As the Short family's lives unfold in four brief stories each week, they try to savor the moments that add up to what life's all about.
Life in Pieces gets started with Matt and Colleen returning from their first date. They are office co-workers who have finally decided to try exploring a relationship with each other. They are the only adults in this series who aren't married. They are at the beginning of this journey called life with each other. Both of them have weird living situations - Colleen still lives with her ex-fiancé (a great Jordan Peele) while Matt is living in his parents' house. It's an awkward way to start the series. The comedic humor of the very first short story is largely over-the-top and situational humor. Matt and Colleen are forced outside of their homes in order to be together. They can't adequately explore what a relationship would be like if they keep running into other people. That is an interesting idea for a story. Matt is thrown off by how obsessed Colleen's ex-fiancé still is with her while Colleen is surprised when Matt's parents pop up. It does show that the two of them are similar and might be able to get along with each other. They both know exactly what it's like sharing a living space. And yet, the point of this whole story is that the two of them have to have sex in a car and get promptly spotted by the police. It's a juvenile act that may show that both of them still have a lot of growing up to do. That's just not very apparent with the writing or the performances though.The show fares much better when it comes to Jen and Greg having their first child. But things certainly do get graphic and brash in the storytelling as well. When Jen is actually pushing, the humor is found over the fact that she accidentally pooped on the table. It's a simple joke that really doesn't do anything. It's something they were slightly aware of that could happen but they are still embarrassed when it actually does happen. She is more assertive than he is. And yet, there is amusement to be find the next morning when he notes how perfect his first swaddle is and how poorly he slept on the hospital couch. That was simple humor that informed who the characters are. But then, the story takes a weird turn for the sexual as Jen and Greg are warned not to look at her genitalia for the next six weeks. That then leads to outrageous situational humor where Jen, of course looks. The two of them as parents is an interesting story. They don't completely know what they are doing. Whenever the baby is seen though, she is happily asleep. The story here is about the two of them reacting to each other in the aftermath. The baby is fine. They are not. That's an interesting reversal of the norm. And yet, it also builds to Greg needing to navigate a frozen glove into her to relieve pain. That kind of humor hasn't really been earned by the show. But it's going for it nevertheless.
Moving on over to the Heather and Tim story. This one features the most awkward moment where two characters don't really interact like two real humans - when Tim shares to his son the story of how he almost lost his virginity. It's a very weird moment that probably makes the audience more uncomfortable than the kid in the situation. It's suppose to establish that Tim doesn't really think before he speaks. And yet, this story does a significantly better job at showing that later when he's getting ice with Heather. The moment with his son was just unnecessary in order to create a broad joke. The show was also trying too hard when it came to Heather giving her son a sandwich. The moment where Heather and Tim are realizing that they are getting older is a fine moment of comedy and introspection. All of their kids are hitting milestones - college visit, first period and learning that Santa isn't real. Life and aging is becoming real to them to the point where Heather needs another kid in order to feel young again. Of course, Tim ruins the moment. But Heather is still given a moment of happiness when she learns that her son ate the sandwich - though wasn't able to keep it down.
And finally, there was John's funeral/birthday party. It truly is an odd idea to have a funeral-themed birthday party where everyone gives eulogies in order to celebrate the occasion. It's weird and does bring out some interesting humor. It shows that Greg is loved by his mother while Matt can't seemingly do anything right while Tim is incapable of reading a moment. But the actual point of the story is to have John describe the premise of the show. He proclaims: "What you kids don't get is that life is about these moments. These pieces of time. These slices of life that flash by. But they stay in your heart forever." That basically describes what this show is trying to do with its approach towards story structure. It's just saying it out loud in a very obvious way. It doesn't do a great job at establishing John as a character. Sure, the sentimentality of this whole episode works a whole lot more than the edgy humor does. But the warmth of the characters isn't that strong. Joan has a couple of great reactions and outbursts in this final story. She's the character who is the most enjoyable by the end. But that's not enough for this whole story or this whole episode to feel like it all came together in the end.
Some more thoughts:
- "Pilot" was written by Justin Adler and directed by Jason Winer.
- John likes Steven Seagal movies while Joan likes to have a scoop of ice cream before bed each night. Those little tidbits are the moments this show should do more of with its characters in the future.
- Everything involving Jordan Peele and Princess the dog was great.
- Nice little Fargo reunion between Colin Hanks and Susan Park - who plays Jen's OB/GYN.
- Why did Heather and Tim bring the entire family on a college visit - especially one that has Tyler staying over night on campus and the rest of the family in a cramped hotel room? Were Joan and John too busy to look after their grandkids? They were just there because of pilot logic.
- John being trapped alive in the casket was an amusing way to end the episode. It was startling and funny - especially Joan's reaction to the whole thing.
- Colin Hanks: "I daddy crushed this swaddle. She's not getting out of this kind until high school."
- Jen: "Fine, just cut me off at the waist and put me on one of those skateboards."
- Tim: "Just take it so we can all get on with our lives."
- Sophia: "So it's this giant conspiracy that everyone is in on but me?"
- Joan: "Hurry before there's a dead body in this casket!"
