Another fun episode exploring the world outside the offices of Cramblin-Duvet advertising, this episode of Detroiters focuses on Chrissy’s co-worker (the titular character), her partner on the assembly line. In a cold open where Sam, Tim, and Chrissy are either celebrating the Fourth of July or just chilling outside with the rest of the neighborhood in the middle of the day with flags and fireworks for no reason, we meet Lois, and see how she and Chrissy trade barbs. (Sam gets in on the act; Tim gets too real and can’t get the hang of joking around.)
Unfortunately, our next scene cuts straight to Lois’ funeral, where her widower Elwood laments that he should have “told her not to smoke that last cigarette.” In a show of politeness, Tim offers to spend time with Elwood, and Elwood immediately commissions him to come over tomorrow and spend the entire Sunday with him. Also, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention Lois’ extremely funny last request: to be mounted taxidermy-style sitting at a table with her cigarettes and a can of Faygo. (See the header image.)
Elwood, whose eulogy of Lois consists of “Who’s gonna make my sandwich? Who’s gonna make my bed?” guilt-trips Tim into doing those things for him, among many others (and he’s not particularly appreciative of them, either). Tim even takes up smoking so the house will smell more like Lois, but after a week of doing literally everything for Elwood, Tim finally snaps and tells him he has to make his own sandwiches. (Elwood is baffled; his first attempt ends up in a mushy ball of bread and filling.)
Meanwhile, Chrissy adjusts to her new co-worker Margaret (played by Mary-Lynn Raskjub), who was bullied as a child and so doesn’t go for insult comedy. Margaret mentions her hairline used to start at her eyebrows, and Chrissy asks what the bullies used to call her and tries not to crack up. After a conversation about it with Tim and Sam, she takes the tactic of “tricking her into being mean” by asking what the bullies would say about their co-workers. (Tough call as to which is the highlight burn. “Little Joey’s so short he needs a ladder to go down on Tinkerbell” or “Fred’s neck is so weak, he has to ask his tits for lunch money.”)
Sam meets Angel during the Fourth of July celebration, and after she mentions that he “talks proper,” he tries to overcompensate when he’s around her, despite Tim’s warnings that he’ll get caught. He does eventually, at a party Angel brings him to (I guess Sam never updated his voicemail to match his newfound AAVE), but not before we get a couple of great scenes of him attempting to talk during sex (then stopping when he realizes Angel doesn’t want him to talk in his natural voice), and another where he and Angel are in a dispute over what movie to see. He wants to see Star Century Prime, she wants to see Fat Bieber. Eventually he acquiesces, which results in another funny scene where he’s upset at people talking during the movie and gets threatened by someone he tries to shush.
In the end, Sam is single again, Chrissy finds a way to make it work with her new linemate, and Tim is no longer acting as Elwood’s maid.
The show’s really on a roll right now; even though there’s a part of me that felt like this wasn’t quite as funny as the last three episodes, Detroiters is playing at a really high level right now, and every episode has some delightfully funny, laugh-out-loud moments. Stick with this show, tell your friends, because we gotta get a season three renewal on this baby.
STRAY TAGLINES
- The cold open also contains Sam and Tim’s “Roman Candle Baseball,” which looks like an extremely fun/dangerous activity, where they also go on a screamingly funny riff about Sam coming up from the “Roman Candle Negro Leagues.”
- “I’ve been working the line next to your wife for ten years, and every day I ask her, when is she gonna dump your ass?” “What does she say? She says she’s not, right?”
- After Lois flirtatiously asks Sam if he’s got thirty seconds, he says he’ll need more like half an hour. Chrissy: “Yeah, that’s because he’s gonna have to take a dump before and after.” “First of all, how do you know that? Second of all, shut up.”
- Lois is holding a can of Faygo Rock N’ Rye, which is turns out is just one of their many, many flavors that I would not have expected to exist in soda.
- “The other day, Fred farted so hard his back went out. She didn’t even giggle!”
- Fred’s getting workman’s comp for it, so, shout out to working class hero Fred.
- The bullies used to call Margaret “Bride of Chewbacca” and “The Forehead-less Horseman.”
- The final scene had me howling, as Elwood’s attempt at independence ends up killing him in a gas oven explosion. We learn that Elwood was unemployed, in addition to expecting Lois to do everything for him. What the hell did he do?
- Also, Tim and Sam are unreasonably annoyed with the pastor’s trite humor during Lois’ funeral, but then have to admit that the joke he tells during Elwood’s is actually pretty good.
- Here’s your poster for Fat Bieber, starring Bobby Moynihan:
