‘Shifting Gears’ Star Kat Dennings Says Riley’s Finale Fakeout Kicks Off a ‘Ross and Rachel’ Dynamic With Gabriel

Note: This story contains spoilers from “Shifting Gears” Episode 10.

“Shifting Gears” wrapped up an attention-grabbing first season with big romantic developments for both Riley (Kat Dennings) and her father Matt (Tim Allen) — but only one of them walked away with a kiss.

Episode 10 followed as Riley contemplated moving back in with her ex-husband Jimmy (Lucas Neff) after a new job opportunity gives him the chance to provide a new house for her and their kids — meaning she would move out of her father’s place, which kicked off the plot for the ABC comedy series. After some pondering, Riley opts to divorce Jimmy and begin to figure out who she is outside of the relationship that has defined her since she ran away from home after getting pregnant at 18.

The official end of her marriage also opened the door for her flirtation with Gabriel (Seann William Scott) to develop further, including an almost kiss during the finale. Though the pair seemed to be gearing up to lock lips at the end of a party in Riley’s honor, Gabriel stopped it not wanting to kick off any romance while she’s inebriated.

“This could be like a ‘Ross and Rachel’ sort of romance, where it goes for, ideally, many seasons,” Dennings told TheWrap, referencing the iconic couple from the hit sitcom “Friends.” “We’ll see what happens with them … I’m lucky to have [Seann] to do this with.”

Matt did make a big step in his romantic endeavors in the finale. After a season working to overcome the grief from the loss of his wife, Matt began to hit it off with Eve (Jenna Elfman), the owner of the dance academy next door.

Though they began as adversaries, the ice slowly thawed between them and the end of the episode saw Eve giving Matt a quick kiss — leaving the door wide open for them to pursue a relationship in a potential Season 2. Dennings teased that the new relationship might not be Riley’s favorite, given her dad would be getting romantically involved with her current boss.

“It’s probably going to be a rocky road to acceptance there,” Dennings said. “Riley had that nice talk with him about understanding if he wants to date again, and she’s open to him finding happiness. But probably not with her boss… that puts her in a really terrible position.”

Episode 10 leaves plenty of doors open for a potential Season 2, though ABC has yet to officially renew the multicam sitcom. Co-created by Julie Thacker-Scully and Mike Scully, with Michelle Nader serving as showrunner, “Shifting Gears” boasted impressive viewership with its premiere. Episode 1 gathered 17 million viewers across platforms in its first seven days, marking ABC’s best series launch in six years, since the premiere of “Roseanne” spinoff “The Conners,” which is set to wrap up after seven seasons this spring.

Despite the viewership success, Dennings said she will not celebrate until Season 2 is officially greenlit, despite “whispers” signaling its return. If it does, the actress is ready to see how Riley’s world evolves from here.

“If you have kids or were in a long relationship and it ends, you realize that you used to be a certain thing and now you feel distanced from that. So who are you now?” she said. “I’d be so excited to see her branch out with hobbies, trying to make friends… not just another boyfriend coming in.”

“Shifting Gears” Season 1 is now streaming on Hulu.

The post ‘Shifting Gears’ Star Kat Dennings Says Riley’s Finale Fakeout Kicks Off a ‘Ross and Rachel’ Dynamic With Gabriel appeared first on TheWrap.