Entertainment
8 Times 'The Detour' Gang Was Your Family
Some families are sickeningly, suspiciously perfect. (What are they even hiding?!) Then there's your family — a ragtag band of gypsies, tramps, and thieves completely incapable of making it twenty minutes into a road trip without things devolving into total anarchy. And if you know that kind of family discord, you know that TBS' The Detour perfectly nails the dysfunctional family dynamic.
Granted, your own family probably doesn't typically find themselves hunted down by biotech conglomerates, hanging out at strip clubs, or in the dens of voyeuristic B&B owners like the Parkers. But Season 1 of this brash Jason Jones & Samantha Bee-created comedy saw plenty of parental, sibling, and nuclear family experiences that are all too real. These include, but aren't limited to: awkward family conferences, a revelation that your actual name isn't what you thought it was, and a fated (literally) shitty synching up of when everyone happens to get food poisoning.
And sure. Your gang of blood-related cohorts may be a mess, but they're your mess! We've teamed up with TBS to round up all the times that endearingly demented Parkers basically were your family. Make sure to catch the commercial-free season premiere of The Detour, Tuesday Feb. 21st at 10 p.m. E/T on TBS.
1. When Nate & Robin Ate Secret Weed
Witnessing your parents on psychoactive substances is just one of the many milestones of becoming an adult. Delilah and Jared may not realize that Mom and Dad are high on THC gummies while they're splashing around in the motel pool. But for someone like yours truly who once walked in on her mom "smoking sage" with a towel stuffed under the door, it really hits home.
2. When Having A Nice Dinner Just Wasn't That Simple
Like we see with the Parkers' trip to Conquistadors Restaurant — an establishment that turns the brutal conquering of the Aztecs by the Conquistadors into mealtime entertainment — the culturally insensitive dinner theater outing is just as much a part of the American experience as it is part of the dysfunctional family experience. As is the accidental but inevitable offending of somebody at the place — whether it's a waiter, the whole restaurant, or someone in your own family.
3. When The Whole Family Got Sick At The Same Time
It's a classic problem of people who spend lots of time in confined spaces together — when one person needs to urgently use the bathroom, you all need to urgently use the bathroom. And like we see with the Parkers, the family that gets food poisoning together at the culturally insensitive dinner cabaret stays together.
4. When The Kids Got It Better Than The Parents
Just because they're your elders doesn't mean that they get everything. Case in point, Delilah and Jared's understanding that mother Robin was obliviously about to officiate a definitely not OK May-December union between their Southern Gentleman B&B owner and his 16-year-old Russian bride. Such wisdom from the mouths of babes.
5. When You Realize Your Parents Aren't Legally Married
A dumb piece of paper doesn't mean that your parents are any more of less committed to each other. At least, that's what your parents may have said to you, just as Nate and Robin tell Delilah and Jared. Telling their origin story through flashback, it comes out that they happen not to be married. Technically, that might make you an illegitimate child, but as your parents tell you, you're legitimate to them!
6. And Then, You Find Out You're Not Who You Thought You Were
There comes a time in every kid's life when they find out that their parents botched their birth certificate. Jared, or as we find out who he really is — Jareb — comes to this important milestone just after having the above epiphany about his legitimacy. Take it from a girl whose name is misspelled on her birth certificate: We've all been there.
7. But You Can Always Use The Things You Hate To Bring You Back Together
Just as we see when Robin and Nate are able to (temporarily) heal their breach of trust by berating a man swinging his gun around at an amusement park, a shared disdain for people who are making the world worse is about the strongest glue there is.
8. When You Delude Yourself Into Thinking That Moving Somewhere Else Will Be A "Clean Slate"
There's nothing like a move to a new city to make a fresh start! That's at least what the Parkers are hoping with their move to New York on this season of The Detour. But as any member of a weird family that moves virtually every two years knows, you can take the family out of the mess, but you can't take the mess out of the family.
This article was sponsored by TBS' The Detour. Tune in to the commercial-free season premiere of The Detour , Tuesday Feb. 21st at 10 p.m. E/T on TBS.
