Mr. Corman Review: Mr. Corman (Season 1 Episode 9)

Mr. Corman delivers a cryptic and ominous penultimate episode with “Mr. Corman,” Season 1 Episode 9.

The series’ titular Mr. Corman spends a frustrating night with his father, the episode’s titular Mr. Corman. Is it making a case for the similarities or the differences between the two men? Or is it a bleak harbinger of tragedy to come?

One of the great things about this thoughtful show is that so many things can be read in so many different ways. 

We’ve heard a lot about Artie Corman (Hugo Weaving), and not much of it is very good. Now we get to see it for ourselves and, arguably, come to the opinion that those things said may have been relatively understated.

If you have any experience with someone with Narcissistic Personality Disorder, this episode might be difficult to get through. This is a pretty accurate portrayal of the exhausting conversations that go ’round and ’round propelled by circular logic.

And Josh is plenty patient considering all that his father throws at him. 

The episode itself could be a three-act stage play. This could be due to the fact that Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Weaving are incredibly skilled at their craft. The stripped-down spirit of it, the strength for it to stand on its own. 

But as it fits into the overall context of the show, is the more impressive aspect. 

That foreboding chime that accompanies the onset of extreme anxiety sounds when Josh’s father first calls at the beginning of the episode. We saw how cautious Josh was at the start of the pandemic, so Artie not really adhering to social distancing protocol is another added stress. 

It’s a long, difficult night and neither of them come to any sort of a resolution. With each other and, it seems, with themselves.

The tension builds over the entire episode until they finally part ways. You know something dreadful is coming even if it’s just the cut to black and the credits, leaving us wondering. It’s that freakin’ fireball of doom that’s been haunting Josh (and the audience) throughout the season that comes barreling in during the last seconds of the episode.

Was it all real? Is this a depiction of how having anxiety and panic attacks feel? With the final episode entitled “The Big Picture,” certainly anything can go. 

It’s the kind of thing that will stick with me throughout the week, and, I suspect, will make the finale that much more impactful. I, for one, am looking forward to it in the same grim way one anticipates an apocalypse.

And I very much mean that as a compliment. 

What did you think of this episode of Mr. Corman? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

Critic Rating:

User Rating:

 

New episodes of Mr. Corman stream Fridays on AppleTV+.

 Follow us on Twitter and on Instagram!

Want more from Tell-Tale TV? Subscribe to our newsletter here!

Todd Grinnell on the Return of ‘One Day at a Time’ and Why Schneider Becoming a Father is a ‘Great Evolution’ for the Character [Exclusive Interview]