The Moodys’ most colorful character has to be Jay Baruchel’s Sean Jr, the glue holding the Fox show together
The following piece contains spoilers
‘The Moodys’, a six-part holiday-themed comedy series on Fox is a fun watch for many reasons; the lead character Dan’s (François Arnaud’s) personal drama, the stressfulness of a family gathering and just the odd shenanigans the dysfunctional family gets into. But the show’s highlight is Dan’s younger brother Sean Jr. (Jay Baruchel).
Sean Jr., on the surface, looks like your regular good-for-nothing son stuck in a low-paying, dead-end job. But once you look beyond that, he may just be one of the more fun characters written in American comedy for some time now.
He may behave like an a**, but he is still a good guy. When he visits a friend who lost both his parents a year ago, he makes it a point to remind him he’s always there to talk, if he needs to, all the while trying to defeat him in foosball.
But he’s also a pragmatist. He may feel bad for his friend, but he is the only one to see he is better off now, especially with a great house his parents left him that has actually appreciated in value.
Sean Jr. also does not shy away from asking "important" questions. When he finds out his sister Bridget (Chelsea Frei) cheated on her Asian partner, he asks if the guy she cheated with also Asian (yes he was).
Sean Jr. doesn’t sugarcoat the truth either. He gives his brother some tough love on his breakup, saying, “Stop answer-shopping. You blew it,” and some more tough love on Dan’s inappropriate crush on Cora, his cousin’s girlfriend: “Oh, shut up. You never had a shot!” He also showers truth bombs on both his siblings, “You’re both godawful people.”
He is not a man deterred by his employment or it hanging from a frayed thread. He tries to get back at his boss by stealing a Zamboni. Of course, he gets caught and fired. When he grovels his way to get the job back, he still has zero care; he invites all his friends to party at the ice-skating rink where he works. Of course, he gets caught again.
It would appear that he isn't particularly worried about keeping the job. After all, it’s not like he lacks ambition. He has a business idea and a glorious one at that. He wants to put the “fun” in “funeral” and use the ashes of people’s loved ones in fireworks. A colorful way to say goodbye, eh?
Yes, Sean Jr. is the archetypal useless stoner in movies. But he’s also more than that. Instead of being a mere trope, written for cheap laughter, he is the glue the holds the show together. He defuses tense moments with his sometimes-unwitting remarks. He lives to have a good time and at the end of the day, he proves to be, despite his best efforts, a better son than Dan. Baruchel, who excels at playing the awkward nerd usually, has taken this oddball of a character and flown high with it.
The next two episodes of ‘The Moodys’ will air December 9 at 9 p.m. ET on Fox.