The CBS television series So Help Me Todd, also known as Take Your Hot Son to Work, tells the tale of a private eye who is compelled to look into the most personal of all matters: his connection with his mother.
In the Thursday premiere, Skylar Astin’s eponymous detective is busting a lady for claiming benefits after recovering from an injury she sustained while working at an airport while we first encounter him. Todd can’t stomach seeing her kids, so he consents to delete his evidence in exchange for her assurance that she will return to work. Although I’m not a doctor of cardiology, I believe our child Todd has a good heart.
On the other hand, Todd’s mother has a heart that is very much of the stone sort. Marcia Gay Harden plays Margaret to uptight perfection; she never misses an opportunity to express her displeasure with her son’s decisions in life, particularly those that led to the revocation of his private eye licence. (Is there a story about a dishonest mentor who duped Todd into being accused of wiretapping and forgery?
Sincerably, a lot of backstory was crammed into the first hour.)
Margaret is not just a brilliant lawyer but also a Mom with a capital M. Even though, as Todd can’t help but point out, you don’t have to tell someone where to send an e-mail, she asks people to directly send emails to her phone, unintentionally phones her kids on FaceTime, and mispronounces the names of famous individuals. It is accessible from just about anywhere.
Anyway, when Margaret’s husband Harry goes missing, Todd is quickly thrust back into P.I. mode, forcing these two utterly unlike people to spend a lot more time together. Todd eventually catches Harry on a flight to Iceland after exhausting all of his available options, mostly social media stalking. He is not terminally ill with Parkinson’s, as he misled Margaret to believe; rather, he simply no longer desires to be with her. He complains that she is too judgmental and that she doesn’t allow him be himself—complaints Todd is all too familiar with.
But in this first hour, Todd accomplishes more than just find Margaret’s spouse. He also helps her win a murder case by getting the defendant’s mother to admit that she was the real murderer. It’s one of those blatantly obvious scenarios where the resolution of a case also imparts valuable life lessons to the attorney, but since this programme is endearing, we’ll let it slide.
What do you think so far about So Help Me Todd? Vote in the polls down below, then leave a comment with a detailed review.
