A fun, rule-breaking woman in her thirties, not married, and who is in all literal forms a cat lady. This describes the main lead of the American sitcom perfectly, Call Me Kat. The show, created by Darlene Hunt, is based on the British comedy Miranda. The show was launched in January 2021 and released its third season on September 29th, 2022.
The show is about a thirty-nine-year-old woman called Kat, played by Mayim Bialik from The Big Bang Theory, who is, against her mother’s wishes, still unmarried, struggling to find her place in the world. After working as a professor at the University of Louisville, she realizes she does not want her life to be spent being ‘just a teacher.’
So, she takes the money her mother, Sheila, played by Swoosie Kurtz, had saved up for her wedding and uses it to open a cat-themed cafe. Based in Lousiville city, she tries to figure out her life, find where her real happiness lies and try her hand at finding true love. She is a norm-breaking inspiration for women who think their lives end at thirty.
The show has Kyla Pratt playing the role of Randi, Kat’s only friend, a waitress at her cafe, and business partner. Actor Julian Grant is the owner of a piano bar and Randi’s love interest, Carter. The show had famous actor Leslie Jordan as Phil, a gay baker at Kat’s cafe. The actor ended up passing away while season three was still airing, and the makers changed the story, writing him out by moving him out of the city.
Call Me Kat Season 3 Episode 17 Storyline
The previous episode of the series saw Kat trying her best to be the wild adventurer she is not to impress her boyfriend. She spent the entire episode dealing with the problem of being her own organized cat-loving self or being a spontaneous extrovert that she thinks her boyfriend wants.
She ends up choosing the latter and makes a fool out of herself till the end of the episode. Randi and Carter struggle to find a middle ground while parenting Carter’s son, CJ. Randi, especially, loses herself trying to be a cool stepmom to him, and Carter feels like he is constantly being made out to be the bad guy.
The episode ends on a cheesy note and sloppy kiss scene between Kat and Max in the back of a police car. Episode seventeen of the comedy, titled “Call Me Lady Avenger,” opens at Kat’s cafe with Kat and Randi indulging in friendly banter. This is when Kat’s mother, Sheila, enters and tells Kat that she has been looking for a job because buying a property at Valley Hills is not as easy as she wanted it to be.
The scene cuts to Kat’s apartment, where Max and she are having dinner, which gets interrupted by Sheila, who is wallowing in worry because no one is ready to interview her, let alone give her a job. Kat, worried for her mother, ends up offering her an opportunity to work at her cafe.
Things almost get heated at Randi’s place, but they come to a halt when they find themselves discussing alternative birth control methods they could use. They both agree that having CJ as the only kid in their lives is perfect for them, and the two agree on not wanting anymore. They decide to get a vasectomy, and the scene ends with another terrible joke.
It is Sheila’s first day at the cafe as a waitress, and she does not comply with any of the rules her daughter mentions. The day begins, and Kat gets the mail which has a letter from Phil, now in Australia. It is a wholesome way of honoring Leslie Jordan’s character in the show.
Carter continues to be clueless at the doctor, and Randi enjoys the moment though it does not last very as the doctor, after the test results, casually gives them a cancer scare. The stray cat Sheila had brought to the cafe spreads an itchy flea all over, and business for the day is done.
Randi and Carter share another emotional moment discussing the possibility of him having colon cancer. Kat and her mother get into a silly fight, and Sheila is fired on the first day of her job. The episode ends with Carter being cancer-free and Sheila getting on the right track and being the perfect employee for her daughter.
Call Me Kat Season 3 Episode 17 Review
There is a reason why Call Me Kat continues to receive such negative reviews. The makers of the show and the scriptwriters clearly do not listen to what the viewers have to say about the show. It is a divine miracle how this show has continued for three seasons. It is embarrassing to see the creators call this show a comedy.
The characters are one-directional, the jokes are pathetic, and the sets used in the show seem so fake that they just reflect the show’s low budget. It is sad to what Mayim Bialik’s character is and to imagine what it could have been. Kat breaking the fourth wall and directly addressing the viewers is probably the only thing interesting about the concept of the show.
The use of laughing tracks for every unfunny joke cracked can be seen as positive, considering it lets the audience know that they have to laugh too. This is probably the only sitcom that does not have one joke in its script that lands or is actually funny. The characters are animated and loud and make use of their entire body while talking, which just adds to the cartoony vibes of the show. The show feels like a cheap gimmick instead of an enjoyable comedy show.
The recent episode, “Call Me Lady Avenger,” felt even more pathetic than the previous episode. The bad acting done by the entire cast makes you wonder they got they managed to get the role in the first place. Sheila, the mother, is so shallow and such a bad mother to Kat and for no apparent reason.
Carter and Randi shared three serious emotional scenes that took away half the time out of the twenty-three-minute episode. It is confusing because it is impossible for the viewers to take the relatively serious scenes seriously. After all, they are also just as bad as the funny ones.
The entire episode was cringe and cheesy. The characters show zero chemistry and look like they are just reading their lines aloud. There is only one thing good in this episode which is when Sheila fat-shames her daughter, Kat never just takes the remarks and lets it be. It is refreshing to see her fight back and call her mother out, even indirectly.
Sure, Miyam Bialik’s role is fresh and an inspiration to all the wannabe cat ladies out there, but the fact remains that the show is not just her character. It is also the supporting cast, the background set, the script, the acting, and most importantly, it is also a comedy. The show, with each new episode, fails so badly at everything else that even Kat’s anxious boss woman personality cannot save it.
This episode continued its struggle of trying to get a joke to land, and Carter’s cancer jumpscare just felt like a waste of time. The entire episode felt bland and rushed and just not entertaining enough to even anticipate the next episode. The way the dialogues are delivered feels robotic and unnatural.
Kat’s rule-breaking but still anxious but still will fight you if you try to act up personality is not enough to save the show and keep it going. The show is boring and needs significant changes immediately. It is unoriginal and depends heavily on its 80s aesthetic and laugh tracks.
Our Verdict
Call me Kat is one of the few shows in recent times that connects directly with the audience during each episode, and those moments are actually the ones that are the funniest. Mayim Bialik has something about her that can easily bring a smile to one’s face, even though this particular show in no way does justice to her style of comedy.
Swoosie Kurtz and Kyla pratt are indispensable and have the potential to bring so much more to the screen, but the bad writing and lack of a complex character arc just make them bland. The show has gems when it comes to the supporting cast, but they are being used so poorly that it is disheartening.
The recent episode was another failure added to its forty-something episode list. The show does not feel like it is worth investing your time in it and fails to bring even a slight chuckle. The episode ended with a cliched ‘ all’s well that ends well’ lesson and a toe-curling dance from the entire cast. The season is set to release its new episode on March 16th, 2023.
Our Rating: ⭐ (2.6/5).
Also Read: Call Me Kat Season 3 Episode 18: Release Date, Spoilers, Recap, Time & How To Watch
