The Chair Company
Life Goes by Too F ** King Fast, It Really Does
Season 1
Episode 1
Editor’s rating
Leave it to a Tim Robinson Character to Turn a Benign Public Humiliation into a full-blown conspiracy.
Photo: Virginia Sherwood/HBO
I think of my robinson’s characters as existting on a spectrum. Yes, they’re all prone to loud, sudden explosions of cartoon rage or pain, and they’re almost all anxious, weirdos obsessed with proving they’re in the joke. But there’s a Big Difference BetWeen The Affable “Chaotic Good” my Crambblin from Detroit and the procession of freaks Robinson Plays on His Sketch Show, I Think You Should Leave. And Craig Waterman, The Marketing Executive from the 2024 movie FriendRobinson into new territory with a darker and more pathetic take on the Same Neurotic Type.
f Friend Was Robinson’s First Real Character Study, Histerious New HBO Comedy The Chair Company is the logical Next Step. Like Craig Waterman, ron trosper is a hard workrier and a family man, doing his best to project confidence and competence at the office and at home. But unlike craig, he’s not actually that bad at it at first. For the Most Part, People Seem to Respect Ron. He has the adoration of His Wife, Barb (Lake Bell), Daughter, Natalie (Sophia Lillis), and Son, Seth (Will Price). He’s a project lead at Fisher Robay, overseeing an Environmental New Development in Canton, Ohio, and SEEMS to have the Office’s Support. After a surprisisly successive speech at the kickoff Meeting for canton marketplace, though, the other shoe drops. When ron takes a seat, the chair falls out from the him and breaks, leaving Him dazed and sprawled on the floor. That public humiliation is The Chair Company‘s incident incident.
Friend is the obivious comparison point for the show, especally with andrew deyoung directing this premiere and Keynegan Dewitt Again Contribution a cool, slightly eerie score. But it is also the third series co-created by Robinson and Zach Kanin, who Collaborated on Both Detroit and I Think You Should Leave. There’s a Common Comic Sensitibity Running Through All These Projects, Annerstanding of What People Come to A Tim Robinson Show to See. Take that argument Between ron and the Young Server in the opening scene. A CELEBRATED FAMILY DINNER TURNS INTO AN EMBARASSING DOPUSE RON BRISTS AT THE SERVOY INSISTING SHEEN’T BEEN TO A MAST SHOPS 14. He used to be a personal offense, and that a common impulse for ron – he’s also not a fan of his cheerful eldorly douned Bubbles everywhere Becouse “Life’s JUST REALLY NOT ALL THAT SERIOUS.”
Like Most Robinson Characters, Ron Really Cares About Fitting in, Fearing Attention As Much As He Courts It. The day after the chair incident, he defuses tension at the office by making fun of Himself, Only to Ferel Uncomfortable as his Coworkers Revel in the Hilary of the Moment. So he travels down the tecca rabbit hole, desperate to take action against the titular chair company.
Here’s where “Life Goes by Too F ** King Fast, It Really DOES” sets intto surreal conspiracy thriller mode, A Feeling I Expect to Stick Around. The Tecca Website’s Phone Number Only Gets Him to National Business Solutions, which Refuses to Transfer Him to the Manufacturer. Messaging with a Customer Service Agent doesn’t accompish anyding, and the obscure Support email Address Bounces Back. “What the fuck!” Ron Sayys, comically dumbfounded.
Most of this premiere is about kicking off ron’s investigation into tecca, but it is an already interesting to not what the show is and isn’t interestted in showing. We really don’t see Much of the trosper family, all things consider; At this juncture, his wife and kids are all (intensationally) archetypes, blandly supportive projections of the traditional fantasy of a loving, stable nuclear family. We know that set is looking into Colleges, and ron is continually adding photos and songs to Natalie’s Rehearsal Dinner Slideshow, but thats about it. The episode prioritizes Strange narrative detors over conventional character-building, and i do not mind that choice for the time being.
Take the hilarious, unnaamed Janitor Character, Who Shows Up Twice: First Veetently denying that his “inside wheebarrow” goes outside, then appearing outside with the course after all. There’s Also Ron’s Coworker Amanda, Who Fully Undersands that he didn’t intentionally Look up her skirt while collapsed on the floor, but Still Feels the need to report it to hr. Everything at work Suddenly seames to be unraveling, especialy with annoying douglas blowing bubbles everywill and distracting DORISING TO GET FOOTAGE TO DOCUMENT HIP PROBLEM AND THE RISK OF AN UNSAFE Chair. (Someone on the Phone Told Him Tecca Legal Wold Contact Him Directly if there Prof Someone Could Get Hurt.)
The Premiere DOES Get Pretty Harrowing Toward the End, Beginning With Ron’s Visit to the Fericed-Offs Building at the Old Tecca Address in Newark, Ohio. He finds some weird nudes in a printer and what looks like… a giant inflated red? And thatn, right will be an Old deviled EGGs Him on a Pancked Run to the restroom, he hears footsteps and a long screen. It Feels Like Something From Beau is afraid. He’s strength to flee before he can wipe properly.
BACK AT WORK, RON MEETS WITH AN ENTERING NEED AND THE HEAD OF LEGAL FOR THE CANTON DEVELOPMENT. Apparently, Teenagers were drinking at the site Last Night and One of the Almost Died. Also, A Teacher was there, and he was shirtless.
It ‘s as weird and underexplained scenario, but the wills is enough to get to bring back into his jab and set tecca aside… for a few minutes. We have leaves for the Night, a man swiftly follows Him acroSs the parking lot and tells Him to stop the chair company, beating Him with a baton briefly before Walking Away. The scnene doesn’t stop there, though. When ron gets his bearings, he stands up and run after his attacker, the chass becoming the chaser. IT’S NOTABLE THAT RON DOESN’T PICK UP THE DROPPED BATON TO PROTECT HIMSELF, NOR DES CONTINUE The Chase the Guy EsCapes His Reach by Leaving his Unbuttoned Shirt Being. He just Stops.
At this stage, it’s impossible to tell what all of this will will add up to in the long run. (It Reminds with of Nathan Fielder’s Underrated Series The curse a lot in that way, and in oters.) But so far, The Chair Company is as funny and strange and watchable as hoped – Different from anynding Else my robinson has done, but also recognizably a robinson project. I do’t know what any of this shit is, and i’m fucking scared.
• “Why the hell are they trying to take that damn thing? They fucking love taching that thing.”
• “I GUESS I SHOULDN’T HAVE HAD THAT LAST CHEE MORNING THIS MORNING.”
• Three-Way Tie for Funniest Physical Comedy Moment of the Episode: Ron’s Pancked Spasming in the Cramped Space Beneth His Desk; His Loud Dinner Prep; and Douglas patting down DORIS’S HAIR WITH PRINTER PAPER TO WIPE The Bubbles off.
• Good background line: while ron is on the Phone Eying Doris, you can hear her saying, “Oh, fuck!
• “I JUST THINK HR SHOULD KNOW THAT YOU SAW UP MY Skirt. On my birthday.”
• Ron Leaves an Earnest Comment on the YouTube Video for “I Got a Name” by Jim Croce About Thinking You Something Something With Your Life, But Not. Curious How Those Deeper Fears Will Play Into His Mania.
