IFC’s Brockmire is a rare gem of a comedy, one that fully capitalizes on the talent of its terrific cast, led by Hank Azaria as the formerly radioactive, recovering alcoholic baseball broadcaster Jim Brockmire, but also the always welcome Amanda Peet as his would-be love interest, Jules James, and his one-time protege Charles (Tyrel Jackson Williams). It also doesn’t hurt that the series, from creator Joel Church-Cooper, is one of the most sharply-written comedies on television at the moment, able to proselytize on any number of subjects without becoming needlessly essayistic or failing to be funny.
That the show has run for three full seasons is something of a minor miracle in this era of Peak TV, and though season 4 is the show’s swan song, fans who stick with it to the end likely won’t feel as though their beloved trouble-magnet broadcaster was somehow given short shrift. In fact, after three seasons of watching Jim slowly win back his career and his humanity, the final arc of his story takes a surprisingly comprehensive approach, one that covers an impressive span of time, but is nevertheless able to see the series come to a fulfilling conclusion.
Each season has found Jim at a new phase of rebuilding his career and his personal life. Season 3 saw perhaps the biggest steps in both, as the once-troubled broadcaster learned to put aside his ego and just do good work. Season 4 takes that story one giant step further by introducing Beth (Reina Hardesty), Jim’s daughter who he apparently sired during his semi-exile in the Philippines. Though adding a heretofore unknown child to any show is typically the sign of a massive creative shortcoming, Brockmire uses Beth’s arrival as the springboard to send the series into the future. And while speculative fiction isn’t necessarily what the show was intended to deliver, the jump to 2030 (and beyond) makes for a fascinating and often hilarious way to explore the last stage of Jim Brockmire’s epic comeback.
The approach is a bit like the final season of Hulu’s Casual, in that the time jump functions not only as a way for the show to not only illustrate where its characters will be in several years’ time but also to afford them a chance to comment on the state of the world — which is not so great. While Casual took a more tech-based approach to the future, with autonomous cars and a ubiquitous digital assistant overseeing every aspect of the characters’ lives, Brockmire takes a similar, but far more darkly humorous approach. For starters, there is a ubiquitous digital assistant that holds sway over people in ways that’s frightening to consider, but there’s also the gradual disintegration of the United States to consider, one caused in part by the continued dominance of the one percent and the income inequality that allows them to hoard the world’s wealth.
While Brockmire is eager to hold the feet of a few fictional billionaires to the proverbial fire, the show’s aim isn’t as broad as that may sound. Instead, season 4 positions Jim as the new commissioner of baseball, a job he’s long coveted, but ultimately feels he must turn down, based on his feelings about the aforementioned billionaire owners of MLB teams and because the job is essentially powerless to affect the kind of change that might save the sport formerly known as “America’s pastime.”
This direction gives the series the freedom to move in any direction it chooses, and Brockmire makes the most of it by jumping back and forth between the present day and several years into the future. The result is a surprisingly effective and extensive glimpse into what is conceivably the final leg of Jim Brockmire’s storied carrier. Without giving too much away, the series successfully skewers the state of the MLB and any hope it has of reclaiming the throne of the most popular sport in the U.S. Moreover, the show manages to illustrate how the problems affecting professional baseball are indicative of the ills facing the country and the world as a whole.
But the ace up Brockmire’s sleeve has always been its interest on Jim as a fallible but likable and ultimately redeemable human being. That interest continues apace, as the show transitions him into an unlikely helicopter parent who only wants what’s best for his child, except when what’s best for her is a slightly less involved parent. In the end, Brockmire manages to weave together near-future fiction, dystopian humor, and a wildly effective father-daughter story to bring one of the best comedies of the last few years to an emotional and fulfilling end.
Brockmire season 4 premieres Wednesday, March 18 @10pm on IFC.