What a strange, strange comedy Kidding was. This two-season show starring Jim Carrey had me confused from start to finish. I recognize it was more of a dark comedy, but even the premise had me feeling sort of out of body. It probably also didn’t help that it took place in Ohio. Strange.
But I liked it! I know that intro made it sound like I had a terrible time watching it, but I didn’t. It had me hooked because I had no clue what was going to happen next. The show centers on Jeff Pickles, who is sort of the Mr. Rogers of Columbus, Ohio. He’s a genuinely nice guy who is pleasant to everyone and always appears happy. That’s just the surface of his on-screen persona though. He’s still really nice outside of the show, but his life is basically falling apart. About a year prior, one of his twin sons died in a car accident and then his wife separated from him.
We meet Jeff possibly at the crux of his grief. All season we see him try to reason with his father, Seb, about doing an episode about death, but he’s not having it. Seb also recognizes that Jeff may be at the brink of his sanity and all season long he tries to line up a future for Mr. Pickles with dolls, an animated show, and a Mr. Pickles on Ice. Jeff’s sister, Dee Dee, is the puppet creator on the show, and her personal life is almost as tumultuous as Jeff’s. Her daughter is odd and her husband is having an affair with a man. It’s clear that no one in this show communicates with each other. Or more, people talk but no one listens.
That’s the point Jeff’s soon to be ex-wife, Jill, tries to get across to Jeff, especially when it comes to their sons, the deceased Phil and the living Will. Jill is trying her best to move on and starts seeing an anesthesiologist, Peter, while Will starts inhabiting some of his brother’s destructive behavior. At some point, even Jeff moves on with a terminal cancer patient named Vivian. As well as that relationship seems to be going, Vivian dumps Jeff after she miraculously goes into remission. I can’t blame her, I would want to shed anything associated with death, too.
The entire show had a dreamlike or altered reality feel to it, which really kept me on my toes. Whenever I thought I knew what was going to happen next it seemed like Jeff was hallucinating! That definitely kept the storylines interesting. Finally, at the end of the season Jeff seems like he is in a better place when he’s talking with Peter in the driveway. Peter offers Jeff a joint before he leaves and instead Jeff runs him over with his car! That was a move that totally shocked me. Another shocking and completely random part of the show was when Tara Lapinski got her throat slashed at the inaugural Mr. Pickles on Ice performance. They were both gruesome, but so totally unexpected that I found them hilarious. I can’t wait to see what happens with Peter and Jeff in the second season, and I look forward to more explorations of grief from this strange show.