Showtime's Kidding season 1 finale recap: Some Day

In the season 1 finale of Showtime’s Kidding, Jeff delivers a career-damaging speech at a Christmas tree lighting and tragedy lingers in the air.

As this Kidding season finale begins, we see that kid’s TV icon Jeff Piccirillo (Jim Carrey) spent a portion of his career campaigning against drug use. As Mr. Pickles, Jeff says, “Get between your kids and drugs if you want to save your child’s life.”

However, as we’ve seen with this season, drugs are probably just a symptom of other social problems, including stress in family life and school. That itself relates to personal disagreements, work-related stress, differences in philosophy, cultural hangups and so on.

Practically no one in Kidding stands as a completely non-tragic figure, which is why this show almost requires its humor.

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In the previous episode, we saw famous ice skater Tara Lipinski (who plays herself) accidentally get her throat cut by her sister’s ice skate. Fortunately, we see here that she survived and is in the hospital.

Nevertheless, it’s something the world witnessed, and it’s a mark on Jeff’s career. Now Jeff is attending a big Christmas tree lighting and is at the podium to deliver a speech. His speech is bold and intended for the kids of the world.

He says, among other things, “You are the product of narcissism” and “your parents are failing you.” Jeff then says he killed his son because he didn’t listen to him.

He also mentions how there’s too much sugar in the kid’s orange juice, why by itself could lose sponsorship for Jeff’s show. Because it’s going spectacularly awry in his eyes, Jeff’s father and executive producer Seb (Frank Langella) begins talking to a fake Mr. Pickles intended to potentially replace Jeff.

It seems all systems are a go for the replacement because Jeff even instructs kids to open their presents early. When they do, many of them find their new Mr. Pickles dolls, which tell them “I’m listening.” As his speech draws to a close, he says “I’m sorry” to his soon-to-be ex-wife Jill (Judy Greer) and that he loves her.

To complete the disastrous speech, the newly minted Japanese version of Mr. Pickles, Pickles-San (Louis Ozawa Changchien), announces “Allahu Akbar,” which gets him tackled to the ground by security! Of course, Pickles-San mistakenly thought it was one way Pickles greets people (though that segment of “Mr. Pickles’ Puppet Time” was about different international greetings).

As a result of this total fiasco, Jeff’s show is put on indefinite hiatus, and production closes up shop. Later, when Jeff asks his stagehand Derrell (Alex Raul Barrios) if what he did was wrong, Derrell simply answers, “Yes.”

Divorce and listening skills

Meanwhile, Jeff’s sister Deirdre (Catherine Keener) is talking about the finances of divorce. However, neither her nor her husband like the prospect of giving their daughter Maddy (Juliet Morris) a divorce for Christmas.

While attempting to sort this out, she discusses how she designs her puppets after people, and we get an interesting rundown of which puppet goes with which person. It’s a great Kidding moment, and also reminds us that life and work tend to intertwine.

Interestingly, as Jeff is preparing to leave his office we see a Christmas miracle of sorts. A bunch of kids line up to talk to Jeff, who said he would be there to listen. Jeff’s sown on Will (Cole Allen) initially tries to skip in line but is instructed to get back.

Then, in a real breakthrough moment, Seb approaches Jeff and says, “You’ll talk, I’ll listen.” Then, on top of that, Jill calls. It seems maybe things will be fine, right? The kids are all there as a great, old-fashioned moment of natural publicity, Seb’s heart seems to have grown in classic Grinchian fashion. What could go wrong?

What could go wrong

As a probable symbol of things being imperfect, Will jokingly hangs a Mr. Pickles doll in a room at a party next door to Jill’s house. Jill’s new man, Peter (Justin Kirk) tries to shut the party down due to the noise. However, while in the house he sees a bunch of Mr. Pickles clothes hanging in a closet, which is a little freaky. Later, Jeff and Pete have a talk outside of Jill’s.

Pete tells him, “The more you love her, the more you are hurting her. Jeff confides that he wanted to hate Pete, but thinks he’s actually terrific. However, some speculate that when Pete offers him a joint, something snaps in Jeff’s brain. Why? While backing out of the driveway, Pete is hit by his car — possibly by accident, but possibly on purpose.

Next. Kidding: Showtime series to return for second season. dark

Many fans speculate it’s because Jeff was so anti-drugs back in the day, or that it has more to do with jealousy. Another view, of course, is that it was merely an accident. The truth may lie somewhere in between all of the above. We have seen Jeff’s capacity for harm, intentionally or otherwise.

In this very episode, we see a woman he dated once named Shaina (Riki Lindhome) has relapsed after he had rejected her. On the date, she told him Mr. Pickles’ Puppet Time helped her quit drugs. While Pete probably won’t be dead next season, it’s clear Jeff will have some further explaining to do. What will happen? We’ll just have to find out!

That’s it for this season of Kidding! What are your thoughts? Let us know in the comments!

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