Dave is good. It’s not just good in terms of exceeding any expectations you may have had for a show which chose to feature Lil’ Dicky (Dave Burd) emerging from his own crotch for its primary marketing material, which it does by a mile. It is good in that it beautifully covers topics you never thought that same show would have any interest in exploring. There are moments in episodes of the series that are deeply emotional, and you can find yourself tearing up for reasons outside of the consistent laughs it delivers. The series as a whole is fantastic, and each episode is worth watching comedically, and to add layers to the characters and the overall narrative, but there are a few standouts that should garner national attention and certainly made green-lighting a second season a no-brainer for FXX.
Within the first few weeks, fans of Lil Dicky were getting what they wanted out of Dave, an often crude, but hysterical look at the rapper’s rise from YouTube sensation to an artist booking gigs and generating label buzz. Mixed amongst the sometimes absurd but “on-brand” premises of the first few episodes were fun cameos and guest stars from the industry, but they also hinted at something more impressive. As Dave and his friend GaTa, have dinner in the second episode titled, “Dave’s First,, they have a brief philosophical conversation to discuss how privilege can factor into someone’s religious beliefs, and you get a glimpse at the heart of the show that’s hidden beneath a layer of dick-jokes and dry humor.
That underlying texture is something continuously present. This might be dismissed by a viewer that has no interest in the genre as a whole or is more interested in the series’ more blatant and shallow humor, but it’s impossible to ignore when the series comes to the midpoint episode, “Hype Man.” If you have heard anyone talk about Dave, they likely mentioned this episode, written by Saladin K. Patterson (Frasier), centered around GaTa being asked to be Dave’s hype man for shows.
A character, which up until this point has had the love of the audience despite maybe being dismissed as eccentric, is given a flashback-fueled backstory that ultimately leads to the revelation that he is bi-polar. Arguably the most powerful scene of the season ramps up with everyone frustrated with GaTa’s behavior during a rehearsal. As Dave is berating him and accusing him of being high, you see moments from the earlier flashbacks return before GaTa blurts out, “Dude, I’m f*****g bipolar”. Even though he has his own real-life experiences with bipolar disorder to pull from, it’s hard to believe that the performance delivered over the next few minutes is coming from someone that had never acted prior to the show.
As his voice breaks, GaTa expresses his embarrassment in talking about his diagnosis, but quickly Dave, Mike (Andrew Santino, The Disaster Artist) and Elz (Travis ‘Taco’ Bennett, Loiter Squad) comfort him, as he expresses the love that he has for each of them. Their initial shock, followed by sincere empathy, and then jokes in order to cope, is just as authentic as GaTa’s admission. It’s incredibly brave for GaTa to portray this on television, and it’s clearly something he felt passionate about, especially in regards to the impact it could have on others.
The series could have made this the only defining characteristic of GaTa moving forward or even worse, hung its hat on the accomplishment and digressed from there, but it pushed forward and capped off the debut season with two equally impressive episodes in their own right. As Dave reaches new heights with his career, you start to see cracks form in his relationships with his friends and, even moreso, with his girlfriend Ally (Taylor Misiak, American Vandal). In “Ally’s Toast,” written by Vanessa McGee (Grown-ish), things come to a head when they travel to Napa for Ally’s sister’s wedding while Mike simultaneously tries to secure a record deal.
The show and especially this episode understand how to encapsulate a relationship, including its cute private moments, and its difficult, bitter fights. You can see the build-up, and watching Ally express how she doesn’t feel Dave is present with her is painful to watch since he’s struggling with his own insecurities. Her toast, which is full of metaphors as Dave looks on, would be beautiful if you didn’t understand the context within which she’s saying it. However, knowing the emotions going into the toast makes the entire proceeding heartbreaking. An autotune keyboard melody ties the episode together, and, again, the show delivers something unexpected.
While the focus for the season finale “Jail,” written by Dave Burd himself, may be expected to be the resolution of his status with Ally, the episode instead opens with what is revealed to be an almost nine minute visual representation of what he wants to release as his first single to the horror of a room full of music executives. It is more focused on Lil Dicky as an artist trying to have full control of his “art” no matter how controversial it might be or how unlikeable his behavior is making him appear. While his entire team tries to balance support with reason, ultimately his decision on whether to release his single during an appearance on The Breakfast Club with Angela Yee and Charlamagne tha God will have a significant impact on where his career goes from here. If ever there was a perfect conclusion to a season, Dave has it, a proverbial mic drop, as he stares into the camera and the closing credits appear.
The series bookends its first and last episodes with freestyle rapping from Lil Dicky, but showcasing his talent in that regard was never the focus. From start to finish, the first season of the series is consistently funny, with hilarity that ranges from subtle to absurd and everything in between. If you watch looking for exactly what you would expect from its promotional billboards, then it delivers. If you are looking for a show that doesn’t want to be put into a creative box, just as its artist doesn’t, then it delivers on that as well. The unexpected layers to a show like Dave make perfect sense when you consider the creator is the very man you see on display, and so does his choice of billboards.
 ended its first season with a trio of unforgettable episodes.){kind=link}