Abby’s Review: Mail Bin (Season 1 Episode 5)

Dysfunctional parental relationships are a mainstay in modern television, an easy opportunity to organically build out a character’s back story; more importantly, it is an easy way for a show to make itself more relatable.

After all, there are but three guarantees in life; death, taxes, and complicated relationships with parental figures — Abelarda and company are no exception, as Abby’s Season 1 Episode 5, “Mail Bin”, makes abundantly clear. 

Surprisingly, Abby’s utilization of this common premise — protagonist, estranged from one or both of their parents – is a strangely paced, rather vanilla affair, a slight step back from the incremental improvements of previous episodes.

Lacking in imagination, “Mail Bin” offers a stunted view of Abby’s conflict with her father, with an emotional undercurrent buried under underneath the episode’s general blandness until the absolute last second, unexpectedly sticking the landing of an otherwise trite affair.

The primary issue with “Mail Bin” is how much it relies on known information; it’s already known Abby’s father was inept and absent, and also that he stole James’ bike the last time he was in town. While a decent premise for a complex relationship between parent and child, the actual material of the episode doesn’t give it enough emotional weight to shape that idea into something tangibly unique.

Instead, it uses Abelardo’s letters to his daughter as a proxy for the entire cast to project their familial idiosyncrasies onto the situation – which, by nature, fails to help give definition to the situation Abby faces in this episode, and on a macro level, Abby herself.

In theory, this should work like gangbusters; unfortunately, “Mail Bin” also lacks the comedic depth it needs to keep each character’s running monologue engaging. There are certainly some funny punch lines in the first and second acts of “Mail Bin,” but they’re repetitive enough that it feels like the script is trying to obfuscate a lack of ingenuity in its main narrative thread.

There’s no doubt Abby’s is commendably talented in crafting jokes tailored to the cast’s comedic talents; but in “Mail Bin,” it all feels like a circular distraction to keep Abby’s story at a certain emotional distance.

“Mail Bin” is rife with missed opportunities to dig a little deeper into Abby’s relationship with her father — which in turn would help give more dimension to Abby’s character, who admittedly is a bit of an emotional cipher thus far.

We know she’s a bisexual veteran, we know she’s extremely Type A, and she’s very protective of the little hole in the world she’s carved out for herself; outside of that, the titular character is a bit of an enigma. 

It is smart for Abby’s to introduce this parental conflict, without a physical introduction of Abelardo; NBC’s penchant for stunt casting would be nothing but a distraction for such a young show.

But without his physical presence in the episode, “Mail Bin” has to do all the legwork through backstory — and that’s just absent in this episode. We know Abby’s father is a general flake and unreliable person, but how that affected Abby beyond severe disappointment frustratingly never bubbles to the surface.

“Mail Bin” raises more questions than it is prepared to answer; for example, how did her relationship with Abelardo change when she entered the military (or returned from it)? Rather than dig into the details, “Mail Bin” assuages the audience into projecting assumptions of their relationship, by relying on minimal character traits (mostly that he’s unreliable).

An estranged father who misses birthdays is a depressing reality for many people; so many, in fact, that it feels like an amorphous way to define their relationship, an impenetrable cliche that limits the ability of “Mail Bin” to give dimension to its main character without additional context, which this episode is not interested in offering. 

That’s not to say it is a completely failed endeavor; like Abby’s Season 1 Episode 4, “Book Club,” the strong central ensemble is able to cover up some of the blemishes in the script. There’s a natural rapport between the members of Abby’s, and the last two episodes have felt those dynamics really start to click into place.

The easy chemistry between actors is essential to keeping “Mail Bin” afloat: sitcoms are in the particularly difficult spot of having to figure out their chemistry in front of a live audience, which leads to a lot of early jokes acting as creative barometers.

If a certain punch line or interaction leads to big laughs (like James’ adoration of mail-order catalogs), it gives writers and performers alike a foundation to build on, the benefits of which are a minor saving grace for “Mail Bin” when it struggles to resolve its shapeless central conflict.

And while “Mail Bin” offers up a wildly predictable ending to said conflict, the gang chipping in to get Abby (and James) a silly popcorn/hot dog cooker is a touching reminder that the families we build for ourselves, while often as loud and unwieldy as the Pop Dog, need not be defined by shared DNA or surnames.

The simple, but powerful image of everyone reaching into their wallets to bring Abby some peace, serves the important role of continuing to build bonds between its main characters — which in turn, brings the audiences closer to Abby’s merry band of misfits. 

Every young comedy needs time to work out the kinks; “Mail Bin” is most certainly one of those episodes for Abby’s — less a troubling setback, and more of an underwhelming experiment for the freshman sitcom. 

What did you think of this episode of Abby‘s? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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Abby’s airs Thursdays at 9:30/8:30c on NBC.

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