My Mood For the Day: Not gonna lie, this section of the template is starting to make me question my life choices. I go to work, when I’m not at work I scroll through the internet looking at memes.

What I Watched: Hulu’s Casual (S1:E7-S1:E8)

What IMDb says: A new comedy series about a bachelor brother and his newly divorced sister living under one roof again. Together, they coach each other through the crazy world of dating while raising her teenage daughter.

What I Thought About What I Watched/But Also Kinda Streaming In General: Some shit hit the fan in these two episodes and it’s hard to talk a lot about it without spoiling it. That being said, episode 8 features one of the staples of television: The Awkward Thanksgiving Episode.

It crossed my mind as I was Binging Bob’s Burgers Christmas episodes that perhaps one of the downsides of streaming originals will eventually be a lack of holiday episodes, as seasons are released all at once. Why make a Christmas episode if your season airs in August. Sure Stranger Things had a Halloween episode but that season also dropped right around Halloween. Orange is the New Black is the only show that immediately comes to mind that incorporated holiday episodes throughout the year despite the whole season dropping in June. Now bear in mind that Hulu is the only streaming service that releases episodes once a week rather than a whole season in one chunk, which means that this episode was released around Thanksgiving.

***spoilers below***
In this particular episode, Laura is fighting with her mother and invites some unwelcome guests in order to stir the pot, namely Valerie and Alex’s parents. It is the first time we’ve gotten to see Alex and Valerie interact with their father, though he is referenced in the first scene of the pilot.

One of the things I’m noticing Casual does quite well is that each episode gives us something specific to look forward to in the next episode without it ever feeling like a cliffhanger. Each episode is still its own complete unit. That being said, episode 8 gave us the announcement that Valerie and Alex’s parents are engaged. Episode 7 informed us that Laura would be moving out to live with her dad. They don’t try to overwhelm you with plot twists but they do make sure there’s at least one solid development in each episode. It seems obvious, but there’s so many shows where either 1) you feel like nothing happens the entire episode or 2) you feel like there’s so much happening and nothing gets resolved in that episode. That’s what allows Casual to be so refreshing.

More Thoughts on Streaming in General: Casual is great and all, but I’m kinda starting to miss The Office.