‘Kevin Can F**k Himself’ Recap: ‘Jesus, Allison’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Caution: This article contains spoilers for Episode 204 of ‘Kevin Can F**k Himself’. To revisit the previous episode, click here.
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Often times, stories that revolve around someone’s hard push to get a fresh start in life… focus heavily on two key plot elements. Specifically, the reason for wanting the fresh start, and the act of starting over. Simply because… those are indeed two polarizing scenarios, the kind that give the audience a complete and satisfying journey, since we root for the person to get what they want, and of course… we get to enjoy them finding peace and wonder by having their important dream come to life. But while that does make for some engaging, feel-good entertainment, we all know deep down, this formula is woefully incomplete.
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Because the middle of that journey is just as critical as the beginning and the end. For when we truly set out to get a fresh start in life, there is a lot at stake. Because if this doesn’t go right and it blows up in our faces… what becomes of us? After all, if we are pushing for a fresh start, we aren’t happy and we need out of a particular situation and failure would keep us miserable and trapped and we could learn a lot from moments such as that. But thankfully, there are stories out there… now exploring those stakes and the difficulties that come with the ‘between’ portion of starting over, such as the AMC series, Kevin Can F**K Himself, as evidenced by last night’s brand new episode.

For ‘Jesus, Allison’ is a story that saw Allison McRoberts at this all-important crossroads. For she had selected her new identity through Gertrude, and now was in a waiting period to learn from her very reticent and secretive PI, what the process was going to look like going forward and that… is what put her in an intense and precarious place. Because sitting and waiting allowed for Allison to reflect on the journey thus far and that… brought genuine worry into her mind. For there were a lot of loose ends present with this whole mess, since Neal was still in a dark place and of course, Nick was still in the hospital and there was concern that he might wake up at any moment.

Granted, that didn’t quite seem all that likely from what the doctors and his mother had to say about his condition, but that worry was there none the less, and it only got worse courtesy of an attempt to do something super sweet and kind for Patty. Because her birthday had rolled around, and this presented an opportunity to set up a surprise birthday party for her bestie. The only downside was that she was going to have to work with Tammy on this and that was uh… that was awkward. Because they don’t like one another and they only agreed to team up for Patty’s sake since they both cared about her deeply, and while they were able to pull off the party without a hitch, the party in and of itself… is what made Allison’s anxiety worse than before.

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Simply because, Tammy called in the client list to attend. You know, the clients that used to buy pills upon pills from Patty before she walked away from the business. Only putting the pressure on further since the last thing that needed to happen was someone opening their mouth about Patty’s former business in a room that was also full of cops. But thankfully, the drug clients were quickly ushered out and the party went off just fine and Allison was able to relax for a moment. But what matters more here, is that this was indeed, a phenomenal character study, one that really showed us Allison in a unique light and informed us how desperate she is to escape this nightmare, and she may finally have the final answer in how to make that happen.
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Since the PI did get back to Allison through Patty, and informed her, that they needed Gertrude’s death certificate removed from City Hall in order to pull this off before Gertrude was entered into the database as deceased. Something that Sam might have given her a lead upon, since he did have some contacts down there and well… in the end… Allison’s journey here was indeed quite powerful and hammered home the need to really show us the complete picture regarding the fresh start. Because this really did offer us a complete picture of Allison’s life, and the hell she’s created for herself and now we are rooting for her now more than ever. Because she truly will wither away if she stays here in this current life and kudos to this show for taking the time to fill in this particular blank in this type of story and for informing us that getting to the endgame requires work, all before offering us more than just Allison’s journey.

Because Patty’s journey in this tale was quite powerful as well. Mainly because we came to learn that she has seen some tough times as well, since this episode featured the first party thrown for her, ever. Which speaks volumes to her toughness and her flippant attitude to meaningful moments. But this tough day also helped her to learn… that nothing in her life is going to be the same going forward. Since the one birthday tradition she takes part in on an annual basis, was ruined by her brother. Largely because, their relationship was fractured badly and possibly beyond repair. For a big line was crossed in the season one finale and season two premiere, the kind that may not allow for forgiveness or healing. Making this quite the tragic birthday for certain.

But of course, we’d be foolish to not point out, that a sense of urgency is going to need to come into play regarding the plan to get Allison out. Because Allison was right to be fearful here, but not for the reasons she originally expressed. No instead, her worry needs to be about Tammy… since she now has the footage from the Vermont trip and has Patty and her on camera handling shady business, and that will come back to haunt them… quickly. For Tammy is all business and this could also prove costly to her relationship with Patty. Which means that now that this brilliant and fascinating episode has come to its close… we are once again left waiting with bated breath for the next chapter in this journey. To see if Allison can pull off snagging the certificate and of course… to see if she and Patty can stay one step ahead of an officer that is stopping at nothing to get the answers she seeks. Until next time.

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