'The Moodys' avoids the mush of Christmas comedies and demonstrates with charm the stress of family gatherings
The following piece contains spoilers.
Holiday-themed movies are a dime a dozen. And they all have the same basic schmaltzy story arch spanning over roughly 120 minutes. The world really doesn’t need any more of them.
And maybe for that reason, we now have a holiday-themed mini-series. ‘The Moodys’, based on an Australian series by the same name, is the story of a dysfunctional family and their shenanigans leading up to Christmas. But is it better than your run-of-the-mill Christmassy snoozefest? You bet!
Episode 1 and 2 of the six-part series begins with the familiar soothing notes of ‘Jingle Bell Rock’ as the family enjoys a warm Christmas evening, only to see the matriarch of the clan burst into the room with an airgun and destroy the tree as well as figurines surrounding it.
Obviously, there is a lot of tension in this family. From their it rewinds. The show introduces you to a zoo of a family. Dan (François Arnaud) returns home for the holidays after a breakup. Sean Sr. (Dennis Leary) is the gruff-but-caring father. Ann (Elizabeth Perkins) is a loving, yet sometimes inappropriate mother. Bridget (Chelsea Frei) is the wisecrack sister and Sean Jr. (Jay Baruchel) is the good-for-nothing younger brother.
From the get-go, Dan can’t catch a break. While dealing (or not really dealing) with a breakup, he has to explain his new diet to his family, he has to deal with loud relatives and he has to listen to them blame him for the breakup.
If that wasn’t all, Dan also develops a crush on Cora (María Gabriela de Faría), the girlfriend of his obnoxious cousin Marcos (Josh Segarra). On just day one, Dan manages to get pulled into one of Sean Jr.’s “pranks” and manages to get arrested. And in front of cops and his family, he has an outburst.
Later, when he and Cora talk, he ends up kissing her, sealing the deal on his awkward fate. But Dan isn’t the only one going through things. Ann has breast cancer and this may well be the last holiday she gets to spend with her whole family.
However, she doesn’t want to rain on anyone’s parade by telling them about it. She tries to invent traditions just to spend more time with her kids. Only her husband Sean Sr. knows and he’s trying his best to deal with it.
Bridget, on the other hand, is living in guilt. She cheated on her partner. And she doesn’t know what to do about it. And when she finally does confront him, she leaves the house to stay with family -- they are taking some time off.
Even Cora has a lot on her plate. She may be with Marcos, but she often doesn’t enjoy that. And that’s really because Marcos is unbearable as a person. He is annoying, smug and bails on her every now and then.
But are the complicated lives of the characters enough to keep the audience hooked? Not really. But it’s the treatment of these complications that makes this show special. Despite the gravity of each of these situations, the show manages to remain light-hearted, fuzed with good comic-timing and some outstanding performances from Baruchel.
More importantly, unlike other holiday-themed episodes in sitcoms or holiday-themed movies in general, ‘The Moodys’ manages to keep the mush at the right amount. What it focuses more on is how stressful family gatherings, especially at the supposedly cheeriest time of the year can be. It delves into how even the slightest of things can avalanche into a huge row and it does so with extraordinary charm.
The next two episodes of ‘The Moodys’ will air December 9 at 9 p.m. ET on Fox.