The new Netflix comedy Man Vs. Baby once again has Rowan Atkinson’s bumbling housesitter basically losing the battle to not destroy a house. This time, instead of a bee, a baby is getting him flummoxed to the point where he can’t help but damage someone else’s personal property.
MAN VS. BABY: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?
Opening Shot: Various videos of Trevor Bingley (Rowan Atkinson), his wife Jess (Claudie Blakley) and their daughter Maddy at Christmas, with the last one being Jess and a grown-up Maddy (Alanah Bloor) wishing the absent Trevor a Merry Christmas.
The Gist: Since his disastrous housesitting gig where a bee and a gastricly-challenged dog led him to destroying a high-tech mansion, Trevor has taken to a more calming job, as the caretaker of St. Aldwin’s School. He’s looking forward to Jess and Maddie coming to his freezing tiny house for the holidays, but Jess calls to tell him that they’ve been invited by her new boyfriend to Barbados. Then Maddy is off to Sorbonne University in Paris, which costs way more than Trevor has in the bank right now.
Trevor helps with the school’s nativity play. Unfortunately, it’s the last thing he’ll do there, as he was laid off, effective at the end of the fall/winter term. But he’s concentrating on making sure the kids’ play comes off without a hitch; everyone is excited that a parent has volunteered her young son as a live baby Jesus.
After hearing a knock on the school’s door, Trevor sees a basinet outside with a baby in it, but the mom is nowhere to be seen. After shrugging that off, the play starts; as he voices sound effects, he gets a call from the housesitting company, which has been acquired. They’re promising him a penthouse-watching gig in London that will pay him enough to cover Maddy’s tuition, but he needs to be in the city that evening for an interview.
One problem: No one has picked up the baby. It wasn’t even the right baby; he finds out that the baby that was supposed to be in the play was sick. The police won’t be able to pick him up for hours, and when he finally gets someone from Social Services over his house, the baby escapes his basinet just long enough for the social worker to leave. But Trevor needs to be in London by 5 PM, so he has no choice but to bring the kid with him.
Photo: Courtesy of Netflix
What Shows Will It Remind You Of? As we alluded to above, this is a holiday-themed sequel to Atkinson’s 2023 slapstick series Man Vs. Bee.
Our Take: Is there a possibility that Man Vs. Baby is going to be substantially different than Man Vs. Bee? Probably not. Sure, a baby can get Trevor into a whole lot more sticky situations — almost literally, when he starts to change the baby’s nappies — than the bee could have. But we suspect that the show will again consist of Trevor doing major damage to the flat he’s watching in an attempt to care for the baby and/or keep him alive.
There will also be intruders, and we suspect that he’ll misplace the boy once or twice. But the four episodes, each clocking in at under 30 minutes, will likely be filled with Atkinson’s signature physical comedy combined with the extreme expressions he can make with his Play-doh-esque face.
The two things that might perhaps set this apart from the first series is that it’s holiday themed, which tends to bring warm feelings and happy endings, and that we see more of Trevor’s life in this one. He loves his daughter — and we suspect he still loves Jess — and doesn’t want to be apart from them for the holidays. So the entire time this disaster with the baby plays out, he’s going to try to stay in touch with his family. That should also provide some context and warmth, something that makes Trevor more than just a talking rehash of Mr. Bean.
Photo: Courtesy of Netflix
Performance Worth Watching: Atkinson, of course. The entire series, created by Atkinson and William Davies, is designed around his particular brand of physical comedy.
Sex And Skin: None.
Parting Shot: Trevor comes out of the train station with the baby in tow.
Sleeper Star: We’ll give this to “James & William” (that’s how they’re listed in the credits), the twins that play the really adorable baby Trevor has to tote around.
Most Pilot-y Line: The headmistress pulls Trevor into her office to “celebrate” his last day on the job after seven long months. She pours them some sherry; he sips it and coughs, but she guzzles it down without even taking a breath.
Our Call: STREAM IT. Man Vs. Baby is the kind of show that you can put on and just laugh without thinking too hard, which is likely the exact reaction Atkinson and Davies wanted the audience to have.
Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.
