Boasting the tagline, “who hasn’t thought about killing an ex?”, Emilie Biason’s I Killed My Ex shows us about the practical difficulties involved in such an endeavor.
Sometimes comedy can be comedy without having to speak to larger messages
After being left at the altar, Tina (Alexandra Ricou) and her best friend, Lola (Rachelle Grubb) scramble to hide Tina's ex-fiancee's (Matthew) body, racing against eagles and being found out by the police. It’s a dark comedy that comments on the nature of relationships, mental health and social expectations.
Biason’s writing has an underwritten dry wit which is created by utilising the 'ordinary people in extraordinary situations' trope. The main problem is that this show doesn’t know how to navigate serious topics lightly, and its dramatic shift in focus and tone brings the show down in pace and loses whatever it is that makes it interesting in the first place, especially considering the fast paced and stylised scenes we’ve already seen. These stylised scenes work well to maintain our interest because I Killed My Ex is so dialogue-heavy, we're constantly being told what's going on that in order for us not to just switch off, there needs to be some differentiation - all of which occurs right at the beginning after the point where we can leave. The second half of the hour is completely relegated to exposition and it becomes incredibly repetitive. By the end, everything that we believe in the beginning has been contradicted, all character development is undone and the novelty of the situation has worn off.
The comedic capabilities of Ricou and Grubb make for an interesting give and take between their characters which they build on the characters’ completely opposing personalities. Their straight-faced delivery of one liners provides some amusement.
I Killed My Ex aims to be and do everything, which is ultimately its downfall. Not every show needs to be profound or have depth, and this one is an example of just that. Sometimes comedy can be comedy without having to speak to larger messages, and if something more profound is written, it needs to be given the proper time to develop and not just thrown in.
