It isn't exactly groundbreaking, but does have some genuine laughs in every episode, and the drama side of things improves much better from the 3rd episode onwards. Might have worked better as an eight episode run, one of the negatives is that the first episode is a bit too fast paced, and from that a bit contrived, where it seems to be trying to set up in one episode's worth what could have been done in three, but as I say that pacing improves as it wears on.
Positives
Negatives
Hope this review gives some balance; it's three hours well spent if you give it a chance.
Positives
- Genuine jokes, and some on the money quick fire pop culture references, similar to Katherine Ryan's stand up
- Dynamic of general style taken from some other shows, but not overly used (elements of Motherhood, AbFab, Fleabag all in there, but not overdone)
- Shep, the father character, is brilliant, and very convincing as a washed out boy band from the early 00's, with a touch of Conor McGregor, as well as one of the Gallaghers thrown in as well.
- The main child actor playing Olive, is better than what some reviews are giving credit for here, and in fairness most of the supporting cast are strong too.
- Whilst very middle class in tone, it nonetheless shows a real and beleievable side of London, that adds to the overall creditability in terms of environment. This is how I imagine life in places like Muswell Hill or Highgate to be in day to day life, whenever being there on the periphery.
- it comes to a satisfying, if unconventional, conclusion. Whilst that makes me feel this works better as a stand alone series rather than future ones, part of the good bits of the dramedy was where the transitions in character's lives were meeting. A new series, moved on a couple of years therefore would be out of sync with that.
Negatives
- Ryan's character isn't the most likeable, again if it were eight episodes and especially the first half of the series stretched out a bit more, a lot of that could have been resolved, you root for her more by the last couple of episodes
- The actor playing Evan, the boyfriend, is pretty poor, and very wooden in this.
- Although funny in moments, Jen (the perfect mum character) is a bit too clichéd, and it gets close to grating at times.
- Can be overly woke at points, where it doesn't seem necessary. This could be intentional, and almost a parody of woke stuff whilst still being a bit woke at the same time; part of the plot seems to want to show Katherine to be woke but not necessarily for the right reasons, but I'm wary this could be giving undue credit if not the intention of the set up. It's a maybe negative, depending on which way you belive it to be intended.
Hope this review gives some balance; it's three hours well spent if you give it a chance.