Is there really a winner here?
There has been some dissension in the ranks about this episode, but mainly with the Duh-Off towards the end. Which to me was so absurd and silly you couldn't help but laugh at. Abed straight up says "Man, this show is sloppy." and I lost it. As a big fan of Animal House, Abed and Troy acted out some of my favorite bits, although I'm not sure what movie a robot named Boobtron 4000 is referencing. There is a recurring theme showing that all the characters, regardless of age, are pretty childish. But if you've been following this show, you don't need an episode devoted to it to know that. The writing and acting was so good that when the high school kids taunted Jeff and Britta, you wanted to punch them in the face, and really while some episodes don't feature some characters over others, this gave everyone an equal share. This is, of course, ignoring Senor Chang, who stopped by to steal cookies from Girl Scouts.
It's really hard to sum up Community in a short block of text, but as I will say till the end of time, if you're not watching this, you're missing out. Next week's episode, titled "Modern Warfare", looks like it will be the best one of the season.
Oh, and you get to see how stupid "pwn" sounds when said outside the internet. As if it wasn't already.
Hulu: Community S1E22: The Art of Discourse
Parks and Recreation S2E21 "94 Meetings": If you gave P&R a shot in the first season and didn't like it, I beg you to watch the second. It's vaulted into one of the best newer comedies out there, and keeps getting better. This week, Ron finds out he has to attend 94 meetings because his secretary, April, booked them all for March 31st, since she assumed March has only 30 days in it. So Ron splits up the meetings among the staff (and the non-staff, as Ann and Andy are there) to get them done with. Leslie tries to stop a Pawnee historic house and gazebo from being destroyed, a landmark of Pawnee's first interracial marriage, followed by families of both sides murdering each other. After a mess of disastrous interviews, April finally quits working for Ron, to which Ron seeks her out and gets her to come back to work, teaching her a couple things about how to ensure Ron never has to have a meeting with anyone.
"TOM, SACRIFICE YOUR TINY BODY"
Every character on this show gets more endearing every week. Chris Pratt is just adorable as Andy and there is not a bad moment when he's onscreen, let alone the callback to the fake FBI agent he played during the Halloween episode. April's family was amazing, moreso when they showed her sister Natalie, who is an exact clone of April in looks and demeanor. It was like looking into a window of the early episodes. Overall this episode was very chaotic and I'll probably have to watch it a few more times to fully catch all the jokes. With the hectic pace that is dealing with 94 postponed meetings in a single work day, the humor was rapid fire and didn't take time to breathe at all. I feel I'm not fully qualified to try and contain this one.
Also, Councilman Hauser... isawyourpenis.
Hulu: Parks & Recreation S2E21: 94 Meetings
The Office S6E26 "Body Language": I'm not a huge fan of The Office so I don't want to get into too much detail. I might be missing a few callbacks or references or even things like not laughing when someone does something that's so "them." That being said, this episode wasn't very good. It was about a deal with a laser printer manufacturer and their rep is a very attractive woman, to which Michael Scott is confused if she's removing more of her clothes during the meeting because she's interested in Michael, or if she's flirting to get a better deal from Sabre. In the meantime, Dwight is trying to get Kelly to sign up for a minority executive training program so Darryl doesn't get it.
Shut it, paleface.
They spent way too much time on Michael staring awkwardly at everyone else. Really, the whole printer deal plot was poorly thrown together and built on a pile of being uncomfortable, but failed to do so. They drilled in the fact that the rep was hot a bunch of times and there was a lot of gaps without dialogue that didn't achieve anything in the acting/emotion to make up for that. The second plot with Dwight, however, was fairly funny and had a few good moments. It didn't save the episode or stand out compared to say, last week's episode, but I guess if you're a fan of the show it's better than another clip show.
Hulu: The Office S6E26: Body Language
30 Rock S4E19 "Argus": I don't care what the naysayers tell me, but 30 Rock this season has been great. This week, there is a quarrel as Grizz is getting married, but both Tracy and Dotcom want to be the best man, to which Liz has to play the problem solver yet again. Jenna has a new boyfriend (Will Forte) who Liz feel uncomfortable being around, and after thorough investigation, finds out he is a drag queen who dresses up as Jenna. Which for Jenna, is the perfect thing since she can finally truly be in love with herself in a way she wasn't before. Jack gets a peacock named Argus from Don Geiss' last will and testament, and is feeling a bit lost without Geiss being around anymore. In the end, Liz winds up having to be the best woman to three weddings in order to shut everyone up, and Jack assumes Argus has the soul of Geiss, and gets several problems off his chest as he slips the peacock a glass of whiskey.
HOW DID HE GET UP THERE SO FAST
This was a really happy, sweet episode. Apart from Liz, everyone got what they wanted in the end. I wish I had a gif of Jack experiencing the 5 stages of grief in a matter of seconds. It didn't have a lot of content in terms of plot, and was more of a character exercise. I know this isn't a lot of text devoted to this episode, but it's one that leaves you laughing, but you still smile and go "awwwwww" afterwards. As much as one normally does when seeing someone do a duet then make out with themselves, anyways.
Hulu: 30 Rock S4E19: Argus
I keep finding that the liz parts are my least favorite parts of 30 rock these days. When I realized she was a one trick pony and only does the "awkward depressing single woman" shtick (literally every sketch from that SNL she hosted was this archetype) I kind of got OVER HER.
ReplyDeleteThat said, I loved the parts with jack and the peakcock.
I still find Liz funny. I think that the past seasons have spent a lot of time giving every character a share of screentime, and for some characters like Jenna and Kenneth and most of the writers, you can't do much else with them. If they kept up the same pace the first 3 seasons had, it would look like they were running out of ideas because they would have to devote a lot more time to say, Kenneth, when he's doing just fine sliding in with one-shot gags (got a turkey spell comin' on).
ReplyDeleteJack and Liz are really the only two that aren't comfortable with themselves. So I'm fine with them taking the reigns and every now and then giving one of the side characters their day in the sun.