This week on Going Dutch, a general gets promoted, Denis Leary wants to get promoted, and Major Shah attempts to get back in the dating pool. You could write this in a fever dream and do a better job.
Meanwhile, on Animal Control, there’s some Super Bowl nonsense, and a prank war escalates. Elsbeth is about a murder witnessed only by the 2005 Reed Richards from across the pond on one of those international camera-based art installations. Haven’t seen it yet, but this week’s Severance is probably another really good one. Oh, and Yellowjackets is back.
Anyway, none of this week’s Going Dutch involves anything Dutch, so no Dutch Notes this week. Huzzah.
Non-Dutch Notes
- If you were interested in this show because Danny Pudi is on it, but were then put off by my notes, first of all, two of you have thanked me for my service, thank you, but also, this show massively underserves him. Even when he gets a spotlight B-plot, what little he gets to do is not playing to his strengths at all, our boy can go so much weirder than he gets to do here. Not to whitewash him, but this part should really be played by a Griffin Newman type.
- Multiple people in this one express modern sexual attitudes — Jan talks about his kinks, Major Shah’s date turns out to have a boyfriend and they’re into cuckolding — but it always feels like it’s being written by 47-year olds from Ohio who heard young people talk about sex once and thought that was great fodder for making fun of. Every main character is always a huge, American prude about everything.
I’d like to see this through to the end of the season, but I gotta admit, this is rough. I actively dread new episodes of this show. Do I keep going? What is the value of life if this is what I’m doing with it? Is television dead and is Going Dutch dancing on its grave?