This article contains spoilers
Jeff Pickles (Jim Carrey), also known as "Mr. Pickles," is an icon of children's television. He is a jolly good man with a positive outlook on life and a G-rated mindset. He's a star to children everywhere as they look up to him as the happiest man to be. Although when his family starts to fall apart, Jeff begins to capture a sense of reality as his adolescent vision can't get him through the crisis he falls into. The episode starts out following the one year anniversary of his son's death. Jeff Pickles is making an appearance on "Conan" where he is introduced to the audience as the vulnerable and caring icon of children television and proceeds to sing one of his most famous songs. After the show, he proposes an idea to the shows producer and his father, Seb (Frank Langella), to do a segment on "death" for his program "Mr. Pickles' Puppet Time." Seb refuses and claims that it would tarnish the show's reputation and make the audience scarred, although Jeff continues to put on a fight for the segment.
There is a storyline B, involving Jeff's sister Deirdre (Catherine Keener) who is trying to convince her daughter Maddie (Juliet Morris) to eat vegetables. As she refuses over and over again, Deirdre then bans hygiene as her punishment. Although at one point Deirdre retracts her punishment once confronted by Maddie who told her she witnessed her father Scott (Bernard White) have a sexual encounter outside the front yard with another man. Jeff later turns on the TV to expect his death segment to appear on the new episode, only to find it was cut out as Seb calls him and says that they had to do it or it would have tarnished his brand. The pilot ends with Jeff rebelling by shaving off a part of his head and buying a house right next to his divorced wife, Jill (Judy Greer), and kid, Will (Cole Allen), as he witnesses her with another man through the window.
Dave Holstein is the creator and writer of the show, his other works include being a writer for the show "Weeds" and "The Brink." Michael Gondry is a director and he's directed works such as "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" (which Jim Carrey stars in as well) and multiple Bjork music videos. The show kind of fits like a fresh new idea in these creators' hands, but still have some similarities to other works they produced. Dave's comedic themes within "Kidding" can be similar to how his humor is executed on "Weeds" and "The Brink," although I think Dave may take on a more mature and adult-like humor with "Kidding," as it tackles more serious issues and has a more abrupt and twisted vision on humor. Michael Gondry has worked with Carrey before, therefore there might be better chemistry on screen between the actor and director. Michael has a bit of a weird eye when it comes to his camera work, some cuts are abrupt and slightly strange and twisted, which could correspond to the strange and artistic work he put in Bjork's music videos and "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind."
"Kidding" tackles multiple obstacles in a great way, ranging from coping with death to having to be artificial for the media. Jim Carrey provides an amazing performance throughout the episode, as he remains with a happy smile to satisfy his brand of being an icon for children television, but the audience can see right behind his smile that he is aching and going through a personal crisis that is obstructed by his reputation. The pilot episode provides multiple strained character relationships between Jeff and his entire family, from his unnegotiable father to his prankster of a son who claims his dad is a coward. Although the episode overall was a bit underwhelming, it does shift between being hilarious and heartbreaking at a good pace. However, it leaves the audience at a bit of a blank state. The characters seem to all be grim and artificially happy, which correlates to the nature of the show, but it needs more of a push from its characters and their storylines to staple in and engage the audience.
The show has a paradoxical tone, as it switches between grim and lonely and too colorful and artificial. It has almost a psychopathic tone to it based around "keeping face" in a world colliding. The show's mood seems to be growing into an adolescent type of purity, with conflicting mature themes. For example, after taping an episode of Jeff's show (a children's show), the two people who were in the dragon costume within the episode being a cheerful character will have sex in the costume right after taping the episode. This goes to show the sad mature themes behind purity, and how not everything is as innocent as it seems, as two actors dressing up as a dragon will have sex in that same costume which completely ruins the purpose of the costume and shows the irony of using a kids show character as a little shed for sex.
The mood that Carrey provides is merriment and depressed at the same time, as his son calls him a "pussy" and his wife thinks he's a wimp, therefore creating this vulnerable tone throughout the show. This completely clashes the purity of the show with a mature theme. It does have a specific style going on, as it focuses on the kindness of Jeff but also on how he's coping with loss and heartbreak. The editing is quite abrupt and twisted at some points, such as a random clip of a car crashing being put in mid-conversation. It has a recurring motif of "cute and innocent" turning into "trauma and reality." There aren't many groundbreaking elements that set it apart from other programs though; it stays at a tame pace throughout the episode.
Overall "Kidding" provides a great performance from Jim Carrey that audiences have not witnessed in a while, although it may push other characters in the shadow. "Kidding" is a solid dark comedy/drama that multiple people will enjoy and relate too whether it's through humor or heartbreak.
"Kidding" on SHOWTIME: 7.5/10
