Hope You Feel Better
Episode 8 of Mr Corman starts with Josh teaching his class remotely via zoom. Yep, we’re onto COVID territory guys. And Josh is inevitably full-on with his insistence to constantly wash his hands while prepping food. Anyway, Josh and Victor eventually sit and eat together. Victor riffs on how masks aren’t doing anything as the two comment on society and how they’re dealing with the virus. Both play up the extreme opposites of this raging debate. Victor refuses to wear a mask and be held back. Josh meanwhile is paranoid about the virus but given the fact he’s not even wearing a mask when he heads over too his Mum’s place, it contradicts what he’s saying. Anyway, he sneaks in through the window’ and decides to stay away from everyone else in isolation. He has food left outside the door and even rings his Mother from the other side of the house. As Josh cycles through the monotony of every day, feeling like he’s doing the same thing over and over again, he begins hallucinating. Specifically, he sees his younger-self at the desk and begins listening to mixtapes. This seems to be inspiration to begin recording again – but it’s short-lived. Anyway, 14 days pass and Josh finally decides to join his Mum and Larry at the breakfast table. We cycle through to the summer as well, where Josh acts judgmental and calls out Larry for manipulating his Mum. Yep, Josh is back on the judgmental path again. Eventually Josh decides to head back home again, brandishing a mask this time as he does.
The Episode Review
Well, nothing says peak-time TV like a good ol’ dose of forced COVID in TV shows. There’s a reason why Korean dramas are miles ahead of western TV and this episode perfectly exemplifies that. Beyond the obvious jabs at the government and commentary on the world with COVID, what does this episode actually tell us? Very little. As mentioned in previous recaps, this show sporadically jumps between one narrative thread to the next with no rhyme or reason. What happened to Dax? Are we going to explore that anymore? What about those girls Corman was seeing? What happened with Perry? Did she intentionally stand him up? And will Victor manage to spend more time with his daughter? All of these questions and more feel like loose threads that have been picked up and then dropped halfheartedly. This show is in desperate need of editing and an outside influence to tighten everything up. As it stands though, Mr Corman has no narrative pull and a completely unlikable protagonist, making for a difficult watch at times.
