Weird Loners Season 1 Episode 5 Review: The Weirdfather
Amanda Festa
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After a boozy Dyngus Day celebration, Stosh is inspired to track down the son he's never met. While he will not be winning any "Father of the Year" awards, his interactions with 12-year-old Frank poke fun at sitcom family dynamics while also making reference to a classic scene from The Godfather.
Meanwhile, although all of the characters have definitely come into their own over the last two episodes, Eric has shown the most potential and is quickly becoming the character to watch.
And yet, the main takeaway of Weird Loners Season 1 Episode 5 is just how many "Dyngus" puns can be made in under 30 minutes. Spoiler alert, it's A LOT!
The series works best when it is over the top, poking fun at sitcom conventions. The first instance of this was the Stosh and Caryn dance in Weird Loners Season 1 Episode 2. While that episode gave us a couple fun jabs at the sitcom relationship, "The Weirdfather" does the same for family matters.
On a whim, Stosh decides to reunite with his twelve-year-old son, the byproduct of a one-night stand with a cocktail waitress when he was 23. He brings Eric along for the ride and the two show up unannounced at the boy's school in an unmarked van. Of course, to pile onto the joke, he sends Eric out into the schoolyard to track down the boy with $100 cash.
Go give him the $50. Actually, you know what, make it $100, I only have one kid, right? Actually, that might not be right...
Stosh
The mother, Gina, and son, Frank, are walking Italian stereotypes, so of course it is fitting when the bonding activity Stosh and Frank engage in is multiple viewings of The Godfather.
The dynamic between Stosh and Frank goes from sarcastic hostility to father/son mob movie bonding in minutes, and by bedtime little Frank is calling Stosh "dad." Seems like a quick turn since he met him six hours earlier, but who can argue with Don Corleone.
Continuing with this over-the-top farce, the episode ends with Frank catching Stosh in a lie and reenacting The Godfather scene where Sonny beats up Carlo with the lid of a trash can. It works because Frank is an impressionable youth whose father just let him watch The Godfather on a loop for six hours. But like Stosh says, hey, at least it wasn't Scarface.
We got Trouble... the game that is. Oh, you know what, the pop-o-matic bubble is gone. I used it during a lung transplant when I was playing Operation. He didn't make it.
Eric
It also has to be said that Eric's character has improved exponentially since Weird Loners Season 1 Episode 1. By giving him an underlying element of intelligence, (while still maintaining his clueless, happy-go-lucky exterior), the character is able to deliver some of the show's funniest lines and throwaway jokes. In five episodes he has gone from the most problematic to the funniest element of the series.
What's my Oscar the Grouch puppet doing in this trash can?
Eric
Meanwhile, Caryn has interpreted one night of drunk girl bonding and hair braiding with Zara as the beginning of a lifelong friendship. Unfortunately, Zara is a free spirit who equates commitment of any kind with a prison sentence. Watching her flip through the calendar to find a lifetime of Taco Tuesdays was a fantastic moment, and Kismet the cat was the cherry on top. (Especially when it immediately leaves the carrier and jumps out the window: "I guess Kismet wasn't meant to be.")
Stosh: It's a trap. Because if you have more nice moments, eventually they'll figure out what a worthless piece of crap you are and then what do you got, right?
Zara: Emotional commitment to other human beings ugghhh. My number one pet peeve. Well, that and capris pants.
Stosh: Really? I think they're a breezy summer look.
In my review of Weird Loners Season 1 Episode 4, I commented on the dynamic between Stosh and Zara, wondering how and if their unlikely friendship could develop any further. While Zara is painted as a free spirit and Stosh as more of a cad, both have problems with getting too close to people and their friendship is one that could have a lot of potential if Weird Loners gets picked up for a second season.
What did you think of "The Weirdfather?" Do you hope Weird Loners is renewed for Season 2? And, most importantly, will Zara come around to Taco Tuesdays?
If you need to catch up before the Weird Loners Season 1 Episode 6 season finale, remember you can watch Weird Loners online at TV Fanatic.
