Killing It (2021-23) stars Craig Robinson as a Florida schlep who tries to get rich by hunting pythons in the Everglades. Scott MacArthur plays his frenemy, a seasoned python hunter. The two have a sort of love-hate gay-subtext relationship, but I'm going to review Episode 1.8, "The Kingmaker," which gives us Brock's back story.
Scene 1: 2016. Brock and his wife are celebrating their anniversary, discussing how much hot sex they're going to have tonight. Whoops, they forgot that their son Corby (Wyatt Walter) is sitting at the table with them. Why bring your son to your anniversary dinner? Have him order a pizza.
Brock is a manager now, so they'll be able to buy a house. Everything will be perfect from now on. Never say that on tv, or you're doomed.
Uh-oh, phone call: It's the Boss, firing him for incompetence. Brock switches from begging not to be fired to yelling "Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!"
Scene 2: 2018. Brock is lying in bed, talking to himself about how great he is: "I can kill a python with my bare hands!" But he's also sensitive; he cries when he thinks of his mother passing -- "women eat that stuff up." He appeals to all four quadrants: kings, queens, teens, tweens, and men." Aren't the kings men? He just needs a partner to help monetize his fan base.
Son Corby asks why he's been sleeping in the guest room for the last month, and suggests marital counseling, but nope: "Your mother and I are fine."
Scene 3: At breakfast, Brock suggests a video where he's out catching pythons in free-balling jeans, so viewers can see his butt -- a tactic sure to draw followers. His wife thinks that his goal of becoming an influencer is misguided, but he insists: one guy makes $190,000 a year letting spiders bite him.
"Is he hot?"
"Um...yeah, incredibly hot, but...is that important?" Brock is bi.
He's got a meeting with viral marketing pros today that will make his career.
Scene 3: While driving Corby to school, Brock tries to bond by bragging about the big car they're going to get when he's internet-rich, but "I don't care what kind of car you drive." This depresses Brock: "WHen I was a kid, I worshipped my Dad."
Scene 4: Brock giving his pitch at the Viral Marketing Agency. "We want you to be sponsored by a major tobacco company."
"Fine, no moral qualms here. I'm not some fucking weird-ass pussy." I forgot to mention that Brock is a terrible person. They all are.
Actually, they want him to cast negative social attention on vaping, so kids will try cigarettes instead: use a vape pen all day, while secretly taking poison, so: "Your liver will give out, but you won't die, as long as you get to the hospital in time." It pays $8,000.
"Don't you have any regular advertising, like gloves?"
You need a million followers for that, and he only has 150,000.
Scene 5: A depressed Brock looks at one of his python-hunting Youtube videos, and wonders why it has only 150 views. He accidentally clicks on the Flo Boys (Chris Mason, Luke Mullen), whose video got 1,000,000 views in an hour. They're a Christian prankster team: after they pray, they dare Intern Kyle (Trey Best) to eat some mace-covered chicken wings. He runs away sobbing.
Left: The d*ck of someone named Chris Mason (there are a lot of them).
Luke Mullen played the first identified gay character on a Disney Channel program, in Andi Mack. He mentions a girlfriend in an interview, but his Instagram is full of pictures with male friends.
Back to Killing It:
Brock calls his son Corby and shows him the video. "Look who's sitting with the Boys -- Kevin Brailing, the Kingmaker!" He's got 120 million subscribers; he can make or break online influencers.
Cut to the Kingmaker being interviewed. "I can get anyone 2 million followers," he announces. The downside: he's making content constantly, with no time for shopping or having friends.
The Flo Boys are based in Miami, which means that the Kingmaker is in Miami right now!
Scene 6: While on the way to the Flo Boys' house, Brock gets a call from the Viral Marketing people: some boys in Ohio got poisoned from vaping, so theyr'e going to use them instead.
He yells: "Lose my number. My life has value. I have a family, I have talent, and I'm on my way to a meeting.
Crash, explosion!
More after the break