Old Man Duggan's Pop-culture Corner: Catastrophe

At 12:00 AM EDT late last night / early this morning, the second season of Catastrophe popped up on Amazon Prime. Living on the left coast, I logged onto Prime and three hours later the wife and I finished the six-episode run.

For those not familiar with the show, it stars Sharon Horgan and Rob Delaney, who are also the show's creators and writers. Horgan is best known for co-creating and starring in the surprise hit series Pulling but might be most recognizable to American audiences for her turn on David Cross's series The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret. Delaney is an American stand-up arguably most famous for his brilliance on Twitter - he's so good on Twitter that a person not on Twitter should probably sign up just to follow him - but he also has an hour-long stand-up special Rob Delaney: Live at the Bowery Ballroom that's been available for streaming on Netflix for a while.

The two star opposite one another as an Irish third grade teacher and American business man who in an evening of indiscretion in London end up getting her pregnant. Despite not really knowing her at all, he moves to London to do the right thing. They get to know each other, and the difficulties in trying to make a relationship work out for the sake of a child on the way play themselves out.

Season Two takes a jump ahead, but the things that worked about Season One are still present. The relationship is tried as their personalities and character flaws would logically add stress and tension. The conflict strives to be realistic and succeeds in being true to the characters.

Yesterday, thelaundry typified the show as "a more grownup version of You're the Worst," which is spot on. As You're the Worst is one of the best comedies on television, it's fair to say that Catastrophe is undoubtedly worth the modest investment in time. Each season is comprised of six half-hour episodes, so the whole series could be watched on a rainy afternoon.