What’s the name of this show? One Mississippi
When does it premiere? All six episodes are currently streaming on Amazon.
What is this show about? A woman who is dealing with cancer returns to her home town to attend her mother’s funeral. It’s a comedy.
Say what now? Well, it’s a very dark comedy. It’s darker than an Alaskan attic in January during a blackout. It’s even darker because it’s autobiographical.
Who could endure such a thing? Tig Notaro, who gave a legendary standup set about her breast cancer diagnosis, created this show along with Oscar-winning Juno screenwriter Diablo Cody. Louis CK serves as executive producer and Nicole Holofcener (Enough Said) directs. It’s sort of the dream team of moody comedy.
What happens in the first episode? Tig (Notaro) arrives in Mississippi after her mother dies unexpectedly after falling in her living room. At the hospital where her mother is taken off life support, she meets her brother Remy (Noah Harpster), a hapless history teacher who lives above their mother’s garage, and her stoic stepfather Bill (John Rothman). Tig recently has undergone a double mastectomy and the treatment has given her C diff, a bacterial infection in her intestines, which makes being away from a toilet impossible. She’s also on the outs with her girlfriend Brooke (Casey Wilson), loses her stepfather’s beloved cat Bonkers, can’t work on her NPR talkshow, and has to deal with memories of her grandfather molesting her in her childhood home – where she is once again sleeping.
Are you sure this is a comedy? I know, it really is a lot.
Is it funny? I wouldn’t call it funny in the way that a roast, a David Sedaris essay or a knock knock joke is funny. There are some really clever lines, hilarious observations and absurdist touches, especially in the fantasy sequences that Tig launches into sporadically. There’s one exchange where Tig and Remy are cracking each other up over how fastidious their stepfather can be, which is really funny. There’s also the fantastic circus imagery when Tig goes to a doctor and he recommends she get a fecal transplant. But even at her liveliest, Notaro’s modus operandi is deadpan so while there is a pervasive levity it’s not exactly hardy-har-har.
What’s the best thing about it? The dynamic between Tig and Bill is the thing that keeps me watching. After her mother’s death, Bill tells her that they’re not technically family any more and tells her she needs to remove all of her mother’s possessions from his house. He’s awkward and emotionally distant in an unconventional way that eventually makes sense as Tig slowly starts to examine it. Still she has decades of resentments about how Bill and her mother raised her and the traumas she’s had to endure. Bill is trying to find a way to show the people around him he cares when he has a very difficult time displaying emotion. The two have a few rollicking arguments where they barely raise their voices but you can feel the pent-up animosity that is getting the better of their true affection. They’re the most lifelike family arguments I’ve ever seen on screen.
What’s the worst thing about it? I’m usually a huge Holofcener fan, but there’s something about the way One Mississippi was shot that creates a disconnect. It looks like a conventional single-camera comedy that you would find on network television, with a sunny and wholesome vibe that belies the excruciatingly dark subject matter. Even when Tig is lying in bed with her mother’s corpse it seems like the sunniest spring day. It’s a very odd choice that makes the show look dumber than it really is.
Is it good? There are some great moments to it and no other show deals with death, dying, mortality and family in such a stark and honest fashion. Tig bares her chest, scars and all, on camera. Many things are described as “brave” on TV – this really is.
However, One Mississippi lacks the ambiguity that would make it a truly great show. There is lots of insight here and it is cleverly displayed, but it didn’t challenge any of my notions about death, disease or family. Notaro’s personal story is amazing, but it never transcends the personal to reach something universal.
Should I watch this show? If you can handle a something that is going to make you want to eat all of the Xanax you can find, then go for it. Notaro’s voice is fascinating and vital, but if you like TV for escape rather than challenging fare, maybe just stick to Castle reruns.
