'Schitt's Creek' Season 6 Episode 6 shows how interactions between non-Roses have been a real missed opportunity
Spoiler alert for 'The Wingman' Episode 6 of Season 6 of 'Schitt's Creek'
'Schitt's Creek' has a fantastic set of supporting characters, but they've always been very much restricted to being just that. None of the other residents of 'Schitt's Creek' are given much time on screen that isn't furthering the plotline of the core cast. One of the plotlines this episode, however, sees one of the Roses outnumbered by the residents of the town, and it shows that there's a gold mine of comedy to be found even without the Roses around.
Poor brave-faced Bob Currie (John Hemphill), a bright smile on his face despite the worst of circumstances, is definitely at his lowest point following his divorce. The smile has faded and the hope has faded from his eyes in a way that should not be as hilarious as it is, but John Hemphill manages to make it so. In order to cheer him up, Johnny Rose (Eugene Levy) decides it would be a great idea to take Bob on a night out and get back into the dating scene, but Roland Schitt (Chris Elliot) and Ronnie Lee (Karen Robinson) aren't about to take any of this seriously.
It's one dating fail after another as Johnny tries his best to bolster Bob's confidence despite Roland and Ronnie undermining him at every turn. Roland and Ronnie make for a hilarious pairing, a real foil to Johnny's earnestness, whereas poor Bob is his own foil - his own lack of confidence and bad luck dragging him back down to rock bottom every time Johnny tries to raise him up. The residents of Schitt's Creek have been largely one-note but seeing those notes getting to play off of each other still makes some great music. The Roses have been such a central part of the show for so long but episodes like this one show just how well the show could, theoretically, work without them.
In the show's final season, the supporting characters are getting a little more time to shine, but given how brilliantly they work together this episode, realization slowly dawns that it's a shame we couldn't have seen more of them.
The next episode of 'Schitt's Creek' airs February 18, on Pop TV.