It’s a good thing Idris Elba is about to show up, because if I’m gauging the temperature of The Internets correctly, I think The Big C is starting to lose steam.
I’m not sure why I didn’t really like the episode. It should have been funny. Cathy decided to drain her 401K, which seems like a natural progression in her new impulsive lifestyle. And I’ve enjoyed the dynamic between Cathy and her doctor in previous episodes, so why did this feel so forced?
Cathy bought a shiny new red convertible and then made her doctor meet her for lunch at a lobster restaurant instead of at his office. She got drunk, stole a live lobster and joined him to view a potential new home. I think where things went wrong was that instead of just being impulsive and living in the moment, Cathy just acted kind of nutty. The shiny new car? I can get behind that. I even dug the part where she gave the waitress extra money to go fix her dreadful haircut. But stealing a lobster, pretending to be her young, handsome doctor’s girlfriend and making a fool of herself in front of the real estate agent? It was less admirable and more annoying.
The other problem with this episode was the amount of time we saw the supporting cast interacting with each other rather than with Cathy. Cathy’s son, husband and brother are all great supporting characters because they explain the source of Cathy’s frustration. Her brother’s a jerk, her kid is a brat and her husband is a baby. So when Cathy has to deal with them you understand why she has reacted to her cancer diagnosis in the way she has. But when they interact with one another, like her brother’s attempt to remove a bad tooth, it’s just a bunch of people acting like jerks.
I still have hope for the show, though. I like the direction Marlene’s character is going in, and I still like Cathy as a character even though I find some of her antics annoying. Have you given up on The Big C yet? What did you think of “Playing The Cancer Car”?
