Review: Ben and Kate ‘Career Day’ – No Sussing

In an utterly convienant turn of events, Ben and Kate took a hiatus while I drove across country and settled into my new apartment, returning tonight with ‘Career Day’, an episode that was both developing a new character and drawing subtle parallels between its main cast. Written by Lorene Scafaria (screenwriter and member of the ‘Fempire’ along with show creator Dana Fox and Diablo Cody), tonight’s episode was another strong installment for the young stud comedy, which isn’t being watched by a ton of people, but being enjoyed by just about anyone tuning in.

‘Career Day’ opens with Kate explaining the details of Operation Crockpot, her plan to develop a romance with neighbor Will (guest star Geoff Stults) through passive flirting and an insane amount of patience. Of course, this patience is also being led by fear, as she confesses its been 57 months since she had any of the old creaky, creaky in her life. As expected, Ben positions himself to be the reckless catalyst of Kate’s personal rejuvenation  using the very things (immaturity, ability to lay back and relax) she lacks that he has in spades.

Much of this material is nothing than typical ‘big brother screening new boys for younger sister’, but even when Ben and Kate is dipping its toes into overtly familiar waters, the consistency of its characters keep the narratives afloat. The B-plot of the episode is focused around Ben and his hunt for a career to brag about at Maddie’s Career Day at school, where he has to compete with the likes of a pilot and a father who owns his own landscaping business – it’s not landscaping slash anything, but it’s still nothing to sneeze at. But despite the premise, its hardly a throwaway secondary plot, revealing something important about the three plots of the episode – and the show’s philosophy as a whole.

On the surface, Tommy and Ben’s wine party and BJ’s annoyance with Kenny/Sam might appear to be shallow stories hanging out in the background of Kate’s first romantic figure: but as Ben’s speech to the first grade at the end reveals, there is a reason these people are pushing themselves out of comfort zones to new experiences. We can’t succeed if we don’t try – and if we don’t try, we’re bound to fail (unless we were trying to fail in the first place, which Ben points out smartly would oddly be a successful endeavor). It even applies to other characters on less obvious levels: for example, Tommy’s never going to know what it feels like to be with Kate until he steps up to the plate (a plan that looks to be on hold for the present).

As viewers, we know on some subliminal level that Ben is going to fail at wine sales and Kate and Will aren’t going to live happily ever after – this is the seventh episode of a tv show, after all, no writer wants to nail down their characters that early on. But like any TV show, the destination of these plot lines isn’t really what is important: it’s the journey, and the growth that comes from those experiences that interest us as viewers. And seven episodes in, Ben and Kate’s consistent characters make it easy to invest in them emotionally, which makes moments like Ben’s speech and Kate’s little smile towards Will and his daughter in the back of the room more poignant than most shows this early into their run.

I’ll talk about some of the jokes in my thoughts and observations below, but ‘Career Day’ continues to sidestep the typical freshman slip ups with a sharp tongue and an infectious positivity baked into the show’s core. In closing, I think the show’s theme song underlines the show’s emotions perfectly, from the upbeat tempo, the simple, effortless harmonies, and especially the lyrics of the title song:

“Wake up/Look around/There’s a feeling today/Fall down/Get up again/get in the game/Hey, hey, hey/ we’re all here anyway.”

Grade: A

Other thoughts/observations:

– it’s quite interesting how independent of a character BJ is. She’s already spent multiple episodes exploring her own B and C-plots of various episodes. Tonight’s plot was pretty thin, but Lucy Punch’s deadpan delivery and magnetic smile kept her scenes entertaining, even without a ton of interesting material to work with.

– BJ when seeing Ben in a suit: “Are you applying for an adjustable rate mortgage?”

– I don’t really even know what Ben and Tommy were talking about while they were pounding Girl Scout cookies – I was laughing too hysterically to take coherent notes for that 20-second clip.

– “The lid is on, the carrots are softening…” the only sad thing about abandoning Operation Crockpot is the lack of amusing descriptions and parallels Kate draws from them (“do we name our operations too often?”)

– Tommy’s various family member voices are pretty hilarious. Echo Kellum is getting more and more comfortable in his role each week, and his growing confidence makes him more fun to watch every week.

what did you think of ‘Career Day’? Thanks for reading while I work out the mental kinks from this long hiatus!