Kat with a K

My Boys 4.9: "My Men"

Season finale time! And this one felt very . . . final, so I think they're at least setting themselves up for the possibility that the show won't come back. And honestly? I'm not that sad. More after the jump.

Mike marries Marcia, Brendan buys Crowley's, Kenny decides to go to London with Steph, PJ decides her friends are more important than her career . . . and I don't care that much about any of it. Sad. I don't know what the issue was, but this season just never grabbed me. The obvious difference was the lack of Andy, but I was never a huge Andy fan, so I don't think that's it. I think I wanted more of PJ and Bobby and less of everyone else. I don't know. Meh. If it comes back, I'll keep watching, but I'm just not that into it anymore.

My Boys 4.8: "Extreme Mike-Over"

The use of the word "extreme" in the title implies that something exciting happens. It doesn't. More after the jump.

This was the second-to-last episode of the season, and it felt very transitional. In the supposed A plot, Mike has to come clean to Marcia about the house he's living in really being Andy's, so he has to clean and redecorate his gross apartment. Really, that's it. In the B plot, college kids start hanging out at Crowley's so the gang acts obnoxious for a while to drive them away. Meh. I think in a sitcom with a longer season, this wouldn't feel so plot-deficient, but for one of nine episodes? I was disappointed.

My Boys 4.7: "Puss 'N' Glutes"

I have to say, I'm still pretty lukewarm about this season. More after the jump . . .

I don't know. This episode was fine, and it is what it is, but nothing particularly interesting or surprising happened and I don't have much to say about it. Brendan's dating adventures are always fun, and Mike was somehow less annoying than usual in this episode focusing on him. It will be interesting to see if Marcia sticks around and what happens when she realizes he's been lying about where he lives. The Bobby/Kenny workout plot was fine, but I like to see more Bobby/PJ interaction than we got here.

Next week is the season finale - two episodes, I think - and I hope they do something to tie together this somewhat meandering season. Will it also be the series finale? We shall see . . .

Best line of the episode: Brendan on vampires: "Ugh, I've dated like three of those."

My Boys 4.6: "Hanger Management"

The boys are having a domino effect of new chapters in their lives. What are they changing? Read on . . .

Kenny is an organizer! Love it. His new chapter is going to be a closet organizing business. He tries to clean out PJ's closet but she doesn't want to get rid of anything, so it doesn't go so well. He eventually gets the closet prettified, but he really wants to unpack Bobby's stuff. PJ's worried about Bobby moving away for grad school, so she won't let Kenny unpack anything. Also, it takes three whole days for Mike to make the obvious "coming out of the closet" joke.

Brendan is moving out! Will they ever explain why they call him "Brando" even though his name is not "Brandon"? Apparently not. Sorry, I digress. Everyone is doubting that he will actually move out because he always says he will and doesn't, but hasn't he moved in and out a few times over the course of the show? Whatever. He starts packing, or planning to pack, but gets bogged down in looking at his stuff. I sympathize, Brendan. Happens to me all the time.

Bobby's thinking about going to medical school! Nifty. You'd think he would have done that before he lost all his money, but anyway. PJ's doctor friend tells him about how med school will ruin his life, so then he's much less sure about the whole thing. So he goes to talk to an old professor about going into academia, and is told to run far away. So he talks to a lawyer and decides he wants to go to law school.

Mike is . . . watching the World Cup? Okay. That's not so much a new chapter. Stephanie is pulled in by the cute guys, of course.

At the end of the episode, the group is stunned to discover that Brendan has actually moved out - and he used Bobby's boxes to do so, which means that Kenny at least somewhat unpacked Bobby's things. PJ freaks out about this until Bobby finally makes her talk about what's actually bothering her, which is, of course, the idea of him moving away to go to school. He immediately reassures her that he's not going anywhere, and picked law school partially so he could stay in Chicago with her. So this is yet another example of PJ refusing to talk about an issue and Bobby being perfect in every way. I hope we get some sort of variation on that soon.

Overall, this episode was better than some others this season. The characters actually grew and progressed, and hopefully those changes will stick. And PJ and Bobby are still adorable together. Let's hope the show keeps them together for good this time.

My Boys 4.5: "The NTO"

UGH, the ever-popular "One person thinks there's a relationship issue and the other doesn't notice" plot. Sigh. Continue for more . . .

P.J. and Bobby: Just talk to each other, people! Actually, my annoyance is reserved for P.J., as Bobby behaved pretty much perfectly throughout the episode. I mean, sure, he could have been a tad more observant, but you don't try to subtly seduce a guy while he's playing a video game! Everyone knows that! Sigh. I did like their talk at the end, and I do appreciate that the show is letting them work through things as a couple instead of just breaking them up, but this plotline was rather worn.

Brendan and the sister: Heeee. I loved how the sister was the embodiment of Brendan's nightmare date. His dating adventures are probably my favorite ongoing subplot. I also liked how Kenny was convinced that Steph would be mad about Brendan not liking the sister, but she totally wasn't.

Kenny and Mike: Once again, Bobby as the voice of reason! I can't imagine how these people functioned before he joined the group.

My Boys 4.4: "Be a Man!"

(Sorry for the lack of a morning coffee post today, but I'm home sick, so I got up, e-mailed my boss, fed the cat, and went back to bed. But now I'm up again!)

This season is still not particularly grabbing me, but now that I think about it, I rather liked most of this episode. More after the jump . . .

I liked:
Brendan and the young hipster! Loved this storyline. She was PERFECT, with her flash mob pillow fights and Jonathan Safran Foer boxing David Eggers for charity. HA.
The various skill challenges. It's always fun watching people trying to figure out how to do things, and Kenny and Mike play off each other quite well.
Bobby and the plumbing. I'm continuing to love the way Bobby and PJ are working things out as a couple, and this had the added bonus of bringing in the psychological effects of the loss of all Bobby's money. I'm glad they didn't just forget about that storyline.

I did not like:
The whole "manliness" thing was . . . eh, you know. Insert feminist rant here. But really, my problem with it was that it seemed to be a lazy, cliched way of getting to some jokes. I would have rather had them use a list of skills that was from other source and didn't lend itself to that. Then the writers would have had to try harder.

My two favorite lines, both to Brendan:
"It's a thing." "Like a good thing?"
"You say a lot of words that make no sense together."

My Boys 4.3: "Mike-Fest"

I'm pretty underwhelmed by this season so far. This third episode had a bunch of different plots going but it was still somehow slow and a little boring. Plot breakdown after the jump...

Mike's birthday: I think Mike is an underused character, so I was happy to see the show focus on him, but this plot wasn't particularly interesting or revealing. And the actor really doesn't look 43, although apparently he's actually 46. Huh.

Bobby's money: I wonder if this was inserted just to get rid of the "Bobby is rich" conceit that they never really use anyway? Hm. It did at least prompt him and PJ to move in, at least temporarily, so there's potential there.

Stephanie's movie: The way things went with the movie producer was completely predictable. But at least it gave us a chance to see Steph and Kenny function as a couple, and I liked what it did with that.

Brendan's girl: More "Brendan is clueless." Meh.

My Boys 4.2: "Gourmets and Confused"

This second episode of the season was shown right after the first one, but it's really supposed to be a separate episode, so I'm treating it as such. Read on!

This was . . . I don't know. Okay. The tension between the couples and the single guys was believable, because having two thirds of the group paired up will certainly change the dynamic. And the fancy restaurant was a good vehicle for it - Stephanie and PJ were adorable when the got all excited about it, and actually seemed like best friends for once. And their boyfriends reacted well, and both Mike's jealousy and Brendan's complete indifference were hilarious and true to the characters. I liked that whole scene a lot.

The fancy restaurant scene was funny, too. Kenny's attempts at pushing people around were cute, and I really like when the show remembers, however fleetingly, that Bobby actually is ridiculously wealthy. I was a little less taken with the whole role reversal thing involving the magic brownies and Brendan and Mike going to the fancy bar. It wasn't awful, but it seemed more contrived than this show usually is.

My Boys 4.1: "Addition by Subtraction"

My Boys is back! Yay! This is one of the few notable exceptions to my no-sitcom rule, so I'm pretty thrilled. Jim Gaffigan is gone this season, but enh. To see what I don't really care, follow the link below . . .

Jim Gaffigan, who plays PJ's brother Andy, left the show to concentrate on his comedy career, and a lot of people were upset about him leaving, but I don't care that much. I mean, sure, he was funny, but for me the core of the show has always been PJ and her relationships with Bobby and Brendan. I really like PJ and Bobby together, and I hope they let that relationship play out for a while rather than just breaking them up to create conflict. On the other hand, Kenny and Stephanie together is still weird, but I guess I can go with it.

The actual plot here wasn't that interesting - obviously Stephanie is the obvious addition to the poker group - but the way they got there was entertaining. I loved seeing all the flashbacks to how they all met, and to college and various game nights. The different versions of the same college memories were particularly interesting, and it was all very How I Met Your Mother, which is, of course, the other sitcom I watch.

The other thing that stood out to me in this episode was the tension between Brendan and Bobby. It was pretty subtle, for this show - lots of little exchanges between the two, but it wasn't belabored, and no one else really commented on it. Is it just about Bobby spending a lot of time at the apartment? Or does it have more to do with Brendan's unresolved feelings for PJ? I'm leaning toward the latter, and I hope they continue with this storyline as the season progresses.