About a Boy - Episode 1.03 - About a Godfather - Review

This week’s About a Boy once again dealt with Will’s general cluelessness when it comes to kids - though instead of featuring Marcus it focused on his best friend Andy’s three rugrats. Since Will is a man without cares or responsibilities, he finds it hard to allow his friend an hour to help his daughter poop, when they’re supposed to be bowling. Although he starts hanging with Marcus instead, even he’s not interested until Will works out his issues with Andy.

Although it sure requires a large suspension of disbelief to imagine that Will didn’t know his best friend’s children’s names even though some of them seemed to be 4-5 years old, it made for a nice turn around when he decided to care. That definitely seems to be part of the journey that Will’s on in the show; becoming aware to the people around him, and learning to consider them, at least once in a while. Will makes a nice gesture to babysit Andy’s kids while he and his wife go…watch Homeland upstairs. Will does a pretty good job watching the kids (though I don’t know if I’d recommend the beer in the baby bottle), and even gets little Madison to poop without her dad - I talent, I think, it’s good for everyone to know. When Andy and his wife catch Will caring, they re-extend the offer of godfather, and he accepts. It’s a sweet story, and I hope that when Andy’s kids pop up in the future, Will still has some interaction with them, and maybe even remembers their names.

While the overall story was pretty good, it also contained one of the most worst kinds of female characters - the nagging wife/girlfriend who hates their significant other’s friend/roommate/brother. Andy’s wife Laurie, while absolutely justifiably untrusting of Will, just seems angry the whole time. While the archetype is obviously a viable character, it certainly is a very annoying one to watch.

Focusing on less-nagging moms, Andy spends a nice night with Fiona, drinking Shiraz and painting toenails. Yes, his toenails. He also fixes a cabinet, earning the name “Handy Andy.” I was worried there may be a sloppy kiss between them, but it was nice that they just hung out together and talked about their kids and which polish was the right color for toes. Fiona has a nice role in this episode as her neuroses are toned down, and she helps Will realize that Andy does all the friend-work, while he ignores what’s going on with Andy.

It was good to see Fiona and Will on the same team instead of pitted against each other, since they genuinely seem to care about each other. At least as much as Will cares about anything. I’ve got to say though, for neighbors, these guys are in each other’s houses quite a lot. Although I suppose that borrowing a kid to pass off as one’s own becomes an odd sort of bonding experience.
I wonder when we’ll get to the point where Marcus isn’t always a last resort or an obligation for Will, although it was nice to see Marcus reject Will too in this episode, evening out their power dynamic a bit. And the next time someone takes that kid bowling, can they get him some bumpers? I feel your pain, Marcus, I really do.

The best line/moment of the episode goes to Andy, telling his kids, “Come on, guys,” even as he’s carrying/pushing all of them. The redundancy of line was fantastic.

What did you think of “About a Godfather”? Did you like Will-as-poop-instructor? Do you think Will’s selfishness makes him frustrating or charmingly flawed? Let us know below!

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