Ben and Kate review: 1×05 ‘Emergency Kit’

The evolution of a comedy is an interesting thing, and it’s a strange thing too when a comedy is so self-assured as Ben And Kate. And that’s both a good and bad thing.

Since the pilot, the show has know exactly what it wants to be. It knows it the central pairing well; their quirks and idiosyncrasies, their lifestyles and the ways they clash against each other. It knows their past well, their history, extremely well, and because of all these reasons it’s generally quite enjoyable to watch.

It’s getting a little bit tiresome though. An improvement on the last episode, but not necessarily one that skyrockets it up. It’s hard to complain that the writers are making premises out of Ben and Kate’s clashing ideologies, but when you get an episode like “Emergency Kit,” you wonder what else they can draw from. Not everything should have to bring out the inner-child within, and it shouldn’t need to turn into a game to kickstart the plot.

All the cast continue to be wonderful, and the addition (in what seems to be a reoccurring role) of Rob Corddry should only prove to be advantage to extending the world of the series. They are developing in somewhat bizarre ways, however. We’ve seen in a few examples of the characters becoming close, like Tommy and Kate’s blossoming friendship, but it’s growing in ways that don’t feel natural to the show. Ben and BJ, Kate and Tommy; the friendships, I think, are turning out to be more about the actors (and writers) becoming friends with each other, and taking that for granted, rather than slowly showing us their relationships progress. At the rate they are going, I wouldn’t be surprised to tune in one week and everyone is married with kids.

Another curiosity is about Maddie too. In everything I’ve seen, she’s a capable young actress and is used better than, for instance, Lily from Modern Family. But I think she could be much more. She’s almost a glorified prop so far, and that’s sad.

Still, it’s throughly entertaining, and if I want my comedy to be a bit more ambitious, I might have to change my expectations accordingly.