Review: Duncanville “Red Head Redemption”

 

 

Overview (Spoilers Below):

When Duncan has to abandon his post in an online video game, he gets Kimberly to step in for him. The younger sister does such an incredible job that the team use her to replace Duncan permanently. To get back at them, Duncan joins the enemy team and uncovers a secret that will destroy his sister. But, when all the chips are on the table, Duncan realizes the weight of his actions.

Meanwhile, Annie is fed up with Jack’s music memorabilia filling up the garage. Unfortunately, Jack has a hard time letting things go. When Annie is confronted with getting rid of her own things, she grasps to the value of memories.

 

Our Take:

Last week was our introduction to Duncan and his family. And, while it was a strong first showing, there is still a whole season to go. With any new sitcom, it takes a few episodes to get a feel for the series. So, with our second look at Duncanville, the question is: does this show have some legs?

The show is changing things up from following children around as most animated sitcoms do. 

Instead, Duncan is a full-blown, puberty ridden teenager. Which opens up a lot of potential as we learned in the pilot when he learns to drive. This week the show takes on the very important teenage social issue of video games. Not important like “video games are rotting brains”, but a teenager issue as in “am I good enough to keep up with my friends”.

The wonderful part about Duncan (besides his humour) is that he is not unique. He’s not even special enough to be terrible at video games. He is just average.

Duncan is as average as they come. And, that seems to be the goal of the whole series. The family is average, their friends are ordinary, and there’s nothing significant about any of them. It’s a flip on shows like The Simpsons and Family Guy where every character has a thing from having a peg leg to dressing up in a bumblebee suit. But, not as far as Bob’s Burgers where the whole family is a quirky mess. But somewhere safely and squarely in the middle is Duncanville.  Whether that is a good thing or a bad thing, time will tell.

This episode did bring us more into the family. Jack specifically gets more development as we get to explore his impressive rock and roll memorabilia collection. Sister Kimberly receives more attention as her crush on Duncan’s friend is uncovered.  And, if we’ve learnt anything in two episodes, it’s that this is a family that we could enjoy watching. Even if they are incredibly average.

Duncanville does have the right amount of quirky humour to make you laugh at any moment.  There is a healthy injection of Amy Poehler’s style all over the show. And, I don’t think anyone is complaining. There is a clever intention to the jokes, and they are delivered by amazing talents. It’s enough to want this show to last for years. Any show with lines like “now you know what it feels like to be stabbed in the back… Through the stomach,” deserves a run.

This episode may not be as good as the pilot was, but there is still plenty of potential in waiting.  It is early to get a full feel for the series, making it tough to decide how we feel about it yet. There is enough to enjoy and fill the space between The Simpsons and Bob’s Burgers. It’ll take a few significantly good episodes before the series stands on its own.