Also, quick note. The variance in moose icon size annoyed me, so until I work up the inspiration to actually fix that, I'll be using tiny star ratings. Huzzah, another victory for laziness!
Without further ado, let's grab some hibachi and settle down into this week's round-up.
Ok, I know last week my initial review of the double dose of HIMYM was bordering on negative, but this? This is what a good episode of HIMYM - heck, a good episode of television - looks like. It uses the best aspects of this show (playing with time, multiple narratives, group dynamics, unreliable narration, recurring jokes) and puts them on display in the exact manner I like to see them. It sets up the wonderful ducky tie. As the son of a minister whose default gift from parishioners during much of my young life was ties, I love a good goofy tie. Plus, any time Barney comes off as a pervy supervillain gets at least one thumb up from me. Marshall and Lilly's constant attempts to outmaneuver Barney in the midst of the group dinner were HI-larious. Meanwhile, Ted managed to come off as sympathetic, largely due to his obvious chemistry with Victoria, the lost love from his past. I certainly understand and identify with his regrets and his "what if" pondering. This show is at its best when it so deftly balances heart and humor.
★ ★ ★ ★ ½
Aaaaand here's the disappointment. Just one week after we get a bit away from shrill, girlish, needy Cam, here we are back again. Cam's dieting patterns were chuckle-worthy, but sadly predictable and too much of a stereotypical sitcom trope. Meanwhile, the Dunphys plotline didn't really go anywhere. I find myself often trying to defend Ty Burrell's goofy Phil to my mother, but this week the show itself tried and failed to justify his goofiness. I like Phil, but his part of the episode was dull and the connection to the rest of the Dunphy clan felt forced. Speaking of forced, I get the humor in Jay's indulging of the dog as a dog-owner myself, but that moment in the shower just seems a little out-of-character to me, or maybe just too over-the-top. These writers should recognize by now they don't have to reach far for good jokes with this cast. Worse? I just didn't laugh much this episode. Alas. Maybe this week will be more of a return to form.
★ ½ ☆ ☆ ☆
See, this episode succeeded in making me laugh. As I said last week, that's all I want from this show. There's really no in-depth analysis to be done here. However, this episode did come at the perfect time for me to laugh at it. A little backstory: my father used to build and run model trains when I was a kid. He was REALLY into it. And recently, that trend has apparently begun anew. His train size of choice? HO-gage. Thank you, Sheldon, for your very amusing detour into the world of model trains. Meanwhile, Leonard was funnier this week in his straight man shtick than he has been in a long, long time. Bouncing Leonard off the weird wonder that is Amy Farrah Fowler was a genius move on the part of Chuck Lorre. Speaking of female Sheldon, she reached new heights of funny here as they make a move to broaden her character's range - a range Mayim Bialik has no trouble playing. Raj took a backseat this episode, and I was mildly amused by Howard and Bernadette's storyline, if only for Bernadette aping Howard's obnoxious and perpetually unseen mother at the end of the episode. A solid, rib-tickling episode of BBT.
★ ★ ★ ½ ☆
Oh, Community. I enjoy this show every week, and I will continue to proselytize for the students of Greendale Community College no matter what, but this week's episode was... not fantastic. It wasn't bad, but maybe I set higher standards for this show because I know what it can do. It looks like creator Dan Harmon is honestly trying to appeal to a larger audience by grounding his stories in reality slightly more than last season. At the same time, he throws the one-joke Britta-Chang B-plot at us. It was funny the first time, but every time after that it just made me nervously chuckle. The connection at the end of the model U.N. plot also seemed forced, and I know this show can work organically. Martin Starr was understatedly funny as the political science professor ("The science checks out."), but I missed Dean Pelton. However, this season already gets some benefit of the doubt because they've managed to plausibly reintegrate Chevy Chase's Pierce and returned to his cranky old man roots a bit better so far. He's seemed prickly but lovable again this season, and that's the Pierce I like to see.
★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆
Oh dear lord. Tammys. Tammys everywhere! I may have laughed more at this episode than anything else all last week. Pretty much any episode that focuses on Nick Offerman's larger than life Ron Swanson is a win for me, but introducing both his first wife and his mother in this episode was almost too much fun to handle. Add to this delicious mix a mild-mannered work-a-day shaven(!) Ron Swanson and Amy Poehler playing sloshed and there's no way this isn't my pick of the week for best episode. Patricia Clarkson managed to be both chilling and fantastically funny as cold-hearted Tammy One, and she had what I consider to be the best line of the week: "Yes. But in another truer sense, no." I look forward to future appearances from both Tammy One and Tammy Prime, as this show has the delightful habit of recurring guest stars. May I make a suggestion for next time? I'd love to see Tammys One and Two interact some. Megan Mullally (Offerman's real-life wife) is always a gas as Tammy Two, and the meeting of those two opposites would surely be something to see. Now, let's hope Ron's mustache has properly grown back next week. Forget anything coming this Halloween; that was frightening.
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
This week's episode made me breathe such a sigh of relief for this show. Sure, last week's episode was ok, but this week managed to use Andy as branch manager much better. Plus, there's just something about tattooing Ed Helms that is inherently funny. I'd like to apologize somewhat for using the picture I did, but at the same time... what other picture would I use for this episode? Unlike Michael, Andy really is one of the office guys. Sure, he's always been similar to Michael in that he tries a bit too hard to be liked, but the difference is he came up out of this crew and they know Andy not as the boss first but as this guy they sold paper with. Returning to that dynamic and really integrating it into the show going forward is a good step. They've also managed to figure out how to write Jim so he doesn't seem quite so dickish these days, which is a nice touch. He's returned more to mischievous but well-meaning, which is a much easier side of Jim to stomach. Some of the sideplots in this episode might have fallen to the wayside or were a bit loose, but when the A-plot is this strong and they write these characters as organically as they did this week, I'm more than willing to let those things slide. When this episode was over, I had a grin on my face for all the right reasons.
★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
Man, the Sunny guys are on a roll. For anyone who doesn't know, the trio of actors behind Charlie, Mac, and Dennis have been writing and producing this show for seven years now. On other shows, people still doing the same horrible things and trying to top themselves over and over again after seven years would have gotten stale. But, as I heard recently from a TV critic trying to explain the excellence of this season so far, these guys just do it better! "Frank's Little Beauties" is no different. What other show do you know of that can reference pedophilia, necrophilia, and the sad affair that is the beauty pageant and child showbiz and make it so funny that I'm gasping for air? Plus, Charlie in a white suit singing and dancing? And Big Mac's assertion that "I always assumed we'd be heavily involved" as they throw themselves fully into the horrific event nearly killed me. On top of that, Danny DeVito's undertaker-applied makeup job was just inspired. Look, these guys are horrible. But when they continue to be so entertainingly horrible episode after episode, season after season, I'll keep right on watching. Just fantastic.
★ ★ ★ ★ ½
I may be incommunicado on Wednesday, but I will honestly attempt to get up the next Mad Men post come Thursday. I have watched the episode; it's just a matter of collecting my thoughts. Unfortunately, collection of my thoughts can be an undertaking of mammoth proportions.
I feel like I should start watching HIMYM again. I got to season 2 and quit, sort of out of necessity since I was in classes. And I should definitely START watching "Community" and "Parks and Rec".
ReplyDelete