'Mad About You' Revival Part 2: Things get tense as Paul and Jamie edge on the brink of separation
While the first six episodes of the 'Mad About You' revival by Spectrum Originals did not offer much except nostalgia to its viewers, the second half of the revival will be raising the stakes for the Buchmans.
In Episode 7, a childhood friend of Paul and Ira dies, leaving Paul and Jamie to grapple with their mortality and therefore settle their wills and arrange their affairs. It was a premise that offered a lot of material, yet, this grappling revolves around one issue: whether Paul and Jamie want to be buried or cremated.
Paul wants himself and his wife to be buried in the family plot in Queens, however, Jamie wants to be cremated and her ashes to be comingled with their daughter, Mabel's, once she has passed away as well.
In a tiresome conversation that goes on for far too long, the Buchmans then argue as to which is better and who gets to do what — only to end up confirming that they will be buried in Paul's family plot in Queens.
However, this may have been a set-up for the following episodes. In Episode 8, Paul house-sits for Anderson Cooper when his sister-in-law, Lisa, double-books. This leads to Paul spending some time alone — perhaps for the first time since his marriage. While this alone time goes well initially for Paul and Jamie — even leading to some roleplay — their conversation on how they both liked the alone time devolve into a big fight. Jamie wants Paul to speak what's on his mind while Paul thinks it isn't necessary.
The episode ends with Paul and Jamie going to their therapist, Dr. Sheila Kleinman, in which we see Mo Gaffney return to reprise her role from the original series.
The following episode then deals with the fallout from the fight — Paul continues to speak his mind a la Jamie, and Jamie takes notes to bring them up later and Dr. Kleinman tells them that it is the end of the road for their marriage.
In the midst of all this, the Buchmans receive a huge offer on their house by an unnamed celebrity who Jamie thinks might be Beyonce. While they contemplate whether to sell the house or not, Paul and Jamie somewhat move towards a reconciliation — but they are not there yet.
The celebrity is revealed to be David Harbour, albeit a fictional version of himself where he will not talk to anyone except through his publicist. In the end, David decides not to buy the Buchman apartment.
The seventh and eighth episodes are the strongest episodes so far, in that they actually give the viewers something to worry about and be invested in. Seeing Paul and Jamie fight is shocking and that they might sell their apartment almost feels like a definite end to one of TV's defining couples of the 90s.
But, with only three episodes left in the season, and perhaps the show as a whole, viewers can hardly expect deeper material. What we can expect to happen is a quick u-turn on this turn of events.
Had the revival gone down this route much earlier and explored Paul's and Jamie's empty nest syndrome more sincerely, the revival could have held its own. But without substantial storytelling, the new episodes of 'Mad About You' does not offer much to fans — and even nostalgia gets boring after a while.
All episodes of the 'Mad About You' revival are now streaming on Spectrum's On-Demand platform.