‘Poppa’s House’ Still Isn’t That Funny In Episode 2, But There’s Hidden Depth

Here’s the bad news – a lot of Poppa’s House still isn’t very funny. But here’s the good news – Episode 2, “Sleepover”, develops some of that character depth suggested by the premiere, and I still feel like this is a sitcom that’s going to be about a little bit more than Damon Wayans and his son doing silly voices.

I can see why some would be really put off by the silly voices, though. The recurring gag about Poppa’s pronunciation of the word “meat” is tortuous and his banter with Ivy is a bit strained. I do think, though, that a lot of this is down to the fact that both of them are reluctant to share how they really feel, and the hope is that as their relationship progresses so does their chemistry.

The specific connection that crops up here in “Sleepover” is that Poppa and Ivy are both divorced. On air, Ivy pushes Poppa to share what he misses about being married, but he won’t. This leads her on a frantic quest to make him open up a little that finds her at his house, interfering in Junior and Nina’s marriage.

It’s a silly and too-quick escalation but I think the point – what I took from it, anyway – is that Nina is projecting here. She’s in pain from her own divorce and, by meddling in other peoples’ relationships and nagging Poppa to share something, anything, about how he feels, she wants to be validated in her own feelings.

This is perhaps why I have a bit more tolerance than I ordinarily would for the fractious back-and-forth, which sometimes feels a bit much, or a bit contrived. Junior and Nina have their issues, like all couples, but Ivy’s depiction of their marriage as imminently toxic doesn’t take. She seems like she’s trying to cause trouble, but she isn’t; she’s acting out because the breakdown of her own relationship has left her adrift. How can a radio personality whose specialty is relationships and feelings not be able to keep her own house in order?

There’s definitely some depth here. Subtlety, too – Junior getting turkey instead of beef for the lasagne is a minor thing, but it’s strongly implied that he does similar things often because he’s always only half-listening. But this doesn’t, as Ivy implies, mean he doesn’t care about his wife. It means he’s distracted with his own issues, several of which were brought up in the premiere (even though JJ doesn’t feature. And, for that matter, where are Junior and Nina’s kids?)

All Ivy wants from Poppa is some acknowledgment that he feels something about the breakdown of his marriage, which she needs because she, too, feels something and doesn’t know how to deal with it. When Poppa finally admits that he misses the intimacy and understanding of marriage, Ivy softens, and even though by the end of Poppa’s House Episode 2 they’re back to bickering on the radio, I still reckon this will be a turning point in their relationship.

Question: What direction is that relationship going to head in? The obvious answer is a romantic one, but maybe that’s too obvious. It would probably be pretty funny, though.

But this is kind of where we’re at with Poppa’s House for the time being – “pretty funny”. I hope it gets funnier. But I’m still confident in the show’s ability to be more than that, which is why I’ve bothered to highlight the subtler character work going on here, especially with Poppa and, in this episode, Ivy. Funny sitcoms are ten-a-penny, but it’s always nice when they can develop something a bit more meaningful and lasting than just the gags. Fingers crossed that Poppa’s House can do that.