Schitt’s Creek Review: The Incident (Season 6 Episode 2)

There’s nothing incidental about the success of Schitt’s Creek’s latest installment.

By opening the flood gates, Schitt’s Creek Season 6 Episode 2, “The Incident,” lets loose a whole lot of chaotic energy, quippy banter, and borderline divorce threats — all of which is extremely entertaining to watch.

The comedy’s second go at this season is unbearable funny as it purposely derails the plot and hopes for a messy train wreck to leave us in stitches.

And what a glorious train wreck it is as David’s embarrassment spirals into epic fits of comedic blasphemy we may never recover from. “The Incident,” is a schitt ton of fun as an unfortunate bed wetting incident resolidifies this show’s status as iconic.

“The Incident” establishes in a matter of minutes what we have always feared. Patrick and David’s relationship will be the death of us.

The couple’s cold open is the stuff of comedy gold with the fallout from David’s “incident” only becoming more amusing as the episode goes on.

It’s safe to say David acts the way any grown adult would in a situation where they’ve wet the bed. He asks Patrick to divorce him right there on the spot, even though they are not technically married yet. Then he locks himself in the bathroom to wallow in his shame.

Personally, I’m glad David overreacts as much as he does. It’s his dramatics that ultimately carries this episode to victory. That and Patrick’s struggle to tell David to stop with that ridiculous mouthguard in his mouth — what an endearing note to end this episode on!

I want to feel sorry for David but between his ridiculous reaction to the entire situation and Patrick’s desperate attempts to settle him down, I can’t stifle back the laughter for long.

The betrayal on David’s face when he hears that sheet crinkle still has me wheezing.

Make no mistake, David and Patrick are the stars of this episode. But they are propelled to greatness by co-stars that only feed into the discord of David’s latest spiral.

I mean Alexis just hands Moira the keys to Twitter and doesn’t expect a crisis to ensue. The woman refers to Twitter takeovers as “hostile”, nothing good can come from that.

But I am glad Alexis doesn’t feel the need to step in even when her brother’s bed-wetting incident is live-streamed to the world. It’s a testament to this show’s resilience to see these characters change and grow, while still holding onto the pettiness that makes their particular brand of comedy so freakin’ funny.

The Rose family thrives off their own chaos and this episode does nothing to stop them from creating more. Thus the beauty of “The Incident”.

If Alexis had done the sisterly thing and taken the video down, we would never get to see Patrick have his own moment in the spotlight amongst all this wedding drama.

And what a moment he has.

At times Patrick can feel like an observer, looking in on the Rose family’s shenanigans from the outside. So to see him participate in a conversation with Moira and Alexis where the two essentially assure him that the video is down when it’s actually not and have him call them out for it is a big moment for the character.

I love the idea of Patrick being a bullschitt detector for this family moving forward and a moral compass of sorts during the messier moments. More importantly, I love that Patrick is embracing the mess and placing himself at the center of this regardless of how much David tries to shield him from situations like the one that unfolds in the cafe.

This is the episode that officially integrates Patrick into the family and it does so in a way that elevates his dynamics with the Roses to hilarious new heights.

Anyone who suffers from second-hand embarrassment knows Roland is an absolute nightmare of a character, and I mean that as the greatest compliment.

However, sometimes his foot in mouth syndrome, the one that almost always destroys Johnny’s life every time he speaks, can be a bit much for me.

This episode is nowhere near the worst of his work as Roland mistaking a funeral for an open house actually helps pull Stevie and Johnny into the chaos that consumes this episode. But with Roland comes a need for balance, and when there isn’t that balance it can feel like the story is lacking substance.

By allowing Stevie the opportunity to express her need to branch out and leave Schitt’s Creek, the series plants the first of its final seeds and allows Johnny’s field trip the substance it needs to send this episode over the top.

In the seconds it takes for David to realize something has gone horribly wrong, we too realize something is going wonderfully right with the direction of this episode.

David and Patrick’s bed-wetting cold open is one for the books. Yet, so is every other moment shared between the couple during this episode.

It’s incredibly difficult to have lightning strike twice for a series and yet, Schitt’s Creek continues to deliver iconic “fold in the cheese” level comedic content almost every week.

Get your antibiotics ready because this episode is going viral!

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Schitt’s Creek airs Tuesdays at 9/8c on CBC and Pop TV.

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