Sunnyside Review: Pilot (Season 1 Episode 1)
There’s a nugget of a great idea tucked away in Sunnyside, NBC’s socially prescient comedy about immigration and naturalization – but in its attempt to adhere to templates in its first half-hour, sells its own potential quite a bit short.
Sunnyside‘s first episode is built directly from the cloth of Community and A.P. Bio; disgraced male protagonist decides to apply his talents as a schmoozer to an eccentric group of strangers, only to discover he’s still got a beating chest inside his heart along the way.
In Sunnyside‘s case, the resident jerk with a soft interior is former councilman Garrett Modi (Kal Penn, who is also co-creator), a man whose tics and bad habits are defined by his casual narcissism, a trait the pilot leans a bit too heavily into as it details the mess he’s made of his adult life.
Quite honestly, Penn’s Garrett doesn’t feel like he has the necessary edge to be the kind of damaged, imperfect protagonist Sunnyside wants him to be; where the first half of “Pilot” revels in his awfulness, his turn to (self-righteously) start embracing his ‘goodness’ doesn’t really land.
The shift from abrasive to empathetic, both for the character and the episode, feels rushed at best; and at its worst, when the script slams on the gas in the final five minutes, almost feels inauthentic.
Most of “Pilot” is spent following Garrett as he tries to scam his way back into prominence; it’s much less entertaining than the ensemble portion of the series.
Sunnyside is able to inject some much-needed personality, through characters like Jun Ho and Mei Lin (siblings played perfectly by Joel Kim Booster and Poppy Liu, respectively), or Griselda (Diana-Maria Riva), the Dominican woman who works a half-dozen different jobs to keep her family intact.
Those moments offer Sunnyside some real promise; though some of its other characters are all a bit dull and shapeless initially (looking at you, Hakim).
Their interactions during Garrett’s informal “meetings” are easily the highlight of the first half-hour. It eases the abrasive, intentionally unflattering personality of Garrett, and injects some real pathos in the heart of the series.
Which isn’t surprising; the tale of a disgraced politician clawing his way back to prominence is much less engaging than watching immigrants try to navigate the overly-complicated, endlessly arcane immigration system, even when it sidesteps some of the more obvious challenges facing those trying to become American citizens (every character speaks pitch-perfect English, for example).
While it is commendable to see a network comedy series tackle such important issues, there are already shows doing it better.
It’s hard to follow an act like Superstore, which is establishing itself as one of the most politically radical comedies of the decade – and does so without the air of self-importance Sunnyside suffers from in its first episode.
However, the potential is there; like another network counterpart, Brooklyn Nine-Nine (fun fact: one of Sunnyside‘s executive producers is B99 creator Michael Schur), Sunnyside‘s diverse cast (both in terms of racial background, and comedic sensibilities) offer it a potential versatility most comedies only dream they could enjoy.
It remains to be seen whether Sunnyside is interested in really distinguishing its voice from the crowd; the more it adheres to the template of its predecessors, though, the easier it is going to be for it to be drowned out next to the rest of NBC’s (mostly) stellar comedy line-up.
Like most pilots, Sunnyside‘s biggest fault is its attempts to court a broad audience; the more it moves away from that, and embraces its most engaging qualities – capturing the horrors of American’s naturalization system, observing the forming of a “melting pot” surrogate family – the more room it’ll have to inject personality through its intriguing ensemble.
Only time will tell, of course; “Pilot” is in the right ballpark, but it is not quite ready to stand with the influential heavy hitters it shares a network with.
What did you think of this episode of Sunnyside? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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Sunnyside 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.