Summary
Poppa’s House feels at its cringiest in Episode 4, and shifts focus away from Poppa and Ivy’s dynamic to very mixed effect.
Episode 4, “School Days”, is definitely the cringiest episode of Poppa’s House thus far. Please, miss me with all the singing and dancing. And this continues to be a problem for the sitcom since it’s so rarely funny that we’re now at a point where it can’t really go unnoticed.
This is especially true since this outing isn’t about Poppa and Ivy at all. Their podcast has started, and they’re at their pet name phase, which is all one-way traffic and probably constitutes flirting if you squint a little. But for the most part, the focus falls on Junior’s son, Trey, and his potential enrollment in a prestigious private school that becomes a matter for the entire family, including Poppa’s ex-wife Catherine (Wendy Raquel Robinson).
It’s hard to tell what the point of this episode is. It generally makes fun of private schools by making this one, which is fittingly named Buckingham, have a very cliché English principal who acts like a member of the British royal family. The kids all get gold stars just for being alive, fostering a culture of softness that Poppa is against.
I’m with him, but it seems like I’m the only one. Junior and Nina both want Trey to enroll, as does J.J., who we haven’t seen since the premiere, Catherine, and even Ivy, who went to the school herself. But they all want Poppa to pay for it, so it’s him they need to convince. He thinks that only public school teaches kids the lessons they need to survive the real world, and it seems like the show is inclined to agree until it culminates in Poppa agreeing for Trey to go anyway.
I still enjoyed the petty banter between Poppa and J.J., which seems to be rooted in a long-held rivalry over Catherine, whom J.J. clearly has a major crush on. And it’s nice to see Poppa’s relationship with his ex-wife, which is fractious (and expensive!) but still has a kernel of real love and respect there, as we see when Catherine leaps to Poppa’s defense after Buckingham’s principal insults him.
A weird turn comes when Junior takes Poppa’s private school reservations as a suggestion that he’s worried Trey will turn out spoiled and useless like him, which isn’t what Poppa said, even if he implied it. Junior is definitely a bit coddled, but there hasn’t been much build-up to imply that his relationship with his father is strained in this way.
I’m just not convinced by Poppa’s House at all, and Episode 4 does little to convince me otherwise. I’ve been patient with it, looking for the deeper character arcs and dynamics that are hidden in here somewhere, but there’s only so much ridiculousness and wince-inducing song-and-dance numbers that I can take. I think we’re reaching the limit.
