Unstable review: The ever-charming Rob Lowe at the center of a predictable comedy

Unstable is Netflix's latest sitcom by Rob Lowe, his son John Owen Lowe, and Victor Fresco, the man behind Santa Clarita Diet. The ten-episode sitcom, which features the never-aging Rob Lowe as the father of the young and promising John Owen Lowe, is one of the funnier shows to be released recently.

Though it has made a mess in many important departments, the show's reluctance to take itself too seriously at any point in the 10-episode runtime may come across as a breath of fresh air to many.

Following the premise of typical workplace comedies with a twist, Unstable did not try to hold back on the laughter at all. However, entangling the premise with an emotional story is perhaps the Achilles' Heel in this case, given how poorly the series handles anything serious.

While Ellis Dragon (Rob Lowe) and his son's story is fascinating in most aspects, Unstable fails to round off the sharp edges with anything heartfelt and ends up being a dry take on grief, bonding, and the ever-changing corporate world.

---

Unstable review: Light-hearted dose of laughter, perhaps too light-hearted

The only thing that Unstable fails to realize is that its primary story is based around grief, no matter how funny it tries to be in every step. Ellis Dragon, who is rather absurdly named, suddenly turns the gears of his eccentric behavior after the death of his long-term wife, resulting in his chief financial officer, Anna (Sian Clifford), having to call his estranged son, Jackson.

Jackson is the antithesis of his father. A flute teacher living in New York, the unmaterialistic Jackson represents everything his father doesn't, leading to a predictable premise. After graduating with a degree in science from Harvard, Jackson pursued the life of an artist and is barely in sync with his father.

Despite their strained relationship, Jackson decides to visit his father for a day and help out, leading to chaos and a lot more hilarious scenes.

It is almost fascinating how driven Unstable is at trying to squeeze funny scenes one after the other into every corner of the premise. Of course, a lot of it feels unnecessary and forced, but as the premise progresses, it becomes clear that this absurdly silly aspect of the show is the saving grace of the otherwise ordinary sitcom.

Even when most jokes are ineffective, the sheer volume of them spread over the runtime and the resulting silliness of all of it, make the series a very breezy watch that can be enjoyed to the core, if not entirely relished.

There are many problems with Unstable, the chief one being that the jokes that it throws at the audience every chance it gets may not land as funny to all. These are not universally logical, well-scripted jokes. Some are plain boring, on-the-face, and often ineffective. One has to like a certain amount of absurdity to enjoy this show.

Another big problem is the show's lack of depth. While the promising plotline gives enough avenues to explore many parts of the human mind and behavior, the show somehow sticks to the most basic one. The representation of grief in this show lacks any real sense of conviction.

In a way, this show still manages to be rather unique. While all sitcoms try to be relevant in some form these days, this one only tries to make people laugh, no questions asked.

---

Unstable is now streaming on Netflix.