REVIEW: ‘Newlyweds’ Episode 2 — “My Place Or Yours”​

One of the biggest challenges a couple with established individual routines faces is how much their life will change when they combine two lives. Newlyweds Episode 2, “My Place or Yours,” humorously explores that.

Their six-week, mostly long-distance romance ends with Jeanie (Téa Leoni) and James (Tim Daly) getting engaged at the end of the pilot. Newlyweds Episode 2 opens with the pair having just returned from Vegas, where they eloped.

The series finds a way to get everyone in the cast into one scene. Jeanie calls her kids, Poppy (Emma Meisel) and Lolo (Ignacio Diaz-Silverio), while James calls their mutual friend Dan (Al Madrigal), and even Arvid (Bill O’Neill) shows up from Norway. After announcing their nuptials, James’ ex-wife Claudia (Jamie Lee Curtis) also shows up.

Jamie Lee Curtis is an absolute delight in Newlyweds Episode 2. 

While everyone, including Claudia, has a self-motivated opinion, it’s Poppy who asks the practical question: Where are you going to live? The two haven’t really considered that and don’t immediately come to a consensus. The rest of Newlyweds Episode 2 centers on the dilemma of where to live.

It’s an entirely predictable sitcom episode, further showcasing the differences between Jeanie and James. That, however, isn’t a weakness here. It keeps Newlyweds Episode 2 feeling comfortable and cozy; a feeling that seems intentional.

Jamie Lee Curtis continues to chew on every scene she’s in. Her comedic timing, facial expressions, and the way she uses her whole body to convey outrage and offense are incredibly effective. She has more screen time in Newlyweds Episode 2 than in the pilot, which adds a lot to the humor.

The series still has work to do in developing Arvid’s characterization.

Still, her role remains more limited, allowing Leoni and Daly to continue to shine as the true stars of Newlyweds. Arvid, by contrast, also stays over-the-top and, at times, even creepy. O’Neill isn’t to blame here. He is doing phenomenal work bringing Arvid to life, but both the writing and direction for his character are severely lacking anything to make audiences care about him.

While he adds a modicum of humor any time he’s on screen, Arvid could be left out completely of the first two episodes of Newlyweds, and it wouldn’t meaningfully change the series at all. From his Big-Brother-esque entrance, declaring that he keeps tabs on both Jeanie and James, to his naivety that will certainly have him being used by the more cunning Claudia, Arvid, a career teaching assistant at the collegiate level, doesn’t come across as intelligent. Instead, he seems like someone who desperately needs protection from his own incompetence.

Yes, that’s the point. The more incompetent he appears, the funnier he is. That specific sitcom trope simply doesn’t work here because Jeanie’s kids come off smarter than him. That would work really well on Disney Channel or Nickelodeon, but here it just comes off as goofy, and not in a good way.

Téa Leoni and Tim Daly are fantastic together. 

The story, as it unfolds between Jeanie and James, isn’t surprising; it’s a very predictable progression in the early stages of a sitcom. In real life, Leoni and Daly are a true power couple, married for over a year and in a relationship far longer than that. And yet, their ability to become two people, in love despite not even really knowing each other, is unmatched.

Meisel and Diaz-Silverio as Jeanie’s kids bring something really special to Leoni’s portrayal of Jeanie. James doesn’t have kids, and it’s clear that he’s not terribly comfortable in small spaces with lots of people. Still, Jeanie loves the chaos, and her kids are her world.

Even though Poppy and Lolo are both adults, Jeanie adores them and feeds on their energy. Meisel and Diaz-Silverio do a perfect job portraying adults who are right at that transitional age in their lives where their level of dependency is changing. Jeanie also seems to be struggling with letting her kids grow up, especially because her kids were already teenagers in need of a parent when she met them; a fact they don’t let her forget.

Newlyweds Episode 2 is predictable in a comforting, sitcom way. 

At the end of the day, no one is expecting any more out of Newlyweds Episode 2 than what it is. It’s a humorous sitcom; it’s cozy and familiar, and in many ways, it’s relatable. It doesn’t need to be a 22-minute-long indictment of society and culture, nor does it need to spend its runtime making a statement about the hot topic of the week.

Leoni and Daly have done versions of that kind of show already. Instead, Newlyweds Episode 2 continues to be a show worth watching specifically because it puts all the world’s problems at the door and allows the audience a chance to laugh. If laughter is the best medicine, Newlyweds Episode 2 has the Friday night prescription for everything that ails us all week long.

New Episodes of Newlyweds air Friday nights on NBC and are available to stream on Peacock the next day.

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