There’s a Lot of People Who Don’t Consider Salad a Food

Hurray! This week marked the return of my two favourite comedies – Community and Parks and Recreation. Oh how I’ve missed them both.

Spoilers below.

Community – “Custody Law and Eastern European Diplomacy” (B+)

First off I’d just like to start by saying how happy I am that both this show, and Parks and Recreation got renewed by NBC. I say this a lot but for my money those are the two best comedies on television right now, and it would have been a damn shame if they didn’t get renewed, and say... Outsourced did in their place.

But let’s get to the topic at hand – “Custody Law and Eastern European Diplomacy”. Annie’s baby shower was a strong way to kick off the episode. I wish Annie was in this one a little more actually. She and Pierce were both notably absent this week, but they both made good use of the limited screen time they were given. I liked Pierce’s quip that Joseph was “history’s greatest chump” (Joseph Kennedy that is) and I loved the groups new attempt to wean him off the racially insensitive remarks by allowing him to continue using “you people”. And then of course there were Annie’s two hilarious gifts to Shirley’s baby:

ANNIE: Well I wanted to get the baby a doll, and since the father might be Andre or Chang, I wanted all ethnic bases covered. So there’s a little African American girl, and there’s a very nice letter from the manufacturer promising to expand their selection.

The remainder of the episode was split into two main storylines. The first was between Abed, Troy, and Brita. It was kind of a cool pairing (I say pairing because Troy and Abed have had so many storylines together they’re practically a package deal )because outside all the full group scenes, I don’t think these three have ever shared a storyline before (hit me up in the comments if I’m wrong).

Anyways, Troy and Abed make a new friend named Luca, who they try to keep away from Brita because apparently she has a long history of dating guys they like and subsequently ruining those guys for them. Actually one of my favourite jokes in this episode was the long list of guys she had ruined for them.

BRITA: You guys have to believe me. He’s so much worse than tall Kyle.

And she’s right too. Luca is “a monster for realsies” (I use the word realsies all the time too – I thought I was the only one!) because evidently Luca committed genocide in the Balkan Islands. One of my favourite scenes was Brita finding out that very fact. It was so perfectly Brita the way she made him open up, and when she found out the truth about him her facial expression was priceless.

I also loved her big speech to the boys where she slowly went about concluding that it MUST have been Luca who took the Kick Puncher 3 DVD, only for Abed to interrupt her story with “we know you took the DVD Brita”. Luckily, it all worked out in the end though. Troy and Abed eventually came around when they heard the whole Luca/genocide story and they all made up just in time for Brita to ruin the ending to Catfish for everyone. Thanks Brita – I hadn’t seen that yet.

The other storyline this week involved Shirley and her attempts to get Chang to give up his parental rights. It was the weaker of the two stories, but it still had its moments. I think I liked Chang better when he was a professor. He was better when he was insane in a position of authority than now, when he’s just insane. It’s not that he’s not funny, he’s just not AS funny. He’s more hit or miss now. That’s not to say that I didn’t find it hilarious last year when it turned out he didn’t know how to speak Spanish at all, so I guess I can’t complain all that much. It’s not they like they could justify any of them taking another class with him.

A few more of my favourite parts of the episode:

-          Brita’s attempt at a Britney Spears song. Sooo funny.

-          Jeff “nipple play” Winger’s nipple guards – “Buddy I worked at a maximum security prison for 7 years, and those are still the gayest thing I’ve ever seen.”

-          “Yeah we wanted to get him a sawed off shotgun, but those are pretty expensive already.”

-          “Ugh girls are so undesensitized.”

-          The Greendale effect – “Our school motto is lower your standards.”

-          Andre’s solemn “Yeah” to Jeff assumedly rhetorical question “Did you know you can make an ash tray from nothing but a cigarette and a snitches forehead?”

Parks and Recreation – “Harvest Festival” (A-)

“Son, this horse has an honorary degree from Notre Dame.”

Parks and Rec had been building up to the Harvest Festival pretty much all season long, so it’s nice to see that when the time came the event didn’t disappoint. The festival grounds they created were fantastic and really went a long way in making you feel like you were in the middle of a real county fair. The walk through the festival with Joan Callamezzo was actually one of my favourite parts of the episode.

And whoever came up with the idea for that mini horse deserves some kind of recognition, because pretty much everything about Li’l Sebastian had me laughing my ass off. Ron was the best. His absolute giddiness around Li’l Sebastian is so contrary to his character that it made the entire gag for me.

They used Ben very well here as well. His character doesn’t get a ton of credit because he’s used as a straight man/outsider so often, but the way he frames how quirky this town is contributes a lot to what makes this show so funny.  Case in point:

BEN: Yeah, I’ve just gotta be honest, I don’t get what the big deal is.
LESLIE: Get out.

The fake curse was good for a few laughs and I really enjoyed watching Leslie try to put out all the fires. Her conversation with Ann was a highlight. I love that Leslie’s taken to calling her sweet beautiful Ann these days. For whatever reason it makes me laugh every time she says it. I also loved her press conference where she dispelled all the rumours about the festival, including making sure people knew there weren’t escaped convicts roaming around the grounds.

Sadly the side stories in this one didn’t always live up to quality of the festival itself. I was a little surprised with the “I love you” storyline so early in the Andy/April relationship. I thought maybe it was a little too soon for that kind of seriousness between those two. I was also a little torn on Andy’s reaction to April’s I love you. Andy obviously isn’t the sharpest tool in the shed, but even for him that was a little boneheaded. It would have been better if he was just too nervous to say it, but to not even realize why she was mad was a little over the top.

I had similar problems with Ann’s storyline. Like Ben, I read a lot of criticism about how she’s just not funny enough on her own, but I think her straight man role is incredibly important. Many times I’m laughing more at her reaction than I am at the character making the joke.

In this episode, prompted by her break up with Chris, we got to see Ann break free from her straight man role, and I wasn’t completely sold on the results. Now I’m not saying that Ann can’t be funny on her own, because she’s had plenty of funny moments before this episode, but I didn’t particularly like where they took her in this one. I get that she’s spiralling, but the Jersey shore wannabe they had her hooking up with was just maybe a tad too out of character.

I don’t want to make it sound like I didn’t like the episode though. Despite all my minor gripes, it was still quite funny. Even the storylines I had complaints about still had some really funny moments. Like always I’ll leave you with a few of my favourites.

-          Leslie explaining what happened the first time the town was exposed to Li’l Sebastian – “For the next few years, Sebastian was the number 1 boys name in Pawnee... and the number 3 girls name.”

-          Deep fried boulevard and the show’s continued shots at salads.

-          The map of atrocities committed by the Pawnee settlers.

-          “Over in this booth, Indiana basketball legend Larry Bird’s 84 year old aunt Tilda will be signing autographs for two hours on Thursday.” “You got Tilda?!?”

-          Ann dyeing a piece of her hair red after breaking up with Chris.

-          Leslie’s response to Ben’s question about whether the town really believes in curses – “Oh no no, we all just behave rationally and believe we are all in charge of our own destinies. Come on!”

30 Rock – “Queen of Jordan” (B+)

30 Rock attempted the reality show parody a few weeks back in “Operation Righteous Cowboy Lightning”, but they took it a step further in “Queen of Jordan”, actually formatting the episode in the style of a reality show. As repetitive as it was, this offering perfected the earlier comedic style forged in “Operation Righteous Cowboy Lightning”, providing a welcome departure from the show’s traditional format.

30 Rock is a hard show to review. I mentioned in an earlier review that this show pretty much sinks or swims on its one-liners, which often makes reviews of good episodes turn into a list of quotes. Well I’m going to do my best to review the show properly, but know this in advanced – this was one of the most quotable episodes of 30 Rock I’ve seen in a long time. If a list of quotes is what you’re looking for than just skip to the end now. I won’t be offended.

The episode centered on Liz’s attempts to get Tracey back from Africa. Seeing an opportunity with Angie (after Jack explained to her that opportunity), Liz attempts to coerce her into getting Tracey back from Africa. Liz’s natural discomfort with Angie provided for some hilarious moments between the two. Tina Fey’s Tracey Morgan impression was one amazing example. To the writers – please bring that back. It reminded me of when Alec Baldwin went about impersonating Tracey’s entire family a few seasons back. It was that good.

I also loved when Angie pulled out Liz’s hair and threatened to do it again because she’s contractually obligated to pull out 8 more weaves this season. Liz’s “it’s not a weave” response was priceless. Tiny Fey really sold it. Actually all round Tina Fey had a pretty great week.

Also notable in this episode was Susan Sarandon’s guest appearance as Frank’s old teacher with whom he had an affair. For those of you weirded out by that type of storyline – don’t be. Pete explained it best:

PETE: Guys, a teacher preying on a student is wrong... if the teacher is male and the student is female. What happened to Frank is awesome. Standing ovation.

Their story was well done, providing a number of delightfully quirky scenes and more than a few great quotes. They also seemed to set it up so that Susan Sarandon’s character could make a return, so here’s hoping we see that in the future.

Some of the smaller storylines in this episode provided a few good laughs as well. I loved Jack’s gay baseball rambling, and Jenna’s reaction to a reality show filming in the office was perfectly in character. Her fake intervention was particularly well done. And who can forget Kenneth’s mind boggling glove conundrum. All in all it was a very enjoyable episode.

Now, as promised, a list of my favourite quotes from the episode.

ANGIE: Don’t tell me I can’t sing. What the fuck have you ever done? Who the fuck are the Beatles?

ANGIE: D’fwan, glue in the business weave.

D’FWAN: D’fwan forgot his catch phrase.

JACK: With Tracey gone, TGS will be airing another “best of” special.
LIZ: Actually legal says we can’t use the word best.

RANDI: I didn’t say it.
D’FWAN: You did.
(You had to see it)

JENNA: I drank all the throwing wine.

LYN (Susan Sarandon’s character): You live with your mother?
FRANK: Yeah, otherwise who would wake me up for work?

JACK: I thought this was a meeting to discuss your spin-off, where you do matchmaking for wealthy dogs.

LYN: Oh Frank, how did you know where I worked?
FRANK: It’s one of the benefits of being in love with a registered sex offender.

Fringe – “Stowaway” (A)

It’s been a long time since I liked a show so much. In a world of television mediocrity, Fringe shines like science fiction diamond.  While shows like The Event let me down every week, and The Cape fails to capture a wide enough audience to stay on the air, Fringe brings a consistently solid episode every single week.  Stowaway was no exception.  In fact, it’s one of the best from the show this season.

Stowaway picks up where our cliffhanger left us last week.  We are looking at the blue universe and William Bell's consciousness has returned to Olivia's body.  As I said last week, Anna Torv playing this character is truly a testament to her range as an actress.  Well I really enjoyed what she did again this week. I wasn’t sure if I liked the idea of putting Bell in Olivia's body because it eliminated Olivia from the show, but I believe that I need to put faith in the Fringe creators much like I put faith in Lost's creative team week to week.  Not only is the William Bell character well acted, but the dialogue truly makes me believe that Bell's consciousness is back. Not to mention the interactions with Walter and Bellivia (as I will call him/her) add some well placed comic relief.

Bell declares that he needs to find a suitable host for his consciousness and will remain in Olivia's body for 24-48hrs at most, but of course the team is sidetracked by a case.  Paula Malcomson (Deadwood) guest stars this week as a woman who is unable to die.  After coming back from the dead after multiple gunshot wounds in a home invasion that took the rest of her family, she is left without hope.  She tries to kill herself multiple times, and even tries to tag along with other people's suicide attempts.  All are failures.  She finds suicidal people by working for a suicide help line and meets up with these people to try to "ride their energy to the afterlife," or something along those lines.  In the end, she encounters a suicidal man who tells her that he has planted a bomb on a train before taking his own life.  Malcomson's character then uses the bomb to finally meet her family in the afterlife.  

The case was fantastic, due primarily to Malcomson's stellar acting.  Seth Gable (Agent Lincoln Lee - red universe) also makes an appearance this week as a blue universe Agent working for another department.  I’m hoping he joins the blue universe cast more permanently. I enjoy the small character differences between universes and his slightly nerdier version of Agent Lee fits well into the Fringe world.

But the most important part of the episode again came in the cliffhanger.  As Bellivia and Peter are talking over a cup of tea once the case has wrapped up, a church bell chimes and Olivia's consciousness momentarily returns.  She is quickly replaced by Bell again and he remarks that things may be more complicated than he first suspected.

It’s an interesting twist and it means that Anna Torv might be playing a little more of Bellivia in the coming weeks.  That’s ok with me.  I didn't think it would be, but this episode was fantastic.  Also, having the Bell character around seems to bring out the best in Walter which is great to see.

For those keeping track at home, the cortexiphan is not the magnet – the soul magnets were in the tea Olivia received when she first visited Bell.  A neat little piece that maybe shows forethought by the creators.  Or just a lucky coincidence.  Either way, good stuff.

I really look forward to next week's instalment.