About a Boy caught me by surprise; in the past week, I’ve binge-watched season one. As a fan of the film, the show had me with doubts from its initial announcement, but watching it I was finding myself with warmth and laughter. The show is a multi-camera sitcom that really doesn’t verge into sitcom territory. The show is often more endearing than it was intended to be, but with a premise like this I really don’t mind comedy being its strong suit. The second season premiered tonight with many surprises of its own.
Last season we were left with a separation that wasn’t very forced, and which still found the most generic way to have the principle characters keep in touch. This is basically where the show excels. The show develops these characters with enough emotion that you tend to care about their unoriginal selves. Minnie Driver’s character seems to be the most off-putting in the show, because her background and current bitchy-kindness-type of personality don’t seem to add up together, but I forgave it due to her acting abilities.
The show does have some faults within the comedic aspects of it; but when it delivers, it delivers with a good laugh.
In the premiere we find Will coming back to San Francisco to create some new music after his royalty check comes with zero dollars, but during his stay he realizes that Marcus is having trouble with his new so-called friends. From there it sort of seems to be treading some similar waters with its central conflict, but it’s different. As in, Will needs to find a way to make Marcus’s new “friends” stop bullying him.
This episode felt more like a set-up then anything for the new season, considering how it ended in the first season. Will is stuck in a bind as he can’t seem to find a way to make more money, while trying to keep his relationship stable with Dr. Sam. And even though it’s feeling more and more like a set-up for Will’s endearing nature to take hold again, it seems to overcome some parts of the plot.
The premiere had a very forced subplot that didn’t have to do much with the episode, but rather the title. Will’s best friend finds out that his wife might be pregnant even though she thinks he got a vasectomy, so the next scene involves him telling her the news and then that’s the end of that story. It didn’t seem right to me for this episode, but then again, it still had to reintroduce everyone in the show with conflict to progress it a bit more.
The show makes me smile and laugh, and that’s all I need.
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Side Note: I’d say the best part of the episode is the beginning, due to a nice little cameo role for Mr. Rob Reiner himself.
7/10
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