Abby’s Review: Soda Gun (Season 1 Episode 7)
Abby’s Season 1 Episode 7, “Soda Gun,” feels like the culmination of the show’s first batch of episodes, both a full showcase of the show’s rich character dynamics and an occasionally frustrating reminder of its self-imposed limitations.
Written by My Boys creator Betsy Thomas (one of the great, eternally underrated TBS comedies of the mid-aughts), “Soda Gun” takes a rather superficial premise — Fred gets pouty when Bill hires a repairman to fix the bar’s soda gun — and patiently develops it into something a bit more layered than you’d expect from the typical network sitcom episode.
It begins rather precariously; the first half of “Soda Gun” openly struggles to find pathos in the conflict it introduces, relying too much on the built-in crutch of the bar’s endless encyclopedias, rule books, and precious objects.
These gimmicky bits were tolerable in early episodes, but in “Soda Gun”, it obfuscates the deeper elements of the story, never giving the central dynamic — Abby and Fred — room to breathe.
The effectiveness of the constant rule sets, history lessons, and strange rituals is debatable; while it can be an easy way to build out the backstory of Abby’s, it hardly benefits characters like Rosie, whose character remains stuck as the show’s de facto game show host. She knows all the rules, every bit of history, and all the lyrics to the official songs — and through seven episodes, Abby’s has hardly given her room to grow out of that role.
“Soda Gun” is pretty egregious with its deployment of these tactics early on, to the disservice of both Rosie and the episode’s plot; but when it stops treating the core story with the kid gloves Rosie uses with the ‘legendary’ Coin (which is really Phil Mickelson’s ball marker), Abby’s is offered much more room to explore the relationship between Fred and Abby, perhaps the most essential friendship of the show.
It’s an important shift, immediately improving the episode by pushing the group together to cheer up Bill with an elaborate plan, leaning on their inherent knowledge of Fred to convey the tight-knit friendships between characters.
Rather than pulling a list out of a drawer, or invoking some historical precedent as law, Abby’s has to take the time to develop its conflict through its references of the past, and it leads to a much more nuanced and emotionally satisfying conclusion.
Abby and Fred’s conversation in his smoky car is a highlight of the series, a rare moment where characters waxing nostalgic illuminates the very foundation of Abby’s. Fred’s passive-aggressive resentment isn’t exactly flattering for the character, but how “Soda Gun” utilizes it to strengthen the bond between Abby and Fred leads to a moving, intimate moment between the two.
Fred, a man without a family, clearly made sacrifices in Abby’s early years, to fill the void left by her own absent father.
We’ve heard hints of their shared history before, but “Soda Gun” digs into the past a bit further to surprisingly emotional effect — and most importantly, doesn’t linger on it, quietly (and effectively) resolving what initially felt like a pointless, overtly predictable conflict with Fred’s touching story of fixing Abby’s bike.
The other plot of “Soda Gun” — James trying to develop an emergency plan for the bar — is a much more condensed story, which puts the same strengths and weaknesses of Abby’s under a magnifying glass.
First impressions are not everything, thankfully — when James walks in with a thick binder to handle all emergencies, it quickly starts to feel like “Soda Gun” is going to lose the story’s core thread. And for 99% of the episode, it does – it’s not until Rosie sits down with James and finally admonishes the book where his presence in “Soda Gun” makes a lasting mark.
It’s the one moment of the episode where Rosie is released from the chains of Abby’s many traditions; and with that room, she can serve as a much more meaningful vehicle for Abby’s. Without a strong definition of who Rosie is, her ability to embody the show’s compassionate heart is her redeeming quality – and in “Soda Can,” serves as a pointed, but effective delivery of the show’s cathartic ethos.
Though the Fred and James-centric stories of “Soda Gun” initially feel silly and dissonant, they coalesce nicely in the episode’s closing moments when the characters of the bar come together, turning Fred’s temper tantrum and James’ panic attack into meaningful building blocks for the comedy’s larger foundation.
Though its ratings are sagging, Abby’s is coming together in fits and starts; when it does work, “Soda Gun” offers some of the more emotionally resonant — and funnier — moments of the upstart outdoor 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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Randy Dankievitch
Randy Dankievitch is a TV critic living in Portland, Maine, whose obsession with pop culture began as a child, watching reruns of The Muensters while listening to Paul's Boutique on repeat. A writer since 2011, Randy is currently the writer of TV Never Sleeps, TV Editor at Goomba Stomp, and a columnist for Up Portland, with previous bylines at Sound on Sight, Processed Media, TV Overmind, and many others.