Fansided

Casual season 3, episode 7 recap: The reign of The Rat King

By Brittany Frederick

CASUAL -- "Rat King" Episode 307 -- RaeÕs discovery of a rat in the bathroom sparks a hunt through AlexÕs house. Leon and LeiaÕs relationship escalates. From left, Casey (Nadine Nicole), Laura (Tara Lynne Barr), Alex (Tommy Dewey), Rae (Maya Erskine), Valerie (Michaela Watkins) and Leon (Nyasha Hatendi), shown.(Photo by: Greg Lewis/Hulu)
CASUAL -- "Rat King" Episode 307 -- RaeÕs discovery of a rat in the bathroom sparks a hunt through AlexÕs house. Leon and LeiaÕs relationship escalates. From left, Casey (Nadine Nicole), Laura (Tara Lynne Barr), Alex (Tommy Dewey), Rae (Maya Erskine), Valerie (Michaela Watkins) and Leon (Nyasha Hatendi), shown.(Photo by: Greg Lewis/Hulu) /
facebooktwitterreddit

Only Casual can mix rodents with romance. That’s the gist of “The Rat King,” which mixes up the show’s dynamics in season 3, episode 7.

The cardinal rule of Hulu‘s Casual is never to do anything the normal way. “The Rat King” is an example of how the show can put a dysfunctional spin on any situation, to fantastic comedic effect.

With everyone firmly ensconced in the doldrums of their mundane lives, “The Rat King” involves a get-together for game night at Alex’s house. Apparently Magic: The Gathering has caught on.

And whenever you put a bunch of Casual‘s characters in the same room, craziness happens. Even if there’s a rat running amok at the same time.

The rat naturally causes Alex much distress, because one of the show’s strengths is winding up Tommy Dewey and letting him explode. Last week it was his rant about Erik, this week it’s a rant about a rat:

"Alex: One thousand dollars? I can literally have a person killed for that. No, it’s not a threat. It’s a fact. Said threateningly."

The entire gang — including Leon (Nyasha Hatendi), who coincidentally made the mistake of having a cheese tray, Jack (Kyle Bornheimer), and Laura’s boss Casey (Nadine Nicole) — is united by the rat issue. It’s laugh out loud worthy how seemingly everyone is pulled into the issue, including the cat that Leia (Julie Berman) just happens to be pet-sitting.

This episode of Casual is one part Wile E. Coyote sketch in live action, one part stuffing all the characters together in a confined space so that they can get their baggage out.

We discover that Leon and Leia got together at that Rear Window screening Valerie (Michaela Watkins) blew off, which makes sense because why not pair up the two supporting characters that aren’t connected so as to give them both something more to do. Val meets Casey on the same night that Laura (Tara Lynne Barr) sees Casey naked.

And we have to laugh when Val tells her daughter that she has “a tendency to complicate relationships with sex,” coming from the woman who started last week hooking up with a guy in a coffee shop parking lot.

Most importantly, “The Rat King” is the episode where Alex finally tells Val that she has a half-brother. Casual season 3 has been holding onto that piece of information for a while, and it does exactly as much damage as you’d expect. Val goes into a tailspin and game night never gets off the ground.

The only thing about this episode that doesn’t quite click is that there’s an animated commercial for “Rat King Exterminators” at the end, featuring animated versions of some of the Casual gang. It’s creative, but it feels like one of those bits The Simpsons does to pad out an episode when it’s too short. And especially on the heels of Val trying to process a life-changing revelation, it feels like it completely kills the confused, slightly depressing mood.

But that’s what makes Casual so different from other comedies and so outstanding. It’s not afraid to be confused and slightly depressing as well as funny. And “The Rat King” lays all the season’s plot twists out on the table, so now everybody knows what the score is and the real havoc is likely just around the corner.

Next: Tara Lynne Barr discusses Casual season 3

New episodes of Casual stream every Tuesday on Hulu. For more on everything related to summer TV, follow the Television category at FanSided here.