We Need To Talk About Kevin Can F Himself...again...and Theories! 

When Allison talks about how Kevin, gets away with everything because “it’s just Kevin” it reminds me of “boys will be boys”

I was super surprised when Neil got violent and got quite scared. The moment he stood up to her and their height difference broke me from the sitcom reality I got real scared for Allison. I do wonder how the story is gonna go from here though.

In the scene where Allison calls out Patty for laughing at Kevin getting Allison fired as a paralegal, I felt like I, the viewer, was Patty. Like the viewership (including-or maybe especially- women like me) are guilty of laughing along with the laughtracks to bad jokes at the woman character’s expense.

I still can't believe this is Alexis Rose. What range! She's a really great actress.

I have a theory that Patty is in the early stages of a controlling relationship with Tammy, specifically telling her what type of drink to have and she doesn't want her hanging around Allison or Kurt, this could be jealousy or could be signs of her wanting Patty cut off from anyone who isn't her

I've been Allison in a past relationship to the point where this show would be triggering for me if I hasn't processed that trauma so well now. It's an accurate af portrayal of the public facing side of an abusive relationship Vs what you don't see. My ex would make jokes at my expense all the time in front of others as a way of keeping me in place when we were in public and because he was the awesome funny guy buying everyone's drinks etc people would just laugh along and lap it up...

I think Neil is on their side now. Once he's broken from the sitcom and reality sets in, not only are we gonna see a different side of him but we might see how he views Kevin deep down. Kevin isn't always fair towards Neil so I wouldn't be surprised if he had some subconscious animosity towards Kevin which makes him sympathetic to Alison and more importantly his own sister.

It was renewed for season 2 just one day ago!!! Woo!!! I love this show and format and can’t wait to see where they take it.

My theory is that the sitcom story structure is actively working against Allison. She’s always saying things like “Everybody loves Kevin” and “Kevin always wins” and I think she’s right-in a sitcom where Kevin is the main character, Kevin will always come out on top. That’s why all of her plans to kill him fail-the sitcom world literally revolves around him and won’t let him die. So breaking free of that will have to involve like…breaking the rules of reality.

The only people who believe Allison is the villain are boys with girl issues. And the fact that Kevin is running for political office, definitely makes him sinister.

Just finished this show and it has caught my attention. Easily one of the most interesting shows I've watched this year. The finale episode was perfect and has the potential to go in different ways. My current theory is that Alison is slowly going to break people out of Kevin's world and that is how she will "kill" him. Everyone will have their eyes opened to his abuse of her and help her fight back against him

Hmm, these are fun theories!! Personally, I hope he doesn’t turn out to be worse in the real world, like physically abusive or something, because that would be less interesting you know? Like most people, when they see that would be like, oh he’s definitely bad, but emotional abuse is something many dismiss, so that would hold with the show’s themes of society just letting the Kevin types get away with stuff. Also, awesome videos! I don’t know anyone who watches the show so it’s cool to see other folks liking it too cuz I just watched it on a whim since amc+ was only a dollar on prime day, and this was the first show that came up lol

I can't believe this show didn't get the attention it deserved

Can we talk about how they have just reused the 'Everybody loves Raymond' set?

When Sam visits Allison unannounced,, we can hear a laugh track trough the door, Allison notices it and Sam reacts, either to the sound or to Allison reacting. So could be mental illness or just something that happens in their universe

It's interesting that it's Neil who is pulled into the dark (real) world by his sister--although I had been hoping that it would be Kevin to be dragged into the dark in some way. That said, what's really thrilling is that even when Neil is first choking Allison, the scene is still in bright sit-com world until Patty smashes the bottle over his head. This means that sit-com world isn't all laughs for any of the characters. Also, this is the first time we hear profanity from Neil (although he's pulled into the real world). His true character is no more represented by the sit-com world than is Allison's or Patty's. Clearly, Neil hates Allison. He thinks she's the impediment to his happy, homosocial (or perhaps repressed homosexual) relationship with Kevin. He's been played, though. As Patty says, Kevin wants them both to think they're his favorite; this strokes Kevin's ego, not just because he thinks he's a mastermind but because he loves being the most important person in people's worlds. He cares about only himself, and obviously Neil is beginning to catch on to this--figuring that Kevin would never come to seek him again in a game of hide-n-seek. He could happily kill Allison given the opportunity--if only to eliminate one impediment to his BFF status with Kevin. In fact, really, if I follow this path, it's Neil who is most victimized in this whole scenario. He's completely stunted, not only by his own (stock) stupidity, but also by Kevin's manipulation of him. Kevin has most everything he wants: a cute, sexy wife he seems able to manipulate, control, and suppress; a dad who adores him; and a best friend who is so emotionally and sexually stunted he lives with his sister and seems to have no other social/sexual/emotional outlet than Kevin. Think about it: Neil becomes hysterical if he thinks his friend is going to miss his chuck-e-cheese birthday party. (When Kevin arrives at the arcade, Neil screams, "this is my best friend--mine!" Like he's won the big, foam cowboy hat prize already. How off-the-rails is that, even for a sit-com?) And then there's the baby story line, which Neil insinuates himself into so neatly that it's he who accompanies Kevin to the fertility clinic. The mistake Kevin makes here is that he thinks Allison is just as stupid as Neil. Kevin is going to get his at some point, the question is who is going to give it to him?

Just have to say again thank you so much for introducing me to this show.

I never watched Everybody Loves Raymond, but I saw one "without the laugh track" clip that was truly bizarre: >wife comes down the stairs >asks grandpa to help her with something >"No that's womens work; I refuse to stop watching TV" >"Raymond could you please tell your dad to respect me in our house?" >"Oh honey you know me; I'm a giant pussy who can't disagree my parents" >wife moans that she married and idiot and storms off >"Women are the worst, Raymond, that's why I've been miserable ever since I married your mom" >Raymond looks sad and stares off into space until the camera fades How the hell is that supposed to be humorous?

Theory: Kevin doesn't care for Neil at all, and now that he's running for office, he'll basically abandon him. This show has a great way of using small lines of dialogue in the sitcom world as foreshadowing or genuine character development, but making you think it's just a throw away line. In the first episode, Kevin says to Neil "this is why I keep you around." Keving sees Neil more as a function than a friend.

3 is a good theory, but I don't think Sitcom World is Allison's I think it's Kevin Neil and Pete. When neither one is around Allison is in the real world.

I think Neil has a lot of PTSD and trauma from finding his mother’s dead body and basically being abandoned by his father who was on the road all the time, (him peeing his pants or wearing diapers until he was a pretty old child supports that thesis) he latch onto Kevin and won’t ever let go, having separation anxiety, going to extremes instantly to do everything he wants so he won’t ever leave. It’s a bad copping mechanism that Kevin takes advantage of and enables so maybe the girls will get Neil some help and he’ll see what a monster Kevin really is

The final scene literally gave me chills.

I love this show so far but I will say one criticism I have is that I sometimes feel that the Kevin plots don't really add anything to the story or themes when Allison isn't there, like the episode where he was trying to do an escape room I was just wanted it to get back to Allison and Patty. A much stronger one for me was the one where he was switching between restaurants, showing his relationships with both Allison and Neil.

I loved your reviews, they were really insightful and I resonated with them. I especially appreciate you pointing out that perhaps the 'point' of the show is more about shedding a light on the sinisterness of the abuse women sometimes endure in marriages, and less so about a satire of sitcom tropes (although the show also has merits in this respect). And I'm glad someone else picked up on the vibes between Allison and Patty! Its subtle enough that they could just write it off in season 2 but I can totally see it becoming a thing. I also loved the end bit where Neil is brought into this other reality, I think he could potentially be a bridge between the sitcom world and the drama world in season 2. Very excited to see where it goes :)

In the age of digital streaming where shows get cancelled very quickly and there is usually a long wait between seasons, I'm really disappointed that the show ended on such a cliffhanger. They could have wrapped it up in some way while still leaving the window open for more of the story to be told, but if it doesn't come back, then we're fucked.

I need more people to watch this show. I need people to talk about it with

I sooooo want them to go to the dark-drama place with the sitcom characters (probably alone). I was waiting for it when Kevin went upstairs after the shooting. They teased some of Neil’s darkness with his family history via Patty. They’ve mentioned that Kevin’s dad was drunk throughout Kevin’s childhood.

Wouldn’t be surprised if the sitcom portion of each episode takes up exactly 23 minutes and could be presented as a standalone product. They don’t give the sitcom a faux-title but my headcanon is that its “Kevin Can’t Lose” based on the Kevin vs Life scoreboard

I don't thing there's an in-story explanation for the change in style. I think we're supposed to assume that from all the characters perspective, it all looks and feels the same, except for Allison putting on a facade to deal with Kevin an the others. It's the meta narrative language they chose to talk to the us, the viewers". Having said that. I like to indulge in a little head canon where Kevin actually has some sort of supernatural influence, which he may or may not be aware of. Kinda like a Twilight Zone sort of thing. And it's that power that allows him to get away with stuff and come out scot-free from situations. People justify things with "it's just Kevin" and give in to his demands because of this power. So, in these scenario, the change in style would not be because of Allison, it would be because of Kevin, he exists within a bubble or warped reality where he's the center of everything and everybody else is compelled to give in to his bullshit. That would also be why she will never be able to kill him, nothing can hurt him in there. Neil was only pulled out of there because of how long he remained out of Kevin's influence, and because Kevin wasn't around. Now, to be clear, I don't actually believe this is the case or that the show could take this direction, like I said, it's all simply the show's stylistic language. I'm just having fun with these notion. Now, from one of the layers of the show, what I said before can be argued to be true. I mean the layer in which the show is a satire of this type of sitcoms. In that layer, Kevin has the power of being the protagonist in a sitcom. If you go no deeper than that, then Kevin absolutely has this sort of supernatural influence, like all other men protagonists of sitcoms, the world is literally written for them. In that layer you can even fit everybody's reactions to this fact. Like I said, if you don't go deeper (like into the sociological criticism layer), Allison is reacting to the super weird situation of being a character in Kevin's sitcom world, from which she wants to break free but can't unless the protagonist is gone. Of course all of this also applies more or less the same if you go into another layer and read Kevin's power as being his privilege and the sitcom world as simply a projection of how someone can perceive the world when they don't have to worry about as many things as others who don't have that privilege, and truly can believe the world revolves around him.

omg i’m so glad someone is talking about this show because WWOOOWWW

I like Annie Murphy. She was great in Schitt's Creek and she is great in this TV show!!

I'm not sure if there was another reason but when she went to the fertility clinic to test if she could have children she had these bruises on her arm. I thought at the time they were just from a tussle but the theory of 3:21 is making me question that

I just binged watched it…. It‘s soooo soooo good!!

Anyone else kinda getting a vibe that Pete, Kevin's father is the most horrible of them all? I believe he is 100% fully responsible for how Kevin is. I'm sure Pete's got an interesting and disturbing back story.

I've just binge-watched the show and loved it. I didn't like the sitcom scenes, but couldn't skip them as they were integral of the story (although, a glamourized version of events). I agree with your idea and see Allison as someone finally breaking down after years in an abusive marriage, hence why she wants to go to such an extreme of killing her husband rather than "just leave" - I don't think it's really about the money, but the fear. It's shown in the show how Kevin is able to put other people against those that "betray" him, like he does when he falls out with Patty and calls her ex. And the many missed calls and texts the day he reports the car as stolen. My theory is that he is played as the dopey but loveable goofball in the sitcom scenes because that's how he likes to picture himself to the world. Fun, outgoing, childlike and therefore harmless. The type of guy nobody would believe could be manipulative in private or committing financial abuse (he has spent all of the couple's life savings). On the other hand, everyone see Allison as boring, no fun, Mom-like because that's how Kevin has been depicting her to his friends & family, in "the Kevin show". Anyways, I can't wait to see the next half to see what happens :)

In the 'comedy' parts, Kevin states multiple times that all of the attention must be on him, or that he's the most important person which indicated to me that he's prob not actually saying that, but that's how he is perceived by Allison by his selfish actions. Her coping mechanism has him saying it all out loud, because selfish people don't actually admit that they're selfish

Just binged it and I'm going to be telling everyone to see it.

This s show made me leave the situation I was in. It is someone's reality.

Love the show. Hope it gets renewed for a second season!

Because of your video I watched the show. I loved the series, first few mins I couldn't handle the switching between drama and sitcom but then you get used to it and through out the series I thought kevin must be horrible in the drama section!

I know someone very similar to Kevin in real life, but he is not as comical as Kevin. That person is incredibly hypocritical, selfish, and dishonest. He is not a very bad person, but you can sense that he is an ill-wisher who does not want others to be happy and successful from his words and behavior. His wife is similar to Alison, but she has lost her character and passion after years of being in a toxic marriage.

I think the show is trying to tell us that in an effort to break free from Kevin, Alison is revealing herself to be just as manipulative and in denial as he is, with how she slowly transitions into using her friends as pawns to bring about her own plans, like what she did to Patty near the end. I don't think she will be completely evil, but they will lean into this some more and I wouldn't be surprised if in season 2 we get a full sitcom plot being driven by Alison rather than Kevin to really drive it home.

What if Patty has info on Neil, she said he was the one who found their Mum's dead body, what if he didn't just find it?

This show just made me rethink the whole, bandwagon hate that British fiance of Ross got in friends (Emily?). I mean, I never really hated her? It was somewhat morally conflicting but when you're 13, you don't think that deep but that woman was tormented lord have mercy

I love this show and love your videos on it!! cant wait for s2

Here's my theory about Kevin Can F Himself: The show is not just a commentary on the unhealthy relationships of sitcom couples. It's also a commentary on what happens when the fan-favorite steals the show. Kevin not only mimics the characteristics of an Al Bundy-type lazy dad, but he also imitates characters like Urkel or The Fonz, wacky, fun characters the audience falls in love with. In addition to showing the dark side of a sitcom relationship, Kevin Can F Himself shows the dark side of what happens when the fan-favorite takes over the show, similar to Key And Peele's Urkel sketch. The reason Kevin's world is all sunshine and rainbows is because that's how he sees the world, and therefore dictates how it is. And while his friends aren't imaginary (as Neil is brought into the dramatic world in the season 1 finale), their existence, behavior, and personality, are greatly enhanced by Kevin. Kevin has taken over the show, and turned it into a joke, meanwhile, his wife is a gritty anti-hero protagonist of a dramatic thriller sick of her stupid husband's antics. Alison even says the world revolves around Kevin. Also, I haven't seen anyone say this, so let me just say: the actor playing Kevin is absolutely perfect. He really captures both the likability and assholery of Kevin so well. It's just absolutely perfect casting.

I think the second to final episode is probably going to have Kevin pulled out of his sitcom reality and into the real world and the episode after that is probably everyone in Kevin's life will finally see just how much of a terrible person Kevin really is. Also Allison will probably end up in jail for conspiracy to commit murder

We don't talk about Kevin-vin-vin-vin~

Wow I never thought about how he abuses her in the drama world, that'll be awesome to watch... thank for sharing

Great show, thanks for turning me on to it.

Wow the “sitcom” is the interior of ALL IN THE FAMILY

Hope Allison and Patty get together in the second season 😤

As someone who grew up in Worcester area, can we just discuss the elephant in the room that is how bad the accents are?! Other than that I loved how accurately they portrayed Worcester

Hey I watched this show because of your video and loved it, so thanks!

Can’t believe it’s only getting two seasons. Where’s Netflix when you need them?

I think we seem him being different because the energy of Allison's perception of the situation bleed into his reality when the house is broken into and it forces him into some realer feelings and suddenly he is a really depressed guy with not much to live for. He snaps out of it quick though, lol. With all those enablers! People don't like it when we face pain in general because they prefer all of these superficial games.

this show is fantastic.

Please cover Wilfred, it is a sitcom heavily influenced by lost that also tackles reality and tough subjects

In terms of Neil I judge by the change in attitude. When he's around Kevin, he's fun loving, insensitive, but has dumb innocence to it. When he goes after Allison? He talks more proper. Is genuinely upset, rather than comically and where he, like Kevin was scared of "New Patty" he was horrifying when he violently assaulted Allison. The reason why he's so comically dumb before, was because much like all of Sitcom world, he is how Kevin imagines him to be. Yet when he's alone with Allison while still in sitcom world, like everyone else, there is more to him.

Okay you sold me I'm going to go watch the show

I think its just giong to turn out that Neil just thinks Allison and Patty are girlfriends

It got renewed for season 2!

I don't think there is a 'dramatic' part. I think it's also a comedy, a single-camera dark comedy. Her scheme to kill Kevin is a stock fool's quest consistent with a sitcom plot (like a George Castanza).

If you're significant other is that bad, you're that unhappy in a relationship or obviously that incapability. F*cking leave... it makes zero sense for you to put your whole life through that and if you allow yourself to break so far to self destruct or commit murder that is literally all your fault. At some point you have to stand up for yourself...contact the police..flee...something, If he's literally beating on you that's different and I could understand the trauma but verbal or manipulative only works if you let it because it's not physical restraint.

I never seen the show before! I hope everyone who read this, and in these tough times! Life is not easy but you keep going. The Thing that you wanna do in life depend on you

Did not want to like this but had no choice to love it

Kevin is dead i reckon alison is just remembering everything with patty and everyone and that the only reason her brother heard what he heard was because he knew something was off with the two of them and now he becomes a memory in the sitcom world allowing him to shift to the bleak side of things nowwhen they explain all the shit kevin did in a different viewpoint and the cop is trying to honeytrap a confession or get evidence as maybe some time has passed and they are desperate for answeres i think

at the end of the season, I just skipped through the sitcom parts

i love this show, i feel like Alison character has the same development as Walter White. I mean in how she slowly descends into madness and breakdown, but she's more sensible than Walter on her decision making

Be cool if these were longer at all and you said things instead of a single thing?

I think Allison and Kevin could both be the villains. She could just leave. Also, we never see her attempt to work on communication or anything that might possibly lead to improvement, such as confronting Kevin about his spending their life’s savings.

The way I see it, we're meant to interpret the joviality of the sitcom world as how Kevin sees himself, and by extension how the world treats him. He is the central character of his own sitcom, and the people around him treat him as such. Everything's a joke, he gets away with horrible behaviour by laughing it off, and everyone just goes along with it when he's around. As a man, I found it extremely confronting when I first saw it - it's definitely a commentary on male "bro culture" and how it couches a litany of abusive behaviour in a veneer of laughter. And no one ever challenges it or questions it because as a society we're all taught that this is just "boys will be boys". It actually became pretty uncomfortable for me to watch after awhile. I mean, I get it - it's a commentary on the patriarchy or whatever - and to a certain extent there's a truth to that. But as a man who finds that kind of behaviour pretty abhorrent, it does eventually start to feel a little sexist. Like - imagine if the shoe were on the other foot. If this was a show where virtually every female character was portrayed as a stereotypical "bitch" with zero redeeming qualities... caricatures of every horrible female stereotype you can think of, blissfully unaware of how abusive they are, and the central male character suffered stoically in silence. I don't think that show would get very far into its run before being proclaimed as "problematic" and promptly cancelled. Here, the show gets a pass because men are the ones being bashed. So ironically, while painting a picture of a world where men can get away with ugly behaviour because the world enables them - the show itself gets away with an ugly depiction of men because the world enables it - a world where the pendulum has definitely swung away from where it was when sitcoms like the one depicted in the show were in their heyday.

So is it bad that I unironically love the sitcom parts of this show? Like, I know they're supposed to be awful, but they do a genuinely good job of capturing the feel of these old sitcoms, and despite being an objectively terrible person, Kevin is still insanely likable.

If it was brave it would make her the bad guy.. imagine she finally does the deed and then there are reality flash backs of Kevin being really nice and she just saw her m as bad because of her mental state.

so she's literally just the villain of this show, because most of its is all in her mind and her not being able to be a grown adult

I liked the show, but I'm not sure if the writing was good. The first season was built on a false premise that they never really justified and that happened with a lot of characters and their motivations. The show seemed more confused than anything else. I really liked the premise, but the show I wanted wasn't what I got and sadly the show I wanted would probably have been much better.

I hope he’s a super fit young guy in the real world. The “dorky” “quirky” stuff he does is only funny because of the way he looks and moves. If you put in a stereotypically good looking guy, it would lose its charm immediately.

SUCKS into the 4th show couldn't finish it DONE...COULD BE A GOOD SHOW OUT THE FLASH BACKS..

They wasted no time.

I totally think Kevin is different in the drama world.