Work in Progress Review: 15, 14 (pt. 1) (Season 1 Episode 6)
Work in Progress Season 1 Episode 6, “15, 14 (pt. 1),” delves into Abby’s familial connections while she attends her father’s wedding, sparking an anxiety attack which leads to an innocent mistake that may have disastrous consequences.
This is a chaotic episode.
But, it needs to be. Abby’s general anxiety coupled with the stress of her father remarrying put her in a chaotic state of mind, and the way the episode is structured transfers that feeling over to the viewer.
There are ups and downs. We do see Abby enjoying herself with the new additions to her family and with Chris. She has a nice heart to heart with her pops that seems to ease her concerns about her mother’s memory.
And even after she has made the mistake, she confides in her best friend and they talk it out. She is taking it all in stride and doing what she needs to do to get through the sticky parts, that is, until the end of the episode.
Seeing Chris’ dead name on the prescription bottle is an accident, and there is a good chance (great, even) that Chris would understand that. However, keeping it from him makes the problem grow exponentially in size with every minute that passes leaving Chris in the dark.
On Work in Progress Season 1 Episode 5, “66, 65, 64, 62,” Abby took a big step and showed Chris her closet of journals. We saw how not being forthright about her compulsions partly led to the end of her last relationship. She is working on being open and honest with Chris, and it is commendable because that can be really, really hard to do.
The name of the series is Work in Progress, and being a work in progress doesn’t always mean that you are forging steadily ahead and improving all aspects in yourself that need improvement—there can be setbacks and misjudgments can be made.
Accidentally seeing Chris’ dead name while in the midst of a panic attack could have only been a minor setback if Abby had come clean by the end of the episode. She makes an error in judgment when she decides to not tell Chris—but it is hard to fault her, being face to face with someone and admitting something difficult is much easier said than done—and we don’t yet know how big of a setback it will be if or when it does come out.
Although this is all very serious, the situation is not lacking in comedy which they employ in their unique and clever way. Bleeping the name and blurring it in print is a sensitive approach to the real-life issue of dead names while still being pretty hilarious. It’s a similar technique to that of showing text messages on the screen, which we saw worked rather well on Work in Progress Season 1 Episode 3, “162.”
Once again, they pull a fast one on us. Family drama, wedding catastrophes, and Chris not being accepted by the other guests are among the things I expect to see on this particular episode, not an entirely new and complicated dilemma.
Alas, Work in Progress keeps me on my toes. And it is a good thing when a show can do that for you.
What did you think of this episode of Work in Progress? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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Work in Progress airs Sundays at 11/10c on Showtime.
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Erin Allen
Erin is a former script supervisor for film and television. She's an avid fan of middle aged actresses, dark dramas, and irreverent comedies. She loves to read actual books and X-Files fan fiction. Her other passions include pointing out feminist issues, shipping Mulder and Scully, and collecting pop culture mugs.