KnigaWorm Show Review: Schitt’s Creek, Seasons 1&2

I’ve heard a lot of praise for Schitt’s Creek over the past several years, but I never had the chance to watch it cause it wasn’t streaming on Russian Netflix and I have a complicated relationship with VPN services (in that, they never work for me, shutting down my entire Wifi system). And then suddenly, lo and behold, our own Kinopoisk started streaming the show! So far, Seasons 1 & 2 are fully available with more episodes on the way, and that’s just what we need for this review.

SPOILER FREE IMPRESSION

Schitt’s Creek is a comedy about a wealthy family who’ve been defrauded out of their estate. The family Rose includes father John, who is the least quirky character of the bunch; mother Moira, a soap opera actress who’s mentally never left the TV set and therefore overacts spectacularly throughout the entirety of her life; children David and Alexis, spoiled helpless thirty-something babies who’ve never worked a day in their life. Imagine this sorry bunch out in Schitt’s Creek – the town that John bought for David as a joke, and is now the only possession that the family has left. Which doesn’t say much about the town, to be honest. The town of Schitt’s Creek is small and quite shabby (by American standards; by Russian standards it’s above average). Of course, for the Roses life in a town like Schitt’s Creek is worse than death, which is the leading sentiment of the first season.

Moira’s final line of the pilot says it all: Good night. Let’s all pray we don’t wake up.

The situation isn’t helped by a small-at-first cast of supporting characters who are either too jaded to offer the Roses sympathy and hospitality (Stevie, the motel manager), or have a very unique idea of sympathy and hospitality (the Mayor of Schitt’s Creek). Still, the Roses try to adapt to their new environment, but it’s an uphill battle which neither the parents not the children are winning at first.

AND NOW WITH SPOILERS!

Seasons 1&2 work so well together because each Rose family member gets a great character arc throughout the two seasons. Each character goes from hating Schitt’s Creek and wanting to die to embracing the town and its inhabitants. Each person goes their own way to get there, and that’s the meat and bones of the show. The cast is relatively small, which gives each character plenty of time to shine each episode, and boy, do they ever! The core group of the Rose family is incredible! They work so well on their own and even better as a team. Each cast member has their own character quirks to play with, but you can see the family resemblance as well. Of course, it helps that Eugene and Dan Levy are real life father and son, and the creators of the show. I’m sure that they were working on the characters, working out their evolution as they were bringing them to life. There might have been a different idea for the show in the beginning, especially with how much time it would take for the Roses to adapt to Schitt’s Creek. I personally didn’t expect them to get there so quickly. Granted, I haven’t seen anything beyond season 2 yet (so I might do a separate review of later seasons if I feel like it), but the finale of Season 2 gives us a lovely scene of the whole Rose family genuinely enjoying themselves at a party with the locals of Schitt’s Creek. There might be a regression on the horizon (some drama is certainly required to keep the show running for six seasons) and I will be there for the ride.