FX’s Breeders is remarkably resonant in season 3
Martin Freeman and Daisy Haggard keep it far too real in the British-American parental comedy
TV Reviews Breeders
Over two seasons, FX’s dark comedy Breeders has excelled at portraying the tough realities of parenthood. Its third, thankfully, is no different. This isn’t a happy sitcom where a 20-minute episode wraps up its issues neatly with a warm heart-to-heart. Paul (Martin Freeman) and Ally (Daisy Haggard) are often exasperated by their two kids; he expresses it through verbal rage, while she mostly solemnly seethes. The duo ultimately try hard to raise their children to the best of their abilities, despite some stumbling blocks. And a major pitfall they have to reckon with is how Paul’s anger directly affects his 13-year-old son Luke’s (Alex Eastwood) burgeoning anxiety.
The show made a smart move by jumping forward five years between its debut and sophomore runs. Series co-creator Freeman, who partially based Breeders on his own parenting experiences, told The A.V. Club last year that it was a planned approach. And it’s a gamble that absolutely pays off. Paul and Ally have to actually deal with their kids instead of shutting them down by yelling—a go-to move from when they were still toddlers. The new episodes retain that quality by putting an emphasis on how Luke and 10-year-old Ava (Eve Prenell) are coping with these shifting dynamics. While it’s still a parenting comedy, Breeders feels even more incisive and well-rounded upon its return.
Season three picks up in the immediate aftermath of Paul moving out of the house after Luke punched him. The teen’s momentary violent outburst shakes up the family deeply, especially as Luke still struggles to be in the same room as his dad in fear of an impending panic attack. To help control Luke’s consternation, Paul lives at the home of his mother-in-law Leah (Stella Gonet) while she enjoys her Croatia honeymoon. Paul briefly even enjoys the solitude, at least until his own parents—the downright entertaining Jim (Alun Armstrong) and Jackie (Joanna Bacon)—turn up. Breeders can always count on Armstrong and Bacon to deliver trademark dry British humor. Their interactions with each other, and everyone else, bring just the right amount of comic relief.
The show devotes sufficient time to slowly repairing Paul and Luke’s relationship. Again, it’s not interested in easy fixes and solving a problem with just candid conversations. That’s not how real life works. Paul apologizes, slips up and shouts some more, works to improve himself, and maybe slips up again. Breeders’ writing mostly succeeds at keeping the cycle authentic, although it can border on repetition in other stories. Season two already tackled a sort-of-but-not-really infidelity subplot when Ally shared a quick kiss with a fellow parent from school. Now, Paul forms a bond with Gabby (Sally Phillips), his temporary neighbor at Leah’s, sneaking in movies and lunches with her. Their slow-burn arc will factor in during the season’s latter half and—hopefully, as five of ten episodes were watched for this review—avoid cheating clichés.
Meanwhile, as Paul is working on his anger-management issues, Ally singlehandedly picks up the pieces at home. She’s temporarily raising two youngsters alone, and attempting to maintain peace between her husband and son, all while dealing with a major work and health crisis. If season two’s crux was Paul and Luke’s clashing, the new episodes center more on Ally’s growing isolation. Haggard delivers a striking maneuver: She keeps her character on the verge of a breakdown without losing any gravitas and still packs a real punch with her comic timing.
The show also gets to dissect Ally and Ava’s bond. Too wise for her age, Ava believes she’s put on the back burner by everyone else. She misses having Paul around, is annoyed by Luke seemingly getting his way, and feels terribly distant from her mother. It’s only natural for her to feel abandoned in the messy family drama. (Can’t you just sense all younger siblings nodding along in agreement?) The parallel of Ally going through early menopause and Ava getting her first period—both events resulting in heightened emotions—is fodder for heartfelt stories between the two.
At one point, a vexed Ally juggles between shouting at Ava and a pharmacist while hunting for estrogen medication. “I’m not a bad mother; I’m a good mother at the end of her rope,” she says. The crushing and utterly realistic dialogue, delivered passionately by Haggard, perfectly surmises Breeders’ outlook on parenting. The comedy’s reliability is its strength, but it’s also why most people might find it difficult to get through. Still, if viewers can survive the parental nightmare there’s also joy and laughter to be found. There are quiet moments of happiness—Paul saving Luke from an embarrassing presentation, Ally’s birthday party for Ava, and everything Jim and Jackie say or do. It won’t be laugh-out-loud or sappy, but Breeders remains one of the most grounded family comedies on air right now.
15 Comments
Why does this get reviewed but none of the Star Trek shows? Nothing against Breeders (I’ll never watch it), just wondering.
…have you tried searching before? AV Club reviewed Discovery last season and IO9 reviewed Picard and Lower Decks.
It’s better written, directd and acted than those Star Trek shows. Nothing against them, they’re still entertaining (well, not Picard), they’re just in a different league.
Because no one reads them, according to Zach Handlen’s last Disco recap:Due to low readership, this is will be the last regular Discovery review–there’ll be a write-up of the finale, and maybe a pre-air when the next season drops, but that’s it. Thank you to everyone who stuck it out for the past few years of what must’ve seemed like increasingly repetitive reviews.https://www.avclub.com/star-trek-discovery-heads-into-the-void-and-finds-caus-1848259806
Because its a better show? I mean its ok to talk about shows where no one gets laser beamed or karate chopped also.
Look, I guess I worded this really poorly (I do that often!) I had just watched the Picard finale and Strange New Worlds. I came to the AV Club to discuss them. I forgot that this site barely reviews anything anymore. I saw this was being reviewed and thought “surely a Star Trek review would get more replies” and decided to ask here about Star Trek. I didn’t think it through. I wasn’t trying to say this show didn’t deserve to be reviewed. Okay?
I literally couldn’t watch it after trying the first episode (possibly two). As a parent it’s a very tough watch.
I couldn’t get through the first season. It took too long to get anywhere and there’s just too many other things out there to try. It sounds like the show found its footing at least.
agreed, they are so abusive to their children it just wasn’t a fun watch.
I’m a parent of two girls, and am the youngest of 10 myself. Yes the show can be quite difficult, at times, but I enjoy it. For me, Breeders and Better Things, represent the realities of raising kids better than any other comedies on TV for the past 10 years, perhaps ever. Kudos to FX for bringing us both shows.
as someone who has no children (& never wanted any), i watch this thinking, “yup, that’s why.”
This show is slap-me-silly good. Can’t wait for this season. I hope they mention rogan josh at least once or twice—in my head Paul is always wanting to order rogan josh, which I think only happened a single time, but I found it endearing to treat takeout like a sort of cute parenting cureall.
1st season of Breeders was good; 2nd was great.
Third season best so far.
The flashbacks were particularly illuminating in the season premiere, because of how Paul and Luke remembered them.Going into this season, Luke had convinced himself that Paul was the cause of all of his anxiety issues. And Paul’s rage issues are undeniably kerosene on the fire in that regard.But it’s clear that Luke’s anxiety issues run deeper than that, and he’s so self-focused in those moments that he doesn’t perceive or remember the impact his anxiety has on others.If Paul was just the villain who caused all his problems, that would be easier. But Paul is also the guy who sang a really embarrassing song through the bathroom stall door to help his son poop, and who is dependable when Luke really needs him.None of those more admirable qualities cancel out how toxic Paul’s anger is, nor it’s corrosive effect. But they do make it more complicated to navigate.One thing that stands out to me about Paul’s rage: He’s not perpetuating learned behavior from his own parents. His parents are odd ducks, but they’re demeanor is dependably placid. He doesn’t have anyone to blame for his issues but himself.I appreciated too that these episodes explored the consequences of this new domestic arrangement on the rest of the family. Luke laid down this ultimatum and they’ve all agreed to go along with it. But it’s not really working for anybody else. Ally is completely overwhelmed, and Ava really misses her dad.Luke and Ally have a special bond, and Paul and Ava have a special bond, and Ava’s being deprived of that at a developmental milestone where she needs her parents more than usual.Television gives us a lot of picture-perfect families, and a lot of horror show families. It’s rare to have a family in between, where everybody’s trying their best but their best too often isn’t good enough.