'Council of Dads' Episode 2: Will Robin be able to stop her family from disintegrating after Scott's death?
Taking off from where it left us in the emotionally intense pilot, the second episode of NBC's latest family drama took us into the life of the Perry family after the death of the patriarch, Scott Perry (Tom Everett Scott). It might have appeared that Robin Perry (Sarah Wayne Callies) is trying to come to terms with the loss of her husband and their children's father, but it is far from anything that you might think is "normal". Yes, they do try to live with the memories of Scott rather than letting grief take over, but it's not been easy.
'I'm Not Fine' explores the daily struggles of Robin, her four kids — Charlotte (Thalia Tran), Luly (Michelle Weaver), Theo (Emjay Anthony) and JJ (Blue Chapman) along with their newborn brother. Larry Mills (Michael O’Neill) narrates how the smallest incidents in their daily lives remind them of Scott’s absence, despite their best efforts to move on ahead with life. Luly's wedding and the new baby in the family should have been enough for them to distract themselves, but it is not.
To keep the ball rolling and fill into Scott’s responsibilities, the "Council” of Larry, Anthony Lavelle (Clive Standen) and Oliver Post (August Richards) set up a roster of what each of them should take up and how. However, they are overwhelmed as to how can they successfully replace the void created by their best friend’s absence. Larry takes the onus of keeping it all together but this isn’t working out well with Robin and she is overwhelmed.
While she understands how Scott really wanted this council to work and let the other "fathers" fulfill his responsibilities, Robin is not on board with the idea. She wants and needs her husband for the little things that make a lot of difference to her and her children, and nothing can substitute for that. There are certain things she wants to do for her kids but she has to be in sync with the council and how they work and she is clearly not okay with that.
But most importantly, Robin is realizing that certain random events have started to disrupt the well-knit equation in the household. For instance, Charlotte is suddenly keen on finding her birth mother, or at least some members of her biological family. You might wonder, why and how this would have come to a young girl's mind.
Scott’s sudden death has made her seek emotional refuge elsewhere. Luly also has a similar experience. She has a chance encounter with her birth mother, Michelle (Sharon Leal), which makes her dig deeper into her early years and how it was between Scott and Michelle. To make matters difficult, she and her husband, Evan Norris (Steven Silver) start planning a move to New York. These might seem like trivial, mundane things that happen in any family, but Robin feels that she is losing her grasp.
Serving the role of only a mother to her children, like she has been all these years, might not suffice. Although she has the council to support her, she is uncertain of how they will successfully be able to take care of the smallest incidents. Whether we like it or not, the family tapestry of the Perrys seems to be coming off, thread by thread and we wonder if Robin will be able to keep them all together and fill in for Scott.
'Council of Dads’ airs on Thursdays at 8 pm/7 c on NBC.