Fun
Frisky
Nostalgic
Intense
Adventurous
Choked Up
Curious
Romantic
Weird
There are a lot of moments in Baskets that are memorable, from seeing Chip (Zach Galifianakis) dressed in French clowning attire in the middle of a rodeo to Christine’s (Louie Anderson) love of Costco. However, there’s one moment in Baskets I haven’t been able to shake. This season we learned that Mama Baskets loves Ronald Reagan and is a proud Republican. In today’s politically divisive and often hostile climate, the way Baskets treats that revelation is almost sweet.
Christine has always loved Reagan, but the extent of her love and her party affiliations were revealed in “Ronald Reagan Library.” Most of the episode is devoted to quietly exploring the complicated relationship between Christine and her most difficult son. While it’s clear that Christine loves Chip and wants him to succeed, her disappointment in his arrest is markedly not hostile. Throughout the episode, and all of Season 2 really, Christine seems more mildly frustrated than distressed about Chip and Dale’s antics. It’s an embrace of inevitable failure that hurts more than anything a mother could yell. However, when the mother-son pair aren’t avoiding their feelings, Christine enjoys a overall nice day at the attraction. She even meets a man.
Both Christine and love interest Ken (Alex Morris) have problematic children, but politically, they stand on opposite sides of the fence. Ken is a Democrat and Christine is a proud Republican. However, instead of using this dynamic to lecture about either side, Baskets presented us with a charming budding relationship. Christine and Ken flirt, lightly making fun of each other for their political beliefs. It’s a portrayal of politics that feels intensely out of sync with pop culture’s current take on the subject, which often delves into ranting if it discusses politics at all. In a crowded and angry political landscape that’s dominated by news stories about each side attacking the other, Baskets feels like a centering breath of fresh air.
At TCA’s 2017 Winter Tour, Decider asked series co-creator Jonathan Krisel about what went into making Christine one of modern TV’s rare sympathetic Republicans. “A lot of people in my life are Republicans,” Krisel said. “There are people in your life, you disagree with their politics … but I am proud of that in the show, though.”
It should be noted that Baskets Season 2 was written and filmed well before the results of the 2016 election. However, Christine’s political preferences seem like an inevitable extension of her character. “We love Christine. She’s the best. She loves being a Republican. She likes it in the Ronald Reagan-era, the sort of Republican of her father, I assume,” he said. “We were writing this — and I was writing Portlandia — on the verge of this election. We didn’t know which way it was going to go. We knew it was going to change the world, but we couldn’t really address that. And I think in small towns and things, people don’t care [about political views] on a day-to-day basis.”
“But now it’s so horrible. I don’t know what to make of it,” Krisel added.
The episode and season were written in pre-Trump time, and it shows. However, this is a series that almost benefits from the current political climate, and it will likely continue to do so. After all, the liberal-leaning Ken is becoming more and more important to Christine as the series goes on.
Baskets doesn’t praise or condemn either party. Rather, it calmly presents both sides, devoid of a screaming match. The comedy’s charms has always been in how is makes the absurd seem intensely human and relatable. The appeal of Christine Baskets isn’t that she’s played by an esteemed male comedian. It’s because she’s sweet, fearless, and lovable. Galifianakis may play his own twin, but that doesn’t mean the pain and resentment between the two isn’t real. Likewise, in its own way, Baskets quietly reminds viewers that people with opposing political views aren’t monsters — they’re people. That’s an impressive feat for both sides.
New episodes of Baskets premiere on Thursdays at 10 p.m. ET on FX and FXNOW.
