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Cult S01E06: "The Good Fight"

It was the morning after the Awkward Acid Trip Par-tay and Skye started hallucinating, seeing Billy Grimm in the shower and standing behind Dumb Jeff and touching her face like a creep. Before she finally fainted, there were the awkward apologies about kissing under the influence and Un-fun Jeff's PSA about how "friends don't roofie friends." Then the fainting. Apparently Skye had herself an allergic reaction to a compound in the chemical makeup, which sent her off to a dream version of the Fake Cult.

Yeah, I know. 

That the mind trip inside Skye's mommy-and-daddy-issues-laden brain was the result of an unfortunate reaction instead of a targeted assassination attempt was disappointing. Skye has been getting closer and closer to the truth while working with Jeff and her meddling has definitely caught the attention of a few oddball co-workers, Detective Sakelik, and a handful of True Believer types. It wouldn't have been a stretch to believe that Skye had worn out her welcome at Bizzaro The CW and earned herself a spot on the True Believers' list of "threats" to Steven Rae and the show itself. 

But instead, we went with allergies. An ENORMOUSLY SEVERE allergic reaction, but still, an allergic reaction nonetheless. It just felt kind of anticlimactic.

The whole gang got in on Skye's romp through Cult Oz. Dream Kelly ditched her police job to rejoin the cult while Jeff made an appearance sipping on Grimm's famous dandelion wine. Even long-dead Daddy Yarrow made an appearance... to encourage his daughter to stop looking for him, stop annoying the Cult people, and move on with her life. 

It would have been an interesting twist if the bad acid had been a deliberate attempt to mess with Skye and derail her investigation rather than a simple prank by some horny misfits looking to loosen up some ladies. Mind control and all that. While the actual issues as presented were touching and all, I guess, the scare factor just wasn't there. 

However, Skye's refusal to give up the fight, even when she grew dangerously close to considering it, served to further highlight the apparent Skye/Jeff relationship that is a thing now. Her mind trip was created due to the real doubt she struggled with about whether she would truly know the truth about her father's disappearance or not. She decided to stay, citing her time with Jeff as reaffirming her mission and giving her comfort in knowing that she isn't alone. 

The budding relationship between Skye and Jeff is one of the few things Cult has managed to do right in it's much-maligned debut (and let's be honest, probably only) season. The characters' relationship developed organically and their chemistry has improved greatly as the importance of one to the other has grown beyond the realm of shared circumstance. That it has taken six episodes, nearly half the season, to get there is testament to the writers' care in developing their bond. I may be doing it wrong, but currently, my motivation for tuning in has more to do with watching the inevitability of Jeff/Skye unfold than dealing with the batshit insanity of the True Believers these days. 

When Jeff approached Detective Sakelik about helping Skye by handing over a sample of the drugs she confiscated at the party, Sakelik flat-out refused. Again, her lack of cooperation would have made more sense if the drugging of Skye had been a deliberate attempt to kill or disarm her, but as it stands, it came off as petty and needlessly cruel. A sort of truce with Jeff, in order to save Skye, would have put Sakelik in an interesting position and certainly given her leverage in their dealings by making him, in a way, beholden to her. 

Then again, it's not like she doesn't have other ways of keeping Jeff on a leash. Before breaking into her house to steal the drugs himself, Jeff enlisted lady-hacker EJ to track some down. Burt, their boss at the blog/newspaper/whatever they work for, didn't appreciate Jeff tying up and endangering his employees, but offered to help Jeff anyway, only to be "found by the police" after an apparent "home invasion" that was entirely too convenient (and accompanied by a cryptic and gloating bouquet to Jeff) to be anything but Sakelik and her minions messing around. 

Or not messing around. The True Believers don't seem to have much in the way of a sense of humor. 

All in all, "The Good Fight" was a solid Jeff/Skye episode and a strong episode for establishing who Skye truly is and what her motivations are. There were just a few details that I think could have taken it from "good Skye episode" territory to "good overall episode" territory, but I've learned to take what I can get with Cult. It's better to sit back and watch the crazy happen and enjoy the positives we're given than to get bent out of shape over what could have been.

What did you think of this episode?

– So Skye's mom totally seems to be more involved and knowledgeable than she's letting on, right?

– What are your thoughts about Jeff/Skye?

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What to watch on Wednesday, March 27...

SEASON 2 FINALE, 8pm & 8:30pm, NBC
Whitney
The season’s final hour kicks off with “Alex, Meet Lily,” in which Whitney drafts her beau into forging a bond with her bud, who’s in the market for a comrade of the male persuasion. “Cake, Cake, Cake,” winds up Season 2 with Whitney growing concerned when she spies her psychiatrist (Chelsea Handler) going to town on a birthday cake solo. I take the good doctor’s side on this one; extremism in consumption of cake is no vice.

8pm, The CW
Arrow
A denizen of The Glades is out for the blood of anyone he considers an enemy of the neighborhood, and Roy is next on his hit list in “Salvation.” And speaking of future-and/or-present masked archers marked for death, Malcolm tasks Moira with tracking down his own would-be assassin.

SEASON 1 FINALE, 8:30pm, ABC
The Neighbors
The Zabvronians may be recalled to their home planet when Dick receives a fateful call from his grandfather as sci-fi icons George Takei and Mark Hamill help “It Has Begun...” wrap up The Neighbors' freshman season. Before they pack their space-bags, though, the Bird-Kersees join the Weavers in Atlantic City, where Larry displays a knack for blackjack and Jackie yearns for Earth-style nuptials.

9pm, The CW
Supernatural
When the Winchesters look into a string of bumped-off vampires in “Freaks and Geeks,” they turn up a shadowy man who’s grooming the orphans of vamp victims into a slayer army. Dean suspects the man’s motives aren’t on the up-and-up. Sam mostly admires the kids’ merit badges, especially the bitchin’ one for Holy Water Scalding.

9pm, NBC
Law & Order: SVU
After accusing her cameraman of rape, a sports reporter learns she’s with child as a result. At trial, the defense employs what the synopsis calls “questionable tactics” to sway the jury, and I don’t even dare speculate on what those might be, given that the title of the episode is “Legitimate Rape.”

10pm, ABC
Nashville
“When You’re Tired of Breaking Other Hearts” finds Rayna sitting down with Katie Couric to spill her guts about her domestic and professional lives. At the rate Nashville is burning through guest stars from ABC’s news division, Season 2 will resort to Scarlett chatting up a couple of adolescent correspondents from those Disney Channel interstitials. Elsewhere this week, Juliette attempts a power play to control her album launch, while Deacon becomes smitten with his dog’s new vet.

10pm, TNT
Southland
John confronts his demons as he endeavors to save Hicks in “Heroes,” while Lydia and Ruben attempt to track down a John Doe. Meanwhile, Ben and Elena kick things up a notch, and Sammy is wracked with guilt over his lie about the tape.

100TH EPISODE, 10pm, USA
Psych
Shawn and Gus attend a clandestine party at a swanky mansion in “100 Clues,” secrecy and swankiness and being two of Shawn and Gus’s unquestioned strong suits, naturally. The host is a one-time rock star who has no memory of committing the murder he was arrested for years ago.

SEASON 28 PREMIERE, 10pm, MTV
The Real World: Portland
A new crew of seven strangers is shunted into a loft and documented as the reality TV grande dame returns. Tune in to find out whether there are still veins of social observation and/or humor about the Pacific Northwest burg’s distinctive culture that haven’t yet been mined by three seasons of Portlandia and sundry internet memes, or if the producers will just fall back on a bunch of gags about artisanal booze.

LATE-NITE:
– Seth Green and Charles Phoenix on Conan, 11pm, TBS
– Past interviews include Tim McGraw, Luke Bryan, and Rascal Flatts on Chelsea Lately, 11pm, E!
– Eva Mendes on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, 11pm, Comedy Central
– Iowa pig farmer Carl Edgar Blake II on The Colbert Report, 11:30pm, Comedy Central
– Kristin Chenoweth, magician Justin Willman, and Josh Groban on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, 11:35pm, NBC
– Donald Trump, Gary Gulman and Wavves on Late Show with David Letterman, 11:35pm, CBS
– Bruce Willis, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Divine Fits on Jimmy Kimmel Live, 11:35pm, ABC
– Kathie Lee Gifford, James Purefoy, and Dido on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, 12:37am, NBC
– Don Rickles and Radha Mitchell on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, 12:37am, CBS

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A quirky, non-traditional family works together to raise a precocious child with some help from their off-beat friends, including awkward co-workers and non-threatening exes. Sounds a lot like Raising Hope or The New Normal or the late Ben and Kate, all of which have obviously influenced ABC's new midseason comedy How to Live With Your Parents (For the Rest of Your Life), right down to the sexual grandmas (and great-grandmas) and the indulgent (usually-in-a-good-way-but-sometimes-in-a-creepy-way) parents.

Single parents navigating the waters of child-rearing with a little backup from their zany families and friendlies aren't anything new to television, but unlike police procedurals and Grey's Anatomy wannabes, I don't think we can necessarily have too many of them because, you know, different strokes and all that. But how will this one measure up? I've seen the pilot and I'm ready to tell you just that.

Obnoxious title aside (we'll get to that in a few), what's HTLWYPFTROYL about? 

Scrubs alum Sarah Chalke plays Polly, an uptight mom who left her lovable loser husband Julian (Jon Dore of The Jon Dore Television Show) to move back in with her free spirit parents, Elaine and Max (Weeds' Elizabeth Perkins Everybody Loves Raymond's Brad Garrett, respectively). Along for the ride are Polly's scared-of-everything daughter, Natalie (relative newcomer Rachel Eggleston), and Polly's twenty-something co-worker/bestie, Jenn (Friday Night Lights' Stephanie Hunt). Polly wants to be a better mother to Natalie than Elaine was to her, but the debate over what actually makes a good mother is one of those debates that is clearly meant to be a theme of the show.

Who decided that a series with a title that's harder to remember when it's shortened was a good idea?

Claudia Lonow, primarily known as Diana Fairgate on Knots Landing, but who also claims producing credits on Less Than Perfect and Cashmere Mafia, created the series and serves as an executive producer alongside Brian Grazer (Arrested Development, 24, Friday Night Lights, Parenthood) and Francie Calfo (The Playboy Club, Scoundrels).

When does HTLWYPFTROYL air?

Wednesdays at 9:30pm, starting April 3 on ABC.

Will I like HTLWYPFTROYL?

If you like Raising Hope, you might like How to Live With Your Parents (For the Rest of Your Life). It's the latest in a long line of goofy-but-has-a-heart sitcoms about an entire village of oddballs getting together to raise a cute kid. Weeds fans will definitely see flashes of Celia in Perkins' Elaine. Chalke's Polly is basically Elliot with a kid. There are raunchy lines combined with situations to accommodate your saccharine family moments, so it's not a complete cheese-fest. It's just one of those shows that if you like that sort of show, then you'll probably like it. If quirky family sitcoms make you want to scream, I'd spare your vocal chords and steer clear.

What's good about HTLWYPFTROYL?

The casting is solid, boasting a strong ensemble of comedy and dramedy veterans, so chemistry, delivery, and all the other good things that make a cast fun to watch aren't really an issue. The writing (at least in the first episode) is strong. Everybody is pretty lovable, including the supposedly horrific parents Polly moves back in with. The pilot balances funny sitcom stuff with the heavier family themes pretty well. If the show can maintain that balance, I think How to Live With Your Parents (For the Rest of Your Life) might eventually overcome its awful, cringey title. Or maybe the title will work in the show's favor; I went in expecting crap and was pleasantly surprised to get something better.

What's bad about HTLWYPFTROYL (other than the title)?

No, actually we need to talk about the title because the mouthful is so ridiculous and cumbersome that I think it could easily repel potential viewers with its impressive ridiculousness. How to Live With Your Parents alone might have sufficed, and honestly, that's what I personally call it when I'm not trying to masochistically sound out something resembling a word when forced to resort to an acronym that looks like it might actually be the name of some sort of new pharmaceutical drug. But even How to Live With Your Parents on it's own doesn't fully convey what the show is about. It's not about a grumpy teenager who rebels against her curfew and cries because Daddy didn't buy her an iPhone 5 as soon as it came out. It's not about twenty-something recent grads forced to bunk in Mom's basement because the job market blows and, in retrospect, majoring in Napoleonic French history with a concentration in poetry and a minor in Sociology probably wasn't the wisest career move.

There are also visual references that pop up throughout the pilot in the form of arrows pointing to new faces, with nifty introductions and explanations of who they are and what they do. Personally, I think they're a cute way to avoid getting bogged down in exposition, but I can see how they might get annoying in the long run (if they last). The shortcut can also be frustrating if you're not the type of viewer who parks it on the sofa and doesn't move for the entire duration of an episode since they kind of require you to, you know, pay attention.

And finally, I don't know how long Polly's anal-retentive, clingy, helicopter parenting can go on before it turns her into "the annoying one" in the cast. 

Do you recommend watching HTLWYPFTROYL?

I'd give it a shot. I've only seen the pilot, so I can't vouch for long-term enjoyment, but I enjoyed the pilot. There's nothing particularly groundbreaking here, but it's a seems like an enjoyable series if you like types of shows it's descended from.

Where can I sample this hellish acronym action for myself?

There are some clips on Hulu, and here's a trailer: 

What beverages should I have on hand if I decide to tune in to HTLWYPFTROYL?

Elaine suggests a morning tequila and Max claims that the blue pills are the fun ones. I would stick to one or the other unless, you decide halfway through that you don't want to remember what you're watching.

How to Live With Your Parents (For the Rest of Your Life) premieres Wednesday, April 3 at 9:30pm on ABC.

View the original article here