The most sinister character was male: the woman's uncle.
Taking off shoes is a nod to oriental culture, but pretty universal these days, I'd have thought.
Subtle? The most striking thing about the sitcom was the appearance of Joey from Friends. Ha! What was that about?
Joking aside.
I wondered what was Brian's position in the congregation? On the one hand, a man with a pioneer wife, and two daughters, if he is not an elder that would raise questions. On the other hand, the way he acted with Br. Williams and Joe, didn't seem like he was an elder. It seemed strangely ambiguous.
One of the things I found interesting was the use of words like "religious" and "conservative" in ways that are mainstream and not distinctive JW usage. For example the daughter's colleagues describe her family as "conservative". Normally JWs might dispute this sort of political categorisation and insist JWs are neither conservative nor liberal they follow the Bible.
Also the free use of the word "religion" when defending JW practice to non JW family. At one time JWs would have avoided describing themselves as religious or JWs as a religion.
And they seemed a bit isolated in the KH. Apart from Joe and Br. Williams did they know anyone?
What got them into JWs in the first place?
Where are his extended family are they JWs?
The obsession with property seems a bit rich coming from a prominent New York property company. Like the scripture says, out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. So it's not surprising that property business comes to mind when they are creating a drama.
Plus if you want to say that secular work is not as important as preaching, you might want to choose a less debateable example than the daughter working on a cure for rare illnesses! Given all the many jobs that add little or nothing to overall human wellbeing, it was an odd choice. Or actually maybe it was intentional, to say no job, no matter how worthy, is as important as being a good JW.
The family that came into the truth was interesting too. It was like a time warp because that's how people became JWs in the 70s, 80s and even 90s, as whole families due to preaching of colleagues or on the doors. But I just don't think it happens much like that any more, not in western countries anyway. People become JWs because of family, longstanding connections, or because they are isolated individuals. Whole families don't tend to join JWs any more.
Plus the reason for them joining was presented as a sort of self-improvement agenda, with Joe becoming more disciplined and family life improving. No mention of Bible prophecy and the last days as a motivating factor at all, which was the main thing that brought whole families in during the 1970s.