Abby’s Review: The Fish (Season 1 Episode 10)
Abby’s Season 1 Episode 10, “The Fish,” finds itself in a tough spot: written as a season finale for a truncated freshman run, “The Fish” has the unexpected task of providing emotional resolution for the entire series, thanks to its recent, unceremonious cancellation by NBC.
Despite that unexpected meta-textual weight, “The Fish” is as great a final episode as one could hope for, offering a glimpse of what Abby’s might’ve become in its second season, and striking a strong final chord with its touching last moments.
It’s not the ending it deserves; but thematically, “The Fish” naturally closes the loop of Abby’s emotional arc; with each episode constructed around a specific emotional trauma of a main character, “The Fish” serves up the metaphorical 200-pound tuna in the room (or Fred’s trunk) when Bill’s ex-wife Sharon enters the picture.
Through Abby’s brief run, we’ve seen it tackle everything from Abby’s quest to redefine her post-military life, to Fred’s loneliness and James’ lack of confidence. Each of its main characters have had their moment; Bill included, his stories often revolving around a man awkwardly picking up the pieces of his life.
Bringing Sharon into the fold for Abby’s final episode turns out to be a genius move; with no silly side plots or background stories to distract from, “The Fish” can really focus on Bill, and capture the difficult emotions of ‘moving on’ — which, bear with me, offers a neat parallel to the (unduly maligned) LOST series finale.
Sure, the existential stakes are exponentially different on the two shows, but Abby’s is built on the same rough premise: those who suffer together never have to heal alone. Every member of Abby’s surrogate family is flawed in their own way, coming to her outdoor haven to find solace, and perspective, in the company of others.
“The Fish” is a beautiful distillation of this idea; as Bill struggles to separate himself from the man he once was, Abby’s offers a rather quiet, poignant reflection on the power of community.
Written by Chelsea Devantez (also a writer and story editor on ABC’s promising Bless This Mess), “The Fish” captures the most endearing qualities of its characters, letting some of the more sardonic, acidic humor of earlier episodes wash away for a more focused, emotionally driven story about Bill and the people who really love him.
While it certainly gives the comedy a looser, softer feel — absent of the great physical bits of recent hours, I’d also add — it works wonders in heightening the emotional atmosphere, watching everyone in the bar rally around Bill’s struggle to not take the easy way out, and return to a relationship where he clearly wasn’t valued.
“The Fish” doesn’t shy away from the darker elements of Bill’s journey of self-discovery; his loneliness remains his weakness, and he’s still crying way too much at the teen tear jerkers he’s binging on Netflix.
But the bar’s given him an avenue to explore and challenge himself; more importantly, it’s given him a family, one who believes in who he is, and have (now, officially) offered them a spot at their table, a permanence that resonates through the final scene of Abby’s.
Knowing “The Fish” is the end of Abby’s, it would be easy to want more: more background humor between James and Rosie, or some more interesting explorations of Beth and Fred, whose prominence in early entries washed away to basic comedy relief in the last few episodes.
But “The Fish” feels like a natural (if forced) close to the loop of Abby’s; this whole season’s slowly been integrating Bill in with the show’s cast, the closest thing to a surrogate the audience has. Given that, culminating the series with naming Bill’s official seat at the bar is the best final image we could hope for, given the circumstances, the moment Abby’s, and its family of misfits, becomes whole.
With “The Fish,” Abby’s solidifies its place along low-rated, abundantly promising series like Ben and Kate, Selfie, and Benched, shows just figuring out their brilliance when they were axed by the powers that be.
In its brief life, Abby’s utilized its fantastic cast and laid back, quirky brand of comedy to deliver a touching anecdote about the power of family, and how the only way to heal, is to raise a glass, and do it together.
What did you think of this episode of Abby‘s? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
Critic Rating:
User Rating:
Abby’s airs Thursdays at 9:30/8:30c on NBC.
Want more from Tell-Tale TV? Subscribe to our newsletter here!
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.