Here’s Andrew Rannells’ other episode of Duncanville. I like it better than the first—not sure whether it’s a funnier episode, I’m just more in the swing of things now, or it’s due to Rannells being more heavily featured here. Maybe a little of all three?
When Annie’s friend Garrett needs help convincing his husband that they should have a kid, he enlists Annie and Jack to give him a hand. Jack offers to let Bryce “ride along” parent with him for a day, and they wind up getting enmeshed in some teen drama plaguing Jack’s daughter Kimberly. Meanwhile, Annie tries to teach Duncan some useful housekeeping skills, but his friends soon become weirded out by the new Duncan.
We’ll start with the Annie-Duncan plot. It definitely leans into the old “guy does ‘mom’ things’ comedy trope, with jokes that stem from Duncan wearing an apron or fussing around his friends’ junky hangout spot with a vacuum. Those are a bit stale, but the dynamic between Annie and Duncan is good, and there are some funny bits early on skewering Duncan’s intense state of teen helplessness, such as going to the restaurant his parents are having dinner at because he can’t find his sock (no worries, Jack keeps spares on his person.)
Speaking of which, Garrett invites Annie and Jack out with the express purpose of selling parenthood to Bryce. Naturally, they arrive in delight to have gotten out of the house, talking about how busy their needy “parasites” keep them, and just as naturally, they switch on a dime to praising their “gifts from Heaven” as soon as they know why Garrett invited them. An obvious joke, but well executed.
The resulting “ride along” with Jack and Bryce is pretty fun. I’ve said before that Rannells has a talent for fitting seamlessly into the humor/style of the many comedies he’s guest-starred in. Here, he plays nicely off Ty Burrell’s Jack, with Bryce sometimes panicking at the implications of fatherhood and sometimes getting into the spirit of things.
A few great line deliveries from Rannells:
· On his reluctance to have kids, he explains, “I’m just not ready to give up my freedom, sleep, and white sofa.”
· As Jack prepares to deal with his moody teenage daughter, Bryce hedges, “This seems like a private moment for you and Kimberly. Maybe I should go home and get a vasectomy.”
· Jack likens their ride along to Training Day, but when he finds that Kimberly is being bullied by some mean girls, he announced, “It’s a different Denzel movie now: The Equalizer.” Bryce responds, “I haven’t seen it, but I’m in.”
Okay, final thoughts.
Recommend?
In General – A soft maybe. Between the two episodes, the show didn’t fully win me over, but there’s some entertaining stuff here and a talented voice cast.
Andrew Rannells – Yeah. This is a fun role for Rannells, and he plays it well.
Warnings
Drinking, a little gross-out humor, language, and suggestive content.
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