One Mississippi

I've never written a review before, so you'll have to forgive me for keeping this brief.

I was looking for a show to "binge" watch while doing some mundane work on the computer and I kept seeing this popping up on Amazon Prime. I thought, what the heck, I'll give it a whirl. I've never heard of Tig Notaro, but she's captivating on screen. (And I had to google her when the show was over) If you enjoy a show that's a bit more drenched in reality, with a slice of dry humor, you'll love this. Heavy, but not overly so. It's got a perfect balance and the only disappointment was that there was only 6 episodes! I wanted more!! I hope Amazon delivers and gets a season 2 sooner than later!

I kept seeing the banner ad for this on Amazon Prime but it didn't really appeal to me when I read the synopsis as I lately want to watch things that are uplifting or exciting to take me away from it all but the yellow wallpaper on the show cover image intrigued me as I felt it surely must be a nod to Charlotte Perkins Gilman. It certainly is. I'm so glad I've started watching this series, I've watched two episodes now. It's just beautiful. I find Tig mesmerising. I hadn't heard of her before so after loving the pilot I googled her; One Mississippi is a kind of fictionalised version of her life. It's so delicate and raw and very funny. It is actually uplifting too. The soundtrack is wonderful. If you want to watch something complex, beguiling and different that's life affirming and will make you laugh out loud choose this. Gorgeous.

Brilliant scripts serve and the foundation for this pitch-perfect melancomedy that is the best series released in years. Working from the essential premise of tragedy + time = comedy, but only in expert hands, the production team and actors deliver standard family sitcom clichés in a completely new and "audience respectful" way. It's pure comedy professionalism at its best. A mom dies, a cat gets out, the crazy relatives come over, dating fiascos occur, but none of these tropes unfold with bad laugh tracks, phoned-in-performances, or predictable dialog. Gorgeous pauses of reflection, like setting up a song choice or waiting in a room, become moments in their own right, waiting for the next connection where characters figure out how to get through life together with soft clicks of human empathy. The audience can enjoy the moment without loud or overwrought performances substituting for drama. Laugh internally or externally, it's your choice but you will laugh even if it's just out of recognition. And refreshingly, Tig Notaro embraces her physical self in all forms - scarred, sexual, tired, embarrassed, intertwined and separate - both literally and figuratively. We rarely get to see that from women's roles on screen let along cancer survivors. Bravo, too, to the amazing cast. The real heart of the conflict and soul of this series isn't romantic or health struggles but Tig's evolving ties and confusion relating to her family particularly her step-father who's always called Bill. Jonathan Rothman is unbelievably perfect as Bill delivering the "dad" performance not as a silly or troubled social misfit or OCD outcast as so many shows are doing these days. His quiet tension and reserved paternal love is the perfect balance to Tig's neediness left in the void of her mother's loss, the loss of hugs and rocking in her lap for comfort. You keep hoping both of them could just learn to love the other just as they are ... and then they do, in small ways, even for just a moment, sometimes by asking about tuberculosis. Bonding moments come in strange ways. One Mississippi reminds us to grab them however they come.

...with only about six hours of content total. But so good. By the end of the last couple episodes of the 2nd season, I started wondering how all the plot lines could possibly be resolved by the end; knowing there's no 3rd season. The writers did an admirable job of resolving those plot lines. The 2nd season is a little weaker than the first, which has a lot more LOL moments for me. But I was very sad at having to leave a group of characters that I found both likeable and interesting. Wish this had gone on for a couple more seasons.

Please God keep making this show. And by God I mean Amazon. You have a proved show runner in Louis CK and the best long form stand up since Carlin in Tig Notaro. Give the show air and it will bring you awards. This will bring meaningful story and gut laughs to the masses. One Mississippi reads like beautiful, delicious creative nonfiction that you know has truthiness but is just enough fiction to temper the impact. How often do people actually deal with real suffering and pain in comedy? What else in the pilot class has this depth? Also, I just want an excuse to listen to "On the Bayou" as often as possible. Tig Notaro is funny, like really funny, but she's also one of the most important storytellers of her generation.

Please Keep Making This Show. Please and thank you.