TV Review: SLIP: Season 1, Episode 1 [The Roku Channel, SXSW 2023]

Slip Season 1, Episode 1 Review

Slip: Season 1, Episode 1 TV Show Review. The first episode of The Roku Channel’s smart upcoming series was showcased at the 30th Annual South by Southwest Film Festival. Zoe Lister-Jones, one of the brightest and sharpest female comic talents working today, has created a show that will offer audiences a bit of comedy and a whole lot of drama as well. Though the first episode ends where the main premise of the series will begin, it automatically sets the bar for witty comedy very high and viewers will certainly be anticipating the second episode given the cliffhanger that is revealed at the end of the premiere episode.

Zoe Lister-Jones is the primary creator of the new show which, of course, means she is credited as the director and, being the star of the program, she will keep viewers captivated throughout future shows if the quality of the first episode is any indication. Lister-Jones caught my attention at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2021 with her terrifically humorous comedy, How it Ends. She is full of razor sharp humor that cuts to the bone as a talent and her honest viewpoints are certainly welcome in a world where casual writing sometimes feels way too phony. Her character’s spoken words in Slip feel honest and are refreshingly unique and down-to-earth while making one want to see what the character she plays will say or do next.

Slip opens with the story of a married couple. Lister-Jones portrays Mae Cannon who is married to a nice, normal, good-looking guy named Elijah (Whitmer Thomas) with whom she’s been together for well over a decade. Tymika Tafari serves as Mae’s good friend, Gina, who resents Mae just a tad because she’s married. Gina is looking for someone in her life but even though she thinks Mae has it made, Mae professes that marriage is really just two people being single together. That’s a bold statement which feels so natural coming from Mae and can certainly make one ponder the truth behind that concept. Mae is also pulling the weight in her marriage financially as her husband struggles to find his artistic rhythm so she may feel single in some respects in terms of managing finances which makes her whole thought seem even bigger than it may sound initially.

A funny scene has Mae trying to tip the worker at the local coffee shop. It doesn’t work out so well when Mae wants to tip the barista cash and pay for her coffee with a credit card. But, the show also gets serious once Elijah makes the suggestion to Mae one night before bed that having children may be the next logical step in their relationship. Logic doesn’t come into play with the events that will soon follow as Mae gets a bit unnerved by the thought of having kids.

Mae, who is a museum curator, starts to take a liking to a good-looking man (good-looking in a much different way than her clean-cut husband) she speaks to one night named Eric (Amar Chadha-Patel). Eric and Mae hit it off. After a bout of steamy sex which focuses in on Mae’s physical satisfaction, we get to the “meat and potatoes” of what this series will be about. Mae wakes up the next morning and sees a whole new life for herself. It’s a “slip” into something much bigger, but will it be better? You will have to watch the show to find out.

Lister-Jones is smart and sexy without being unrealistic. She has a charisma that makes the viewer intrigued in what her character will say or do next. Whitmer Thomas is an interesting choice to play her partner because he seems (from the first episode) a bit too sensitive to handle the razor sharp personality of Mae but we’ll see how that develops in future episodes. Tymika Tafari is a lot of fun to watch and Amar Chadha-Patel has the requisite offbeat personality and intriguing looks that will help his character give Thomas’s a run for the money should the show decide to continue down that path.

The first episode of Slip could be the beginning of something really unique and interesting. I’ll follow Zoe Lister-Jones on any journey she’s writing, starring in and directing. You’ll definitely want to follow her down the rabbit hole she seems to go down at the end of episode 1 of the series which is a conclusion that should be a terrific set up for a series that could just work out really well for Lister-Jones. Thirty-somethings may have just found their new favorite show.

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