It was worth sitting through the first two episodes mostly for Annie's performance. Her character being antithetical to the one she plays on Schitt's Creek. I can dig the range. She has a natural way of brightening the now. The morbidly corpulent Aaron Rodgers looking schlub Kevin is insufferable, but that's what he's supposed to be, ergo the invective spiked title. I guess hackneyed sitcom tropes with their glammed down yet still somehow participation trophy-esque wives and beer-belch vulgarian, easy target husbands lend themselves to parody well. The calculated canned laughter during the Kevin scenes is a devilishly clever touch and creates a cool tonality and contrast with its sudden absence during Allison alone time scenes (which, ironically, are often far more hilarious). The Masshole accents go well with the mentions of Alcoholic sno-cones, Wade Boggs rookie card, and other platitudinous pearls of dialogue. Speaking of, the writing is dumbed down by considerable degrees purposefully, which makes this a much different species of sitcom. Usually it is unintentional. Too many examples to name in a short-ish review. This one possesses the power to laugh at itself; a sharp mind's eye view. The show has telegraphed where it is going, at least I think so, but I hope for surprises and look forward to being invalidated. For now it's a soft 7.
