The Grinder Review: The Curious Disappearance of Mr. Donovan (Season 1 Episode 3)

Yes, The Grinder  is still funny.

Trust me, I’m as surprised as you are. I’ve literally been waiting for this show to go downhill since the Pilot. I’m not proud of it, but I admit it. I liked the idea, and yet I didn’t have faith in the writers. I didn’t have faith in the characters. I thought they would go for the obvious laughs and would miss out on the chance to make this a really good comedy. I thought they’d make Stewart a caricature of a guy who’s always, always upset with his brother. I figured they’d make Dean this one-dimensional character that’s more bravado than heart. I thought they wouldn’t know how to incorporate the rest of the family in a way that felt organic, and earned.

I thought this would be just another comedy, all funny lines, no heart.

Boy, was I wrong.

Three episodes in, The Grinder  has quickly done what a month ago I would have deemed impossible –  it’s become one of my favorites comedies. Not like, my favorite comedy on Tuesdays, or my favorite lawyer comedy, no. Like, top 3, in general.

Take this week’s showing, for example, a fairly simple affair where everyone is lying. Not big lies, mind you, but the little white lies we all say. Dean has been lying for twenty years about a broken window. Ethan lies to get his sister Lizzie to confess to something. Stewart just wants his brother to admit he’s wrong (About a possible mole, about the broken window, or just, like, capable of being wrong in general). It’s all fun and games until …well, until Dean finally accepts the blame.

I kid you not. Character growth, on a comedy. And on episode four. I watched the episode two times to make sure I hadn’t imagined it.  It’s not only Dean, either. Lizzie is, really, the breakout start of this episode. Ethan had gotten much more screen-time than Lizzie in previous episodes, and yet Hana Hayes makes the most out of her opportunity this week. After Ethan confesses to something he didn’t do, just to trick his sister into owning up to it, she reacts like anyone with a sibling would.

With a confession to get her brother out of trouble, and then, when she finds out she’s been played, with a threat.

Big sisters of the world unite, Lizzie. We’ve got your back.

Stewart and Dean have their own perfect brotherly moment in this episode, when Dean shows up in Stewart’s room in the middle of the night, and in a move that everyone with a sibling would recognize, taps the clearly sleeping Stewart on the shoulder, and then asks that one question we all know and dread: “Are you sleeping?”

If I didn’t love this show before, this moment would have been enough to clinch it.

But yeah, I love this show. I’m not even ashamed of how much. I love the meta element of trying to impart life lessons through episodes of The Grinder  ON The Grinder  . I love the balance. I love Dean and Stewart’s relationship. I love this family.

And if you give it a chance, so will you.

Other things to note:

• Claire was a standout last week, but this week she was a little flat, probably because she didn’t have as many scenes with Rob Lowe. Give me more scenes with these two. Make me ship them.
• Fred Savage is my favorite. He truly is.
• Deb and Stewart win like the god medal when it comes to TV parents. Actual consequences!
• Todd really needs to get a life. Or friends. Preferably both.
• Score another for the perfect family interaction: The scene where absolutely everyone yells at Dean Sr. for asking an obvious question during a TV show felt like something I’ve experienced at least 20 times before. Yes, this is what parents do.

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What did you think of this week’s episode of The Grinder? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

The Grinder  airs Tuesdays at 8:30/7:30c on Fox.