The first two episodes of The Grinder benefited from the show’s ability to mix the heightened personality of The Grinder with the more low-key world Dean found himself living in when he moved back in with his family. It allowed the legal scenes – which to this point, have been utterly weightless – to have a little bit of dramatic pizzazz, while playing with the fabric of Stewart’s carefully constructed persona and life in the process. And as a whole, it allowed The Grinder to operate as a low-stakes comedy, while satirizing the melodramatic elevations procedural dramas are known for and creating a heightened sense of comedy.
“The Curious Disappearance of Mr. Donovan” is the first episode of the show to strike a serious imbalance in this formula. The stakes of the episode’s conflict are too low, pulling the rug from underneath Dean’s dramatics used to heighten the boring legal elements – and underselling the true conflict of the episode, a long-standing beef between Dean and Stewart over a broken window. The mistake is right in the title: the bulk of this episode is about the Sandersons flipping out when their kids delete a TV show on the DVR (one the kids note they could easily watch On Demand), which really doesn’t have the same stakes as an experience that possibly delayed Stewart losing his virginity for a year and a half.
More importantly, neither story is really a satisfying avenue for the moral play “The Curious Disappearance” wants to make about lying. In the end, Dean Sr. is proud of Dean for lying about the broken window, and the case of the week ends with The Grinder laying down a smooth closing speech. None of these moments ever really come in harmony with each other: there’s a rough outline here about the complex morality of lying (especially in the legal world), but none of it comes together, a weightless episode driven only by its desire to grow more ludicrous with each scene, until it slams on the brakes for a cathartic ending in the final two minutes.
There’s really only one element of this episode that works: Todd getting tied up in Dean and Stewart’s conflict lets Kevin Little be at his awkward best, bringing back shades of poor Stevie Janikowski from HBO’s Eastbound and Down. Kevin Little’s so great at being empathetic and pathetic at the same time, and his comedic sensibilities play right into the type of ridiculous comedy The Grinder wants to infuse its courtroom scenes with. It’s seen best when Dean spends an inordinate amount of time explaining to Todd how he needs to behave: however, those scenes are small bright spots on the rather dull palette that makes up the rest of “The Curious Disappearance.”
All is not lost on The Grinder, obviously. The show’s ability to mix meta humor with honest stories about familial connection was easy to recognize in the first two episodes – it just doesn’t come through consistently in “The Curious Disappearance of Mr. Donovan,” with its softball resolutions and cathartic moments over the closing credits. Every comedy stumbles a bit trying to find its balance in early episodes, and “The Curious Disappearance of Mr. Donovan” feels like just that: a half hour of interesting ideas that never quite mesh together, except in the most abstract, unsatisfying ways.
Other thoughts/observations:
- Two episodes in, and Natalie Morales already feels a little out of place on this show. Her comedic style is too mellow for The Grinder‘s sensibilities.
- The one great meta moment of the week was Dean relenting the prominence of DVR, and how it ruined the classic ratings model.
- Roz & Landry, the law firm Stewart hires Claire away from, make fun little foils for the Sanderson men, though I’d like to see more variety in their opponents through the first season. It would help fill out the world a little more, which has been extremely insular through the first three episodes, even though The Fake Grinder airs in 170 countries (you’d think more law firms would be trying to fight the Sanderson law firm, given the heightened publicity his presence brings).
[Photo credit: Ray Mickshaw/FOX]
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