“Going Dutch” is meant to be a comedy. I believe. The main clue is that the episodes are 22 minutes lengthy. There actually aren’t lots of jokes—nothing that made me a lot as smile in its first two installments.
The sitcom follows Denis Leary as Colonel Patrick Quinn, compelled into profession purgatory by an ever-righteous Joe Morton as Common Davidson. Colonel Quinn’s punishment is to take over U.S. Military Garrison Stroopsdorf, a diplomatic base the place the troopers are tender, the mission is making cheese (doing laundry and sustaining a bowling alley), and the Colonel’s daughter Captain Maggie Quinn (Taylor Misiak) has been in cost.
A part of why the present appears like strolling by way of a cardboard museum is that Misiak and Leary have completely no chemistry. They appear extra like strangers making chit-chat within the grocery aisle than a father-daughter pair. It’s not that there’s no love misplaced; it’s that there’s nothing between them.
Leary, identified for his delightfully crotchety characters, needs to be in his candy spot right here. His Colonel Quinn is in bother for bad-mouthing his superiors. Exiled, he misses the previous days when no matter got here out of his white-guy mouth was inherently useful. His daughter nudges him to cease utilizing offensive phrases and it seems like being out of the conflict theater could assist him be taught some Life Classes.™
However the materials right here doesn’t give Leary a lot to play with and he appears to be principally phoning it in any manner, relying extra on his repute as a humorous grump than truly delivering a efficiency.
Captain Quinn doesn’t do significantly better. We be taught early on that she’s formidable (she has desires of the White Home) however don’t have any sense of why. What causes would she champion in elected workplace? There’s no clue. As an alternative, we see her attempting to show herself to her dad, however with no actual understanding of why she’d trouble or why she’d make so many errors alongside the best way.
Danny Pudi because the Colonel’s XO provides a little bit of humanity because the competent, good soldier who’s maybe connected himself to the improper star. Hal Cumpston because the out-of-regulation IT whiz appears not less than to be having enjoyable with it (though why the present wants a body-shaming subplot is unclear). And Laci Mosley as Sergeant Dana Conway, the bottom’s de facto fixer and smuggler, yucks it up.
I did see some promise in episode 5, the place the Captain’s boyfriend, CIA operative Rick (Parker Younger), involves the bottom. Lastly, there are precise jokes, principally on the CIA’s expense. Conserving to its mild generational (and due to this fact political) battle, right here, “Going Dutch” reveals a little bit of an edge, leaning all the best way into its critique of American imperialism. Colonel Quinn abhors the CIA’s shadowy strategies, lowering them all the way down to “bugging and drugging,” which the plot of the episode then reinforces. It’s truly a great gag and the one one which delivers within the three episodes given to critics to display screen.
The very best I can say of “Going Dutch” is that it would get higher. Maybe extra time collectively will assist the actors develop some chemistry. Perhaps XO Main Abraham Shah will get extra of an arc. Perhaps the present will lean into its potential to tease the American army and its numerous wings, discovering its footing in stated jokes.
Perhaps not although. And if not, “Going Dutch” will stay a cardboard cutout of a present. About as attention-grabbing because the laundry its characters do.
Three episodes screened for evaluate. Premieres tonight on FOX.
