Considering “Little Mitchard No More” was originally conceived as The Grinder‘s third episode, it’s hard to take away any sense of the show’s growth over its first month. And that’s probably a good thing. “Little Michard No More” is a weightless half hour spent mostly in the irony of Dean’s inability to act like a normal human being around women – without actually giving said woman much of a voice in the proceedings beyond mild dismissal. And an episode of The Grinder without any pathos means the series better bring the satire – and ultimately, that’s where “Little Mitchard” falls short.
The cornerstones of The Grinder‘s satire in “Little Mitchard” focus on two distinct procedural tropes: the “will they, won’t they” story and the “poring over case files” montage, neither of which need 22 minutes to build to. The ‘will they’ story dominates Dean’s presence in the episode, turning our suave celebrity into a dribbling fool unable to communicate the simplest emotions, without either making a big scene or being a complete chauvinist – and frankly, it’s about as entertaining and original as it sounds, with Dean inserting himself into Claire’s case of the week (something about a playground fight? The episode doesn’t really care either) with no actual attempts to work on the case, until the final three minutes of the episode. By that time, we’ve already spent the entire third act at a fancy party (guest starring Nat Faxon) in a Stewart story that’s really kind of about Dean as well. It’s Dean All Day on The Grinder, which hardly leaves room for anything like “nuance” or “character development.”
There’s a lot about how The Grinder‘s tried to introduce this Claire/Dean dynamic that hasn’t work: the show’s attempts to satirize the typical beats of these stories on other shows has been clumsy at best, and thoroughly one-sided at its worst, with Dean constantly telling himself and others how she’s going to react in any given situation and the subsequent fallout that comes from those assumptions. It just doesn’t give Natalie Morales any chance to establish her character beyond a reactionary device to Dean’s behavior – and when his behavior is assuming they’ll have sex on her desk after she compliments him, it doesn’t lend itself to the most endearing material for either character (and makes for a really off putting tag over the closing credits).
Take all this out of the proceedings, and what’s left is a thoroughly undeveloped story about Stewart and Debbie struggling to make friends because of their famous brother – oh wait, there’s another story tethered to Dean’s presence on the show, further establishing a Dean-centric universe for the show that doesn’t work. As last week’s episode proved, a lot of Stewart (and a little bit of Todd) goes a long way – and the more we can get from Debbie and the kids, the better (the daughter in particular: she’s really been background fodder to this point). Such an extreme focus on Dean’s inability to be a basic human being isn’t a solid long-term formula for the show. Not only does it limit the human material The Grinder can offer, but this style will never let the show’s satire move beyond Dean’s ironies, a hump it desperately needs to get over before it can find its identity as a quality family sitcom, traits that are much more apparent in the other three episodes that have aired to date.
[Photo credit: John P. Fleenor/FOX]
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