This is a good episode. Some fun stuff, nice character moments, and a few familiar faces that made me smile. By now, I’d say the show is starting to feel like a solid investment.
As Otis gets into the swing of a busy routine of therapy, Eric feels left out, especially when it seems like his best friend would rather spend time with Maeve than him. When Maeve, who’s been going through her own issues, asks Otis for a favor, he agonizes over whether it’s a date and endeavors not to get it wrong either way.
As with last week, there are some familiar beats being played here—in this case, “Is this a date or not?” and “Is my best friend leaving me behind?”—but the show handles them in an interesting way. This episode might be the most I’ve enjoyed Otis outside of a therapy context. He’s his usual alternately-frazzled-and-insightful self, and his awkward attempts to come through for Maeve are endearing. Also, I get a kick out of him cluelessly trying to adhere to Eric’s advice to cultivate a “casual Jon Hamm” look for his maybe-date. And did I mention that he shows up for 6:30 plans at 4:50, citing his “on time is late” mantra? This kid, I tell you.
Maeve’s main plot, both with and without Otis, is also done well, though I’ll avoid discussing spoilery details on it for the moment. In addition, the episode offers up some new details on a few of the supporting characters, and we’re treated to an amusing scene of the stiff head teacher workshopping his announcement about a fundraiser to supply Ugandan schools with menstrual products—he test-drives “sanitary towels,” “period pads,” and “lady things” before landing on “sanitary products.” We also get appearances by Hannah Waddingham (Rebecca from Ted Lasso) and Anjana Vasan (Amina from We Are Lady Parts.)
This is a good episode for Eric/Ncuti Gatwa. As the Black gay best friend of the straight white protagonist, it would be distressingly easy for the show to turn Eric into a character whose only function is to revolve around Otis. And in a way, his storyline in this episode brushes up against that idea—when Otis is too busy with therapy to hang out with him and is off on maybe-dates with Maeve, Eric feels both left out and a little jealous. But while I’m sad for Eric’s hurt feelings, I’m glad about the situation, because it gives Eric a chance to have his own adventure separate from Otis. At his music teacher’s urging, Eric agrees to try out for swing band (French horns represent!), and that kicks off a series of events that take him to quite unexpected places.
Gatwa doesn’t waste his chance to anchor his own plot here. He handles Eric’s range of emotions in this episode deftly, from the disappointment of exclusion to the panic of being judged to just plain WTF Is Even Happening Right Now. I wanted to shout out his flawless delivery on every teenager trying to run interference between their visiting classmate and their embarrassing family: “Don’t stop, don’t talk—go.” I also really love his performance when his music teacher corners him to talk swing band. Gatwa’s reactions are just perfectly pitched here. He’s cheerful and friendly, like any studious kid would be with a teacher. He’s just a tiny bit aloof, grasping for an out to this conversation. And through it all, you can see this hint of horror in his eyes, desperate for an escape as his hopelessly-uncool teacher tries to break the ice with Ed Sheeran small talk and gives him the hard sell on swing band. On the surface, it’s a simple scene, but everything about it is so well done.
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