REVIEW: ‘Rooster’ Episode 1 — “Release The Brown Fat”

Rooster Episode 1, “Release The Brown Fat,” lays down the groundwork for what is sure to be a positively awkward comedy of affairs. Centered on Greg Russo (Steve Carell) and his daughter Katie (Charly Clive), the series dives into the realm of academia, where Greg finds himself struggling to adjust. This struggle becomes clear as soon as Greg steps first onto campus, and it never lets up down to the episode’s fiery finish at Katie’s hands. 

Invited as a guest speaker on the fictional Ludlow College campus, Greg is a fish out of water. Despite being a successful author of “beach reads,” he’s wholly unconfident. And, in stereotypical Carell fashion, Greg’s mannerisms are awkward. When he gets nervous, he blurts out rather inappropriate turns of phrase and witticisms that would make anyone side-eye (and it does in a rather hilarious, casual confrontation between him, a cop, and a student).

In Rooster Episode 1, we glimpse this awkwardness during a student Q&A. This scene also informs the audience early on about the kind of atmosphere students create on campus. The social clumsiness comes out most in his interactions with both the dean (John C. McGinley) and his daughter, Katie. There is, however, a difference in the kinds of relationships Greg has with these two individuals that informs how his personality and insecurities shift in their interactions.

Rooster Episode 1 lays the groundwork for Greg’s new chapter in life.

With the dean, it is a relationship between two men with opposing personalities on a seemingly equal playing field. The dean, who is more stereotypically masculine, overwhelms Greg with his ease in his body and bold actions in Rooster Episode 1. Yet the dean admires Greg’s work and even tries to offer him a job as a writer-in-residence. It’s an intriguing dynamic, where you have these two who are roughly on the same level, yet both hold the other on a pedestal of sorts.

As for his relationship with his daughter, Katie, he finds himself in a different kind of awkwardness. Her husband, Archie (Phil Dunster), who is a tenured professor at the college, has been caught in a sex scandal with his graduate student (Lauren Tsai). As an aside, can we focus on other academic scandals besides the sex ones, please? Did we forget about Operation Varsity Blues?

Katie, who is also a professor on the same campus, is left reeling from the betrayal and embarrassed as everyone on campus knows her business. Having her dad there to check in on her doesn’t help her oscillating emotions.

Like father, like daughter, Rooster Episode 1 shows how social awkwardness stays within the family.

Even still, the moments between Greg and Katie offer some of the most heartwarming moments of Rooster Episode 1. In their final discussion before he laid down his ultimatum to Archie, Greg gives Katie some really good advice for her one-on-one with her husband. He himself has been cheated on before, likely not helping with his confidence issues, and he wants to make sure Katie doesn’t make the same mistakes. Unfortunately, things don’t quite go the way either of them plans.

Katie, as portrayed by Charly Clive, has not been handling her husband’s infidelity well. As seen throughout Rooster Episode 1, she’s even gone as far as to spy on her husband and the grad student in the tree in their backyard. Charly Clive leans into the physical comedy of her character’s ridiculousness in fine fashion. This creates a clear line of learned behavior between daughter and father, where both are equally cringey despite being reasonably decent people.

While our time with Archie is brief in Rooster Episode 1, we get a glimpse of what kind of mind he has. Firstly, Archie doesn’t seem overly apologetic. He acknowledges that what he did was wrong, but also places some of the blame on Katie and on the distance they’d been experiencing in the relationship. Not helping is that, despite the scandal that has erupted from his actions, the college doesn’t seem in any mood to treat the matter with urgency.

Academia scandals are both a blessing and a curse for the drama.

This all culminates in a comedy of errors when Katie meets up with Archie. In what can be aptly described as a fiery final five minutes, writers Bill Lawrence and Matt Tarses set up an undeniably over-the-top finish that will have Katie and Greg scrambling to figure out how to remedy the situation. And given the kind of humor Rooster Episode 1 establishes, this kind of ending feels right for the level of quirky, cringeworthy humor everyone is gunning for. 

Rooster Episode 1 does feature Steve Carell sticking to his guns on character choices. Even still, Greg isn’t easily summarized by the humor on display. Instead, what is already starting to form is a man who sees himself in his daughter’s current predicament and his hope that she won’t follow his path. He is in a state of insecurity despite his success. How much of that stems from his past experiences? Who knows, but it certainly hasn’t helped. 

Rooster Episode 1 lays the foundation for who our characters are and what kind of humor fans can expect as they get started. Even if the humor isn’t quite up to personal taste, what lies beneath is the story of a man hoping to be there for his daughter. And, in the process, rediscover himself as their paths start to mirror each other. Come for the comedy, but stay for what is starting to shape into an intriguing father/daughter tale. 

Rooster Episode 1 is now streaming on HBO Max with new episodes weekly on Sundays.

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