Casual Review: Not Much Has Changed (Season 4 Episodes 1-3)

Casual Season 4 picks up approximately five years after Season 3. It quickly becomes clear that Alex, Val, and Laura’s lives are very different now.

Before watching, I was unsure how I was going to like such a large time jump. I’m normally not a fan of them. However, I think Casual does an excellent job with the jump, and it works really well in this circumstance.

Casual is not the kind of show where huge events and twists and turns drive the show along. It has always been simply about these people’s lives. They are just looking for where they fit in the world and how to achieve a meaningful life.

On Season 4 Episode 1, “Carrie,” we are introduced to everyone’s future.

Alex has happily taken on the role of father. His daughter is now 4, and she’s quite adorable. He is in an open relationship with Rae and having no strings attached sex with another woman. Laura returns home from two years abroad with her new girlfriend. Val is single and still working as a therapist.

Alex’s and Laura’s lives appear to be very different, but Val’s life seems very much the same as it was at the end of Season 3. As the first three episodes of the new season progress, it becomes apparent that things haven’t actually changed all that much for anyone. Everyone is still trying to find happiness and meaningful relationships.

Val: Can I ask you a question? Would you say you’re happy? Elliot says he’s not.
Leia: Um, lately I feel like happiness is a general construct used to describe the indescribable.

The time jump adds an interesting element to the show. There are a lot of questions about how life has been for the past five years and how everyone has gotten here. In Season 3, the show was starting to stall out. This leap forward jump-started it.

Everyone needed this time to grow and be ready for the big changes I hope will come as the season progresses.

Alex is in love with Rae. It couldn’t be more obvious. He is so determined that he would hate a long-term, committed relationship, but I think that is the only way he is going to feel fulfilled. He is never going to be satisfied in an open relationship with Rae.

He is fighting it hard, though — even trying out a virtual reality dating service to distract himself from his feelings for Rae. While strange, the virtual reality system is very cool. It puts him right into a bar where he meets a woman and quickly becomes infatuated with her.

I hope we have technology like that in five years. Although I would definitely use it for something better than online dating…

On Season 4 Episode 3, “Virtual Reality,” Alex is crushed to realize the woman was scamming him and likely stole all of his credit card information. Once again, his insistence upon fun, no-strings-attached relationships has hurt him. He got played.

Alex: Facebook is poison. You know that, right?

I have to laugh at the fact that a man who made all his money by designing a dating website and who has used them for years fell for such an obvious ploy. The virtual reality makes everything feel too real and made him too trusting.

It also doesn’t hurt that he is desperate to distract himself from Rae.

Laura is older now, but still quite young — and she acts like it. We see Laura diving into a relationship headfirst and getting totally carried away. This seems to be her M.O. It’s the exact opposite of her mom and Alex, but the results tend to be the same.

I hope she isn’t too haunted by her old relationships to give Tathiana a fair shot. They seem so happy together in the season premiere. I’m not sure how well the two will work now that they are in the real world instead of traveling and having fun all the time, but Laura needs to keep an open mind if she is going to find out.

Val is desperate for a change in her life. She is still living in the same place and working at the same job. She is in a serious slump. I don’t know how opening a wine store is going to help her, but she’s optimistic it’s the change she needs in her life. We don’t learn much about her relationships on Episodes 1-3.

She seems to be doing just fine without a man. I’m happy about that. Val, like all the other characters, needs to figure out who she is as person without defining herself by a significant other.

I am eager to find out where the rest of season goes. There’s not a lot time, and there’s a lot of ground to cover.

What did you think of these episodes of Casual? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

Reviewer Rating:

User Rating:

 

Casual Seasons 1-4 are streaming now on Hulu.

Follow us on Twitter @telltaleTV_

Want more from Tell-Tale TV? Subscribe to our newsletter here!