Review: Duncanville “Undacuva Mutha”

 

 

Overview(Spoilers Below):

It’s quota day for Annie, and she rushes to give out as many parking tickets as she can.  On her route, she discovers a dead body.  Her dreams of becoming a real detective are squashed when the real cops arrive.

Meanwhile, Duncan and his friends all get duped when they buy fake Air Jordan sneakers from a pop-up shop.  Still disgruntled, Annie tries to solve the crime for herself and get Duncan his money back.

While at home, Jack wants to prove to his daughters that he is a cool dad.  But, making the most fun dinner he can backfires as the three of them get food poisoning.

 

Our Take:

So far, Duncanville has been a fun show.  Amy Poehler’s witty humour mixed with Mike Scully’s animation prowess is a successful mix.  However, the series has suffered to find its grounding in the two episodes released.  A pilot episode typically manages to get all of the settings, characters, and themes all straightened out.  But Duncanville has an elaborate cast of characters, and their motives and personalities are still being flushed out.

Well, this may have been the episode to help the show get its footing.

Annie, who has been one of the funnier characters, has been suffering the most.  Thus far, her role has been nothing more than the working mother of three trying to keep her house together.  But, in this episode, we get to see a lot more of what drives her.  We discover some of her dreams, her fears, and her needs.  And, the same could be said for Duncan’s father, Jack.

Suddenly, with Annie wanting to be a detective, and Jack wanting to be the ‘cool dad’, I care a bit more.  Without any context to who these people are, the show was just another sitcom about a standard middle-class family.  It still is, but at least they all have a purpose and drive.

Even baby sister Jing got more play in this episode.  After I had praised the baby character for being the best part of the pilot, she had all but disappeared.  Thankfully, we get more of her adorable humour to make you fall in love with her more. And, after she was forced to take her food poisoned dump in the hallway, she became extra lovable.  She was even better in this episode.

And, if you think all this extra side character development came at the cost of Duncan getting screen time, you would be wrong.  The teenager continues to drop the funniest jokes in the show.  Watching him go into a strip club with his mom has been one of the best moments in the series.  Duncan continues to be the reason why this show is so good.

Best episode so far. All the pieces were in play, and the story was cohesive.  It would be nice to see the series begin to push some boundaries now.  As clever as the dialogue is throughout the show, we really don’t need another sitcom about a standard middle-class family. Especially in animation where pushing boundaries is what helps to make you something worth talking about.  As enjoyable as the show is, it will need to do something we have never seen before soon.  For now, we can be happy that in three episodes the show has proven itself.  There are things I want to see more of, and that is a good sign.