The beauty of TV’s saddest picnic
I have had the stomach flu this week — the bane of food writers and recipe testers everywhere — which means I haven’t spent much time in the kitchen. Instead, I’ve been slowly sipping sparkling water and wandering the outer reaches of my streaming services, only to land, once again, on a perennial favorite: “Baskets,” which gives me an excuse to finally tell you about one of my favorite television meals. The FX comedy, which celebrated its 10-year anniversary earlier this year, stars Zach Galifianakis as Chip Baskets, an earnest, lovelorn dreamer trying to readjust to life in Bakersfield after an ill-fated stint at clown school in France. It’s one of the funniest shows ever made. It’s also one of the saddest. In the penultimate episode of the first season, Chip has just learned that his mother, Christine (the incomparable Louie Anderson), has slipped into a diabetic coma. Standing beside her hospital bed, his mind drifts to Paris and to Penelope, the aspiring musician he married after falling hopelessly in love. The tragedy, of course, …
