At least Up All Night is actually about parenting now, right? The show’s retooling hasn’t made the show better or worse. The show, which remained steadily average in its first season, continues to do the same.
“Home/Office” focuses on the start of Chris and Scott’s contracting business that they’re going to run out of the garage. Reagan isn’t too happy that Chris, who had become an expert stay-at-home dad over the course of the previous season, pops in too frequently to see how she and Amy are doing. The charm of this episode is that we finally get to see a lot of Amy. The baby received a large portion of time dedicated to her, which is something the first season often failed to do. Now that Reagan is the stay-at-home parent, the show can explore the hijinks it could previously have featured instead of the lackadaisical approach they took with Chris staying at home.
Throughout the first season I mentioned how the show took sitcom staples and modernized them just enough to make them passable. This episode was no different, and a key scene dealt with Reagan getting locked out of the house while Amy was still inside. Reagan’s reactions were what made the scene work, but it wasn’t enough to carry the episode.
Her adaptation to life at home continued as Chris explained that nobody complains about neighbors’ annoyances because they all do something for one another. “You can’t mess up the ecosystem,” he warns her as she wants to go tell a neighbor to make his dog stop barking. Eventually she can’t take it anymore and storms across the street to yell at him when she finds out he’s hosting a fundraiser because the dog is barren.
The episode missed the mark with this one. The B plot should have focused on the ridiculousness of the fundraiser, but instead was about Ava and an ex-music partner, Walter (Sean Hayes, Will & Grace). It’s just another example about how the show tries too hard to get Ava her screen time instead of taking episodes where they naturally should go.
It’s almost forgivable because Maya Rudolph does a great job as Ava, and Hayes matched her in every scene. If this were a part of another show it would have fit right in, but it’s not, and it needs to fit into Chris and Reagan’s universe.
The show is funny from time to time, and all three main actors always bring their A game. Yet as each episode passes it’s as if I keep thinking Up All Night is building towards something and will finally hit its stride. Now, two episodes into its sophomore season I think I realized the show will be average at best and will never capitalize on the little moments that have worked so far.