How do you portray a narcissist completely out of touch with reality? Do you show their perspective and if so, how so and how much?
“Kevin Can F**K Himself” Seasons 1 and 2 answers these questions wonderfully via its central gimmick: Part of the show is a gritty drama and the other is a hilarious sitcom emulating the likes “King of Queens” and “Kevin Can Wait.”
This concept drew me to the show, which is executed fantastically. Kevin McRoberts (Eric Petersen), a lovable but emotionally abusive Worcester, Mass., cable worker, is forefront in this show and whenever he’s on screen, the show turns into a 90s/early 2000s-era sitcom with lame jokes, bright lighting and, of course, hijinks. Kevin is constantly goofing around with his dad, Pete (Brian Howe), his best friend and lovable doofus, Neil O’Connor (Alex Bonifer), and Neil’s sister, Patty (Mary Hollis Inboden), who often pokes fun at them but enjoys being around the boys.
This sharply contrasts with the point of view of Kevin’s wife, Allison (Annie Murphy). She wants to leave, but feels like she can’t. Whenever she does something for herself, like get a fancy job or try to go back to school, Kevin sabotages it and he constantly puts her down, while expecting her to be an obedient housewife. During the sitcom portions of the show, she is the butt of many of Kevin’s jokes. However, when he is not in frame, Allison is thrust into the role of our protagonist, the lighting dims and becomes much grayer, and the tone shifts to that of a serious drama like “Breaking Bad.”
Neither Allison nor Kevin are likable characters, but we sympathize more with Allison because Kevin is an a**hole. Petersen is downright hilarious as Kevin, but he’s not a good person. In fact, because of that, some of the show’s best comedy comes from seeing Kevin in pain due to his overcomplicated schemes backfiring.
Allison goes down a dark path that makes it harder and harder to root from her as she eventually searches for ways to kill her husband. She forms a fragile friendship with Patty, who is also tired of how Kevin and Neil act like children despite being in their 30s, and becomes her accomplice in everything she does.
The friendship barely works. Early on, I got the sense that Patty followed Allison to get some excitement in her life, but then found herself too far in to ditch her. But the show tries to present their friendship as a genuine connection, which I just couldn’t buy. It was good enough for me to get on board with the show’s major arcs, but it is far from the show’s best elements.
Ironically, Kevin’s character arguably the best thing the show pulls off. Petersen’s performance is exemplary; he manages to make Kevin just lovable enough where I felt genuinely conflicted about what Allison was trying to do to him, but I still felt like he deserved his comeuppance. He kept me on my toes; I went from cursing him when he lucked out to laughing hysterically whenever he did something ridiculous.
“Kevin Can F**k Himself” is a story about a couple that should have gotten divorced years ago and instead find themselves in increasingly more painful and convoluted scenarios, which the show is keenly aware of and addresses in its finale. No matter what Allison does, she can’t free herself of that man until she files for divorce, which threatens to implode Kevin’s ego. But it’s also the only thing that could make him into a man and force him to grow up, if he allows it.
The show’s use of its sitcom scenes was masterful, especially how Kevin’s false reality gradually peels back. Season 2 has a major character “wake up,” reducing its bright lighting a smidge that eventually escalates to all of Kevin’s followers leaving him. Its use of alcohol to fuel that reality was also brilliant; Kevin, Pete and Neil are all raging alcoholics, which prompts them to do some of the stupidest things imaginable and also justifies Kevin’s delusion. The way it plays of stereotypes of obnoxious Boston sports fans and its use of its Worcester setting also gave the show identity and plenty of material to work from.
The show is not without its flaws. Beyond Allison and Patty’s lackluster relationship, Patty also enters into a romantic partnership with a detective named Tammy Ridgeway (Candice Coke), who is investigating the local drug dealer in town, which Patty so happens to be. It’s not terrible, but it comes off as forced and only included for the screenwriters to construct clever twists from. I also didn’t care for Diane (Jamie Denbo), Allison’s aunt and boss at the package store where she works, but she did help flesh out Neil, who arguably gets the arc Kevin should have gotten: He grows up.
This is a really great show that falls just short of the upper echelons of television. Its sitcom/gritty drama concept was fantastic and led to some really compelling conflict shown exceptionally well. Its comedic bits are also legitimately funny.
However, its overly complicated roadmap and weak dynamic between its two female leads holds it back.
Still, it’s a memorable series well worth a watch.
“Kevin Can F**K Himself” Seasons 1 and 2 gets a 9/10
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