved warm compliments, pertinent constructive criticism ME: I did not expect a man collapsing onto a sandwich to be this loud!
The way I see it is she's trying to escape Everybody Loves Raymond, but in doing so her life becomes Dead To Me. Swapping one deranged sitcom for another, much darker one.
I think this is more a psychological or social commentary drama rather than a crime thriller. Allison truly wants a divorce but she is afraid of 1 what Kevin might do, 2 what her future will be without the shared resources 3 having the stigma about divorcing a "great guy" in that small town. Being a widow is a better option in her mind
Just bumped into people suggesting that show in a podcast and wanted to know what is it about, and then I got here. It sounds partially like having this friend who wants to leave someone but it's impossible to do it, so we'll see a journey through a descending spiral. It's worse when you are friends with both parts, so you know that othe other just can't grasp what's going on beyond their flaws. If you've witnessed that then you know it'll be like 3 more seasons.
Just finished binging the show this week, amazing show with a tragically realistic depiction of abuse from a narcissistic partner, Kevin really did fuck himself
@@soulfoodie1 I am sure that there are many other words to describe that kind of colour. Maybe it's just not creative if it is being described as -"green"- that word.
Thought the sitcom was how they have to just pretend for him like they are on a show He cant take anything seriously Like the sitcom was the lying to Kevin and hiding the real things that he wont acknowledge. A way of saying "this guy lives in his own world" self centered and such.
I am so late to the party! I just saw this show and am desperate to discuss it 😂 Great vid and I appreciate your take. For me, I didn’t care whether or not Allison killed Kevin. I felt the show was a look at the stereotypical sitcom wife and seeing her spiral just like the husband. But for me it made the show unwatchable. We just see her hurt and abuse the few likable characters on screen (Pam and Sam). Allison keeps saying she cant leave but the show never shows us why. If the implication is domestic violence, why not make her more empathetic and relatable? Instead the show frames her as selfish and self victimizing. I think the concept was great but the show fails to have a clear message. We just have a really unlikable character getting into hijinks. The last two episodes of season 2 start to course correct but I doubt anyone sticks around to watch that long.
As much as I did enjoy that show, I was like a little bit disappointed with how little they actually did with it. Like it could have been really gritty and could have really showed a woman going through something a little more substantial than it did
Allison is the worst. She is so unhappy that she has to ruin the life of everyone around her. Then she finally gets what she wants and is sad now. Crocodile tears from a cold manipulative shrew.
It's touched upon in multiple episodes why she can't. Kevin is abusive and ruins peoples lives if he feels they've wronged him, but they show it like it's some big wacky revenge like in a sitcom. They also reveal that she doesn't have money to leave him so she'd basically end up homeless.
My gf watched this and I tried to get into it, but there wasn't much substance to it beyond the gimmicky concept. It's just the one joke played over and over again.
Allyson is also selfish and self-absorbed when it comes to others like Patty and Sam. Also, she has shown that she's very capable of telling others around her how she feels, even confronting a Killer. For some reason she can't simply talk to Kevin and tell him how she feels? And has to resort to Murder??
We're supposed to feel bad for Allison but she could have married any number of serious considerate, hard working and thrifty men, but instead she chose a good time guy. She married the "fun" guy who made her laugh. Takeaway. We should go back to arranged marriages.
I thought the symbol of the sit-com was to show how Kevin views himself being a self-involved narcissist that he is and Alison’s pov is the real world where everything is not so bright.
Thank you, some one else got those vibes
I think it's also meant to present how Kevin draws other people in, they are in this world and experiencing it through his lens.
I think Alison's world is darker than the real world also, it's more real but not reality.
Now that I've seen the 2nd season I'm happy they ended it where they did. There's no need to drag it out any longer, the story works as it should with the two seasons and that's better than a show overstaying its welcome.
I think it could've used (exactly) one more season, but it's better to end too early than too late
If there were 10 episode seasons instead of 8 it would have rocked.an extra 4 episodes would have been lovely.
It would’ve been cool to still end it with a confirmed Kevin survived.
I think it ended well, but if we had 3 seasons I think the father would have had a bigger moment when "reality" takes over, like Neil did. I'd love to see that rather than him just getting sick of his son and fucking off, because this is such an effective tool to examine the previously 2d characters.
@@shiestyseanwhy would you want him to survive? That would be so miserable and sad
Try looking at the show through the lens of the five laws of Stupidity. Allison is a helpless person who thinks she’s intelligent at the start of the show. She, then, transforms into an intelligent person as the show progresses. In contrast, Kevin is a bandit disguised as a stupid person, and by the end of show he transforms into a genuinely stupid person, who inflicts maximum loss on himself. Had Allison not completed her transformation, i.e., had she not stopped being a helpless person, she would’ve suffered maximum loss as well. The other characters make more sense through this lens as well.
In unrelated news: yes I know. Writing video. Don't ask me till its done
Finally! The video on skins /s
THANKS, the Herbal Crackpot returns in our time of hell
Looking forward to hearing your views on the new show runner
Maybe it's time for another one of those preparing for a new showrunner marathons like you did with past Chibnall episodes. It would be interesting to look at RTD's past episodes and think about how he would work 15 years later.
this anti male bullcrap.
watched this series after finishing fleabag and it was perfect since phoebe waller-bridge just wouldnt continue on further.. (or hopefully she changes her mind and makes S3) . anyone who enjoyed the female rage, i think you are gonna love it too
Another way to have a season 2 while also killing off Kevin: Allison goes through with it, than marries a different guy called Kevin, who is *also* a sitcom-narcissist, so she wants to kill him. And she does it.
Repeat for 12 seasons.
This would definitely work and is plausible. A lot of people go from one disastrous relationship to another.
That seems a bit too silly to me. How about she kills him, and the lighthearted sitcom side goes on as if the actor quit unexpectedly?
13 reasons why I don’t like that
😂😂
@@stephenreed2093 almost like she is a terrible person. right?
I remember seeing the trailer for this months ago and really looking forward to it and forgetting all about it until now!
Can't wait to dive in (I'll watch this video once I've seen it).
And what did you think? 📺
Well now
This sounds like something along the lines of WandaVision sans the superhero antics
Might actually put this on my bucket list, since I unironically love sitcoms but I also love it when people satirize them
Definitely a must watch
Is it a bad sign when someone mentions Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead I just think of Lion King 3?
I never thought of that comparison before.
I'd never heard of this, and it sounds absolutely amazing. I'll definitely be checking it out!
Once again the Stubagful Entertainment Radar System™ has brought a show to my attention that seems worth looking in to.👌
Mind if I nick Stubagful entertainment radar system and use it next time I've found something? :)
@@Stubagful I would be honored.
Thanks stu, another crippling, crushing, soul draini-I mean funny comedy show to add to the watch list.
Haven't seen this show but what you were describing about bleeding separate tones and formats together as a character study kind of reminds me a bit of Who Framed Roger Rabbit, with its combining of wacky children's animation and noir, two genres which in many ways are diametrically opposed. One bright, colourful and fast paced, the other slow, downbeat and cynical, often with a desaturated colour palette, and this contrast reflects the character journey of Eddie Valiant
I'm bawling right now😭😭😭. Bojack Horseman is a Roman Empire to me. So I know this is gonna be good.
I watched the first part of this video a few days ago, then watched KCFH, now I'm back. Fascinating show, but I think it has some problems. The dialogue is sometimes frustrating - the characters are always just posturing or reacting, never really sharing. There are moments when it feels like characters should be connecting on a deep level, but it never happens. In addition, Allison's behavior becomes so erratic as the show progresses that it makes no sense. By the 8th episode I completely lost track of what she wanted. Her argument behind the diner with her lover made no sense. To me it felt like sloppy writing, as if the writers were trying to communicate Allison's increasing feeling of being trapped, but they were unable to create convincing links between that feeling and the requirements of the plot.
Still, I liked most of it and I'll definitely watch the next season.
Regarding the shooting: I actually didn't know whether Kevin had been shot until he reappeared. For one thing, this is an experimental show, so I figure anything is possible. What's more risky than killing off a main character? Second, I didn't know another season was in the works.
While I'm waiting for more episodes, I better watch Bojack Horseman, since I've never seen that one.
this is really old but I just finished the season 1 last night, and I think i have an explanation for the diner conversation you mentioned. that conversation is a callback to an earlier talk with her lover, when she enters late night and tried to have their first deep convo since he's back. he mentions how "people who feel like everyone has left them, are sometimes the only ones isolating themselves", and she gets upset and leaves. in this conversation he brings it back and says "you decide when we're talking, when we are not, when we are having an affair. you are always in control, you just like to pretend you are not." I didn't see this as victim blaming, but I thought this was an interesting narrative where Allison was responsible for a lot of the chaos she created by the end of the season, but her anger towards Kevin becomes so heavy and delusional that she cannot recognise she is very much in control, and causing her own wrath. This was what I took from it.
I was hoping for a doctor who show runner rant but this is cool too.
i loved it when Kevin said "it's f***in time " and Kevin f***ed all over.
My boyfriend started watching this by himself, but then got me to watch it too, because he thought I'd enjoy the style-flipping and genre subversion. He was not wrong. I'm not sure if we're really supposed to believe that she will kill Kevin. But maybe that will happen in the final season. Either way I love the concept and execution.
I know this is an old comment but i hope you finished the series!!
@@Bulhbluhbuy Still haven’t watched season two yet!
They probably should have killed Kevin, and find some other way to bleed the two styles together. Maybe have him come back as a ghost to haunt Allison, like some sitcoms have gimmicks of a family member being a robot or something. And the scenes with Kevin are presented as if he's a ghost in a sitcom, but from Allison's perspective it's clear this is just her sliping sanity.
Or not. Just don't have him in the show. Since this show is based on pissing on sitcom conventions, it would be on brand if the namesake of the show was fucking dead since season 1.
Have her actually kill Kevin, and make the lighthearted sitcom side a 'Show tries to go on after the lead actor quits without warning' arc.
Worst case scenario for this amazing show would be to milk its premise to death and back again by running too long - the "How I met Your Mother" mistake, even though that shitty show doesn't really deserve to be named in the same breath as this complete gem.
And, frankly, Kevin is so utterly helpless without Alison, she could "kill" him by simply going on an extended solo vacation (or an inpatient program in a mental hospital, which would probably be more appropriate...) and let her menace of a husband kill himself though his own recklessness and foolishness.
Good call.
How does it feel to be psychic? 😂😂
So many interpretations. The sitcom is how Allison views the repetitive nature of her life with Kevin. The sitcom is a power Kevin has as a main character on a tv show, Allison wakes up and the single cam is the real world vs the rendered world of the sitcom. The sitcom could be Kevin’s narcissism. The sitcom also shows up before she met Kevin in season 2 with her mom at her dads funeral, could just mean it signifies a repetitive life. I think Kevin has a superpower though, I see a lot of similarities with “I’m thinking of ending things” by Charlie Kaufman. Also on Netflix
I just finished watching this show and loved it! I think them bringing it to prime video outside of the US will probably gain the show a lot more attentions.
Guess I've got something new to add to my watchlist
2:11-2:16 Their is a Netflix show that technically dose this, the Netflix show is called Hilda. Season 1 of Hilda is a masterpiece for the exact opposite reasons Bojack Horseman is a masterpiece. And season 2 of Hilda tends to get as dark as Bojack Horseman by having a higher kill count than Breaking Bad and it's best episode The Deerfox is an amazing hybrid of Appa's Lost Days, The View from Halfway Down, and the Camp Camp episode The Forest.
Yeah Stubagful should watch it, it's just the right level of emotions that you simply can't put the serious down - I'm so ready for the movie finale
That episode of Black Mirror was great!
Really looking forward to this. But I need an additional seven minutes to finish another video. Also, nature calls.
A show I highly recommend about the main character fallen from grace is Better Call Saul.
Maybe I will watch this, but as you said the formula demands that Kevin will not die and the show wants its viewers to think it is going to become something grittier than it will be.
I love this idea so much, I'm absolutely going to check it out!
It’s very fitting that the show is set in Worcester, MA
OTHER PEOPLE, PROBABLY: Well-deserved warm compliments, pertinent constructive criticism
ME: I did not expect a man collapsing onto a sandwich to be this loud!
I literally said after watching the show that no series has emotionally jarred me like this since Bojack
Great review, except…in Breaking Bad, Walter White was always an asshole and a monster. From minute one.
The way I see it is she's trying to escape Everybody Loves Raymond, but in doing so her life becomes Dead To Me. Swapping one deranged sitcom for another, much darker one.
I think this is more a psychological or social commentary drama rather than a crime thriller. Allison truly wants a divorce but she is afraid of 1 what Kevin might do, 2 what her future will be without the shared resources 3 having the stigma about divorcing a "great guy" in that small town. Being a widow is a better option in her mind
Just bumped into people suggesting that show in a podcast and wanted to know what is it about, and then I got here. It sounds partially like having this friend who wants to leave someone but it's impossible to do it, so we'll see a journey through a descending spiral. It's worse when you are friends with both parts, so you know that othe other just can't grasp what's going on beyond their flaws.
If you've witnessed that then you know it'll be like 3 more seasons.
Just finished binging the show this week, amazing show with a tragically realistic depiction of abuse from a narcissistic partner, Kevin really did fuck himself
what did i do?
So basically, the first episode should have taken WandaVision's cue regarding the runtime?
Too bad AMC won’t give us a season 3.
I highly approve of the Don't Hug Me I'm scared' reference
I so want the tablecloth from that show that is seen in this video. You know, the green, blue and teal(?) one.
@@camelopardalis84 But Green is not a creative colour!
@@soulfoodie1 I am sure that there are many other words to describe that kind of colour. Maybe it's just not creative if it is being described as -"green"- that word.
I thought we all agreed... ...to never be creative again.
Thought the sitcom was how they have to just pretend for him like they are on a show
He cant take anything seriously
Like the sitcom was the lying to Kevin and hiding the real things that he wont acknowledge. A way of saying "this guy lives in his own world" self centered and such.
I am so late to the party! I just saw this show and am desperate to discuss it 😂 Great vid and I appreciate your take.
For me, I didn’t care whether or not Allison killed Kevin. I felt the show was a look at the stereotypical sitcom wife and seeing her spiral just like the husband. But for me it made the show unwatchable. We just see her hurt and abuse the few likable characters on screen (Pam and Sam).
Allison keeps saying she cant leave but the show never shows us why. If the implication is domestic violence, why not make her more empathetic and relatable? Instead the show frames her as selfish and self victimizing.
I think the concept was great but the show fails to have a clear message. We just have a really unlikable character getting into hijinks. The last two episodes of season 2 start to course correct but I doubt anyone sticks around to watch that long.
I'd heard about this but not about the premise. If it works as you say it may well be worth watching.
I thought he meant Kevin from Shark Tank
The stick people are evolving.
0:32-0:36 Just review Farscape and Invincible if want them to come across as normal.
Thanks I’ll give it a look
Hey I know it’s two years old now but didja hear there’s gonna be a new story by Bob Raphael Waxburg about family 👀👀👀
Did you do a commentary after s2? I think youre missing the point of the show also being a study of abuse
We will give your body to the living flesh super computer
All hail the living flesh supercomputer
Heres a comment to (help) boost you in the algorithm
When is the season 2 review coming?
The concept was great, but the overall story left me kind of unsatisfied , kinda like the main characters in the show.
Groundbreaking!....in 2005, where these types of sitcoms were popular.
How’s Met Film school?
sneed
As much as I did enjoy that show, I was like a little bit disappointed with how little they actually did with it. Like it could have been really gritty and could have really showed a woman going through something a little more substantial than it did
What an incisive critique
2:11-2:16 Jennette Mccurdy book I'm Glad My Mom Died should fill that void.
Allison is the worst. She is so unhappy that she has to ruin the life of everyone around her. Then she finally gets what she wants and is sad now. Crocodile tears from a cold manipulative shrew.
Why doesn't she just get a divorce?
It's touched upon in multiple episodes why she can't. Kevin is abusive and ruins peoples lives if he feels they've wronged him, but they show it like it's some big wacky revenge like in a sitcom. They also reveal that she doesn't have money to leave him so she'd basically end up homeless.
My gf watched this and I tried to get into it, but there wasn't much substance to it beyond the gimmicky concept. It's just the one joke played over and over again.
Allyson is also selfish and self-absorbed when it comes to others like Patty and Sam.
Also, she has shown that she's very capable of telling others around her how she feels, even confronting a Killer.
For some reason she can't simply talk to Kevin and tell him how she feels? And has to resort to Murder??
We're supposed to feel bad for Allison but she could have married any number of serious considerate, hard working and thrifty men, but instead she chose a good time guy. She married the "fun" guy who made her laugh.
Takeaway. We should go back to arranged marriages.