First Impressions: Trophy Wife ‘Pilot’ – Milky Grapefruits

Despite all the things working against itself in the Trophy Wife pilot – having its protagonist be drunk for half the episode chief among them – there’s a certain charm and confidence to the show’s opening episode. A lot of this is due to Malin Akerman, who shines as the third (and youngest, by far) wife of a lawyer trying to find her place in a large, upper-class family. Is it another white show full of white people and their white problems? You damn right it is – but in a very weak freshman comedy season, Trophy Wife is one of the few watchable new entries.

That’s not to say it’s a perfect pilot: along with having a terrible title, Trophy Wife suffers a bit from how cluttered it wants to make its world feel. There are numerous scenes where Akerman’s character Kate finds herself swimming amongst a sea of moving bodies and yelling voices – and though these moments give a nice insight into the disconnect she feels between who she was and who she is now, that feeling doesn’t subside when these moments end. There’s two ex-wives, three kids, a crush, a best friend… it’s a lot to stuff into 21 minutes of television, and there just isn’t enough time to flesh some things out (like her husband Pete’s relationship with his kids, which is reduced to a weird macabre story of a hamster named Jose).

The strength of the pilot is in its female characters: like Brooklyn Nine-Nine, creators Emily Halpern and Sarah Haskins have created three-dimensional characters who don’t have to sacrifice their humorous bits of character to be interesting, realistic women (though toning down New Age ex-wife Jackie’s spacey tendencies would be nice). Of course, Akerman is the highlight: but she only gets to spend about a third of the pilot sober, not really giving us a lot of time to get to know Kate the unexpected-homemaker. The few opportunties the show has – a scene where she tries to make breakfast and manage the morning rush of in-home activity – has to set up other characters and relationships, too distracted to dig into its protagonist further, except when the obligatory emotional resolution comes in the climatic moments.

Although I don’t think network television needs another white-drenched comedy, I can’t help but be intrigued by the confidence which Trophy Wife delivers its jokes and jumps right into the everyday lives of its characters. There are Big Events and Audience-Hooking Moments of course, but they never feel overwrought in that special pilot-y way, even when people make their emotional declarations and hugs are shared near the end. The pilot is cluttered by nature: and although it works against the goal of what a pilot it is, it’s refreshing to be dropped into a world that doesn’t feel like it needs to define itself at every turn. Trophy Wife’s title suggests a sitcom built on a thin gimmick: but the pilot episode does a great job resisting that gimmick and the broad humor that comes along with it. This could be a show to watch this fall, and one I’m looking forward to watching again.

Grade: B

Trophy Wife

Created and written by Emily Halpern & Sarah Haskins

Pilot directed by Jason Moore

Airs Tuesday nights at 9:30pm on ABC beginning 9/24