'Living With Yourself': Are we living with the show's other characters or are they mere breadcrumbs in the storyline?
To be honest, we love Paul Rudd, everyone does. Whether it was the soft and mushy George in 'Object of Affection', or the superhero in 'Ant-Man', Rudd always charms us with his characters.
'Living With Yourself' is no different. But, let's not forget that in this family-comedy-drama, there are essential characters involved that make the hero complete.
For more than half the season, the story's POV shifts between Miles Elliott and his clone, New Miles, but becomes repetitive soon enough.
Characters like Dan (Desmin Borges), Mile’s competitive coworker and Miles’ sister, Maia (Alia Shawkat) are thrown in like breadcrumbs, raising your expectation of a more solid form for their characters.
Take Dan's role for instance. We see how the rivalry between him and Miles is a major reason for Miles' lack of self-confidence and stressful work life.
And Dan is also the person to recommend him to a "secret spa treatment". But there is nothing more to substantiate Dan's character, which could have become an important part of the story. So is the case with Alia Shawkat's role.
Maia has a strained relationship with her elder brother, who tends to avoid her. But somehow she likes the clone of her brother, which we never get to see, but only hear from a dialogue exchange.
And then we suddenly see a relationship talk between New Miles and Maia, which doesn't seem quite logical unless you share that kind of chemistry with someone.
Lastly, let's get to Aisling Bea. The Irish actor-comedian is a real treasure to watch and she justifies her character of the disgruntled wife.
But shouldn't there be more to a woman who is trying hard to be a parent, but cannot, and is disappointed in her husband for his laxity, and on top of all these, she discovers her husband has a clone?
Except for one complete episode dedicated to Kate's (Aisling Bea) POV on the situation, which somehow seems forceful, we miss the development of Kate Elliott as the only lead character after Miles.
We are yet to see other promising cast members like Karen Pittman and Zoe Chao evolve and have their piece of the story, rather than being adornments to the show.
In short, there is a lot of potential in every character of 'Living With Yourself', only if they are not overshadowed but rather allowed to enhance that of Miles Elliott. We'll never know until we get to season two, will we?