Killing It

TV Series Review

The American Dream. It’s what Craig has always wanted. 

He didn’t really see it played out by his own father, who was shot to death in a corner store before he could make something of himself. He certainly hasn’t seen it in the life of his brother, Isaiah, who prefers to commit crimes to make his cash. And he hasn’t even seen it in himself yet–something his ex-wife knows too well and his middle school aged daughter is beginning to understand. 

But Craig’s luck is about to change. 

He goes to the bank–the same bank he’s worked as a security guard for six years–and makes a pitch for a $20,000 loan. His goal is to use the money to buy a plot of swamp land and transform it into a nursery for saw palmetto berries–berries coveted by pharmaceutical companies to fight prostate issues. 

But his pitch doesn’t go so well. In fact, as Craig tries to convince his boss to lend him the money, Craig’s criminal brother Isaiah robs the bank. And then the bank fires Craig for not doing his job.  

Bummer. 

So now, Craig is out of a job and he still can’t get a loan. The only person who is willing to help is his quirky, weirdo Uber driver, Jillian G. Turns out, Jillian knows what it’s like to land on hard times. Which is why she has a handful of random jobs, lives out of her car and frequently stops on the side of the road to kill pythons that make her an “easy” $100 dollars a kill. 

This is truly the very last thing that would interest Craig, seeing as how he hates reptiles, but it just so happens that there’s a local competition called the Florida Python Challenge, and whoever kills the most snakes in 30 days wins the grand prize of $20,000. 

I know, I know, I know. This sounds crazy. And it is. But Craig has sort of hit a wall, and he’s ready to do whatever it takes to make his dream of becoming an entrepreneur a reality… even if that means slaying serpents full time. 

Swamp People Are Totally Normal …

Peacock’s TV-MA show Killing It is about absurdity in all its forms, but it tries to balance it out with Craig Robinson’s easy-going personality and dry wit. And in some small instances the show can actually be insightful. 

A few scenes in the pilot episode help viewers understand that Craig is desperate to become an entrepreneur, make a better life for himself and his daughter and become the man he thinks his dad would have wanted him to be. And since the opening scene shows Craig as a successful, rich man, we know that this happens. We just don’t know how. And that’s where this show truly begins, back at Craig’s journey to wealth in 2016. 

But buckle up for some weird stuff to happen along this journey. Not only is there an obscene amount of obscenities, but people get shot off camera, snakes are hacked to death with blood and guts in full view, elderly men lie naked on the ground (fully exposed), renters film sadomasichistic pornography out of Craig’s home without his knowledge and Craig’s brother Isaiah is accustomed to committing crimes daily without getting caught.

Yeah… I told you it was weird. And even though this show says some things about racial and economic disparity, believing in your dreams and working hard… it also says plenty of things that families will not want to hear and will most certainly not want to see.