Critics Kristen Baldwin and Darren Franich aren’t loving this marriage of multi-cam comedy and grim drama.
KRISTEN: It’s a TV trope as old as time: Schlubby guy, hot wife.
Allison, ever the responsible buzzkill, watches in dismay.
Annie Murphy and Eric Petersen in ‘Kevin Can F**K Himself’.Jojo Whilden/AMC
The lights are bright, the laugh track is loud, the Boston accents are… questionable.
The moment Allison leaves the room, however, everything shifts.
Suddenly, she’s in a shabby, dimly-lit kitchen shot in single-camera grimvision.
Her life is a lonely prison of existential despair andKevinwants to show us why.
Instead, the story hinges on Allison’s ill-conceived plot for revenge against her doofus husband.
Darren, am I just not getting it?
There are Tom Brady lookalikes and (sigh) a Deflategate joke.
Look, I’m a human being, so I also hate the Patriots.
In fairness, this may be an expression of Allison’s own striving.
I think of Remini orRaymond’sPatricia Heatonas spiky counterbalances to their onscreen husbands.
I know, there’s a reason those shows were not calledThe Queen of QueensorEverybody Loves Debra.
KRISTEN: You’ve pin-pointed something else that really puzzles me aboutKevin, Darren.
As any fanof The King of Queens,Raymond, etc.
will tell you, the wives on those shows were nags but they nagged from a position ofpower.
It’s as thoughKevin’s writers fundamentally misunderstood the dynamics of the sitcoms they’re trying to skewer.
Halfway through the season, we still have no idea how Allison’s life devolved into domestic misery.
Perhaps there’s more Kev character development coming in episodes five through eight.
(God help me, am I actuallyhopingfor a flashback sequence?)
Right now, it seems like Allison is woefully unhappy because… she’s a woman.
So, women who surround themselves with the wrong men are doomed?
That can’t be the messageKevinis going for.
DARREN: Inboden’s over-it deadpan offers equal-opportunity cynicism.
Their burgeoning friendship makes me optimistic.
His presence leaves Allison wondering where she went wrong and offers the chance for shady extramarital flirtation.
But, like, how can I put this: Murphy and Lee both lookgreat.
Like you, I grew tired of the split conceit quickly.
Will the show offer deeper insight into the central marriage later?
MaybeKevincan wait, but I’m not sure I can.
