Let’s Not Draw This Out...

I apologise for not posting Modern Family and Cougar Town yesterday. Blogger wouldn’t work for me all day. They’re here now though, just scroll down past all the NBC stuff.

Spoilers...

Community – “For a Few Paintballs More” (A)

Maybe the only thing I wanted more than another paintball episode was a Star Wars episode. Combining the two together was a dream I didn’t know I had until one of Dean Sprek’s white clad goons spouted off some Storm Trooper lingo, and I realized what the writers had in store for us. When the scroll came up I could barely contain my excitement.

What we ended up getting was a bit of loose adaptation. No one really took on a role except for Abed, although I’m not sure how you could resist his rendition of Han Solo (Annie sure couldn’t). But just because they didn’t take on the obvious imitation didn’t mean that there weren’t some great subtle references to George Lucas’s masterpiece. The battle scenes played out very much like a Star Wars battle would, with each of the heroes splitting up, running into trouble and eventually coming through for each other. And Troy’s death scene, where he rounded the corner only to be met with a division of enemy soldiers was almost shot for shot out of A New Hope. Although Han survived his ordeal.

I actually felt a bit sorry for Annie when Abed wouldn’t continue on as Han Solo for her. Not because I want Abed to change who he is, but because he’d so obviously captured Annie’s heart that it was sad to see him immediately withdraw from her. Plus, I kind of want to see Annie actually date someone within the group. So far the only guy in the study group she hasn’t had some sort of moment with is Pierce, and I think it’s fair to say that one’s probably safely in the bag. I’ve pretty much accepted that the writers are only giving us these moments to serve the joke, but every time they do it I just keep thinking how great it would be if one of these relationships actually stuck. Maybe an idea for season 3.

As a straight up paintball episode I think I liked previous one better. There were some great moments in “For a Few Paintballs More” – particularly some of the reaction shots of people getting hit and immediately reminding us that it was all just a game – but the last episode committed more to its premise. Of course that’s not entirely the fault of the writers. They had to do a season wrap up on top of all the paintballing, and it forced them to move things along a little more quickly than I’m sure they would have liked. The last two paintball episodes had three acts to tell their story, this one only had two.

But the episode accomplished what it needed to accomplish. The writers gave us a satisfying episode (parodying my favourite movies of all time) and a strong cliffhanger to carry us into next season. I haven’t heard anything yet about Chevy Chase leaving the show, so I assume Pierce will be back with the study group again next year, but either way, I for one can’t wait to see what Community has in store for us next season.

**Note** It happened so fast I wasn’t even sure what I was looking at, but Busy Philipps and Dan Byrd from Cougar Town indeed had a cameo in this episode. I love the mutual admiration between those shows.

My favourite lines:

DEAN PELTON: That doesn’t make sense. Why would someone who is paid to do things be at Greendale?

DEAN PELTON: City College! Now I understand everything. Now your whole evil plan is clear as day... but if you need to explain it to your men I understand.

TROY: Damn it Shirley, forget your newborn child and think about the people who need you.

JEFF: I don’t step up to being leader Troy. I reluctantly accept it when it’s thrust upon me.

JEFF: Everyone look alive. Leonard good enough.

LEONARD: Brita I’ve been in a few real wars... but this one is actually the most terrifying.

JEFF: Some of us won’t make it, but there is a place where we will all see each other again... and that place is Denny’s.

JEFF: Denny’s is for winners.

BRITA: No he’s just acting out. I’ve seen this behaviour before... in cats. My cats.

And the line of the episode:

DEAN SPREK: City College is stronger, faster. Our sperm counts are higher, even in our woman. Resistance is as pointless as your degrees.

The Office – “Dwight K. Schrute, (Acting) Manager” (A-)

This was more like how I was hoping The Office would turn out in Steve Carell’s absence. Last week, I was pretty disappointed with the way the show felt without Michael. Quite frankly I was worried whether the show would be able to last without him. But it’s amazing how this episode turned all that around and more. A lot still depends on who they pick as the new manager, but I think it’s safe to say these characters are still capable of some very funny moments.

In all honesty, I didn’t think having Dwight in charge would be good. They’d sort of touched on this storyline before in the season 3 finale when Michael thought he was going to get a job at corporate, and I didn’t think dedicating a full length episode to the idea was going to be funny a second time. I was wrong. The writers outdid even that season 3 finale in this one, coming up with an excess of great new Dwight changes around the office. An old timey punch clock capable of eating people’s fingers, new oversized business cards where everyone is a junior employee, staggered lunch breaks to prevent wasting time.

And the best part was they brought back the Dwight/Jim dynamic of old. Jim was in fine form coming up with new ways to mess with acting manager Dwight. Their scene surrounding “the fist”, Jim’s non-rebellion rebellion, was fantastically funny, as was their meeting in Dwight’s office where the acting manager pre-fired his longstanding nemesis.

It’s especially nice to see the writers find a good use for Jim again. It looked like they’d been struggling to find him (and Pam for that matter) something to do over this past season. Even better was the fact that the writers did it using a storyline that wouldn’t have existed had Michael still been around. They’re using Steve Carell’s departure as a springboard for new storylines, which is a promising sign.

For the most part I was also pretty satisfied with the way they handled skipping over Dwight and Jim for the job of manager (at least for now anyway). Jim was the obvious choice to replace Michael because for a time he had Michael’s job, and if they didn’t acknowledge that it would have been a pretty big plot hole. Was having him turn down the job the perfect way to get Jim out of the picture? Probably not... once he realized that there was no way Jo was going to let the office go unsupervised he probably should of changed his mind, but it satisfied me enough that I was willing to let it go.

What they did with Dwight was far more masterful. We got to see Dwight screw up his role simply by being Dwight, and even more importantly we got to see Jo actually tell him he’s not right for the job. Heck, by the end of the episode even Dwight himself admitted he probably wasn’t right for the job (although I’m not sure how long that will last because I’m pretty sure I saw him interviewing with Jim, Toby, and Gabe in the teaser).

Now I’ve talked quite a bit about Dwight and Jim but the rest of the cast were really on their game in this episode as well. The extortion sequence especially did a great job of proving the entire ensemble can still be funny without Michael at the helm. Kelly was great with her American Idol solo, Angela was right on character asking for pet days back (just no dogs), and Toby got the biggest laugh of all, showing his absolute glee (by Toby standards anyway) to get to use the gunshot portion of the HR binder.

And maybe the most promising development is that it looks like The Office is finally getting its will-they won’t-they relationship back, with Andy and Erin displaying some of the same sexual tension the show used to get from Pam and Jim back in its glory days. Now I know, Erin and Andy have already hooked up and there are a lot of people out there who didn’t like their courtship or their relationship the first time around. Two things have changed since then though. One, we’ve gotten to know Erin much better, and she’s become a much more likable character because of it. And two, Gabe is in the picture now, and he serves as an excellent wedge between the two of them, actively sabotaging any hint of a relationship and causing all sorts miscommunications whenever possible. Already we’re getting some great awkward conversations and longing stares out of Andy and Erin, which has given the show back a much needed source of tension. Hopefully they’ll be able to carry that into the next season.

 Now for my favourite lines from the episode:

JIM: Imagine that, people like us allowed to sell paper unsupervised. And yet somehow it works. It must be because the stakes are so high.

JIM: Do I at least get to go with you in this fantasy?
PAM: You’d slow me down.

JIM: Our lunch breaks are staggered to prevent wasting time. Mine’s at 10:30, and I find that the first hour of the day goes by a lot quicker than the second 7 hours.

DWIGHT: So I expect you to be on your best behaviour which means none of you will be insubordinate nor will you foment insurrection.
JIM: Question: if we’ve already fomented insurrection may we be grandfathered in?

DWIGHT: What’s the fist?
JIM: Oh it’s just a social club, you know, like the French revolution or the Black Panthers, or communism. It’s just a club. Guys, talking, you know.

ERIN: Gabe was a great guy, with so many wonderful qualities, but it was a challenge being touched by him.

OSCAR: Oh my god! There is a hardwood floor underneath this carpeting. Why would they do that!

DWIGHT: Managing you for this last week has been the greatest honour of my life... and if you ruin this I will burn this office to the ground. And I mean that figuratively, not literally, because you guys are so important to me. I love you guys, but don’t cross me, but you’re the best.

And my favourite quote of the episode:

TOBY: Would you consider this a terrorist incident?
RYAN: I felt terrorized.

Parks and Recreation – “The Fight” (B+)

You know, of all the funny recurring characters this show has to offer, I think Jean-Ralphio might be my favourite of the bunch. He has a way of speaking that not only gels perfectly with Tom’s character, but can pretty much roll off any insult and back into a normal conversation without skipping a beat. The more I see of his character, honestly, the happier I am.

In an episode that included drunk Leslie, a product launch by Tom, and Jerry strapped onto the roof of a car, it was Jean-Ralphio who stole the show. First off, any time he has a conversation with Ron it’s awesome. Just awesome. But when you throw in the rapping gag he had in this episode, it’s really hard not to fall in love with the character.

JEAN-RALPHIO: Uh oh, uh oh. K to the N to the O P E, she’s the dopest little shorty in all Pawnee, Indiana.
TOM: Why didn’t you just stop at Pawnee?

The rest of “The Fight” was pretty good too I guess. Tom’s drink launch was a good way to center the episode. I always like it when all the main characters end up in a central location and they’re free to mingle with each other however they want. I really enjoyed watching Ron hook on to Tom’s Snake Juice drink. Whether it was him moving around from table to table promoting the drink, or later in the night when he was drunk off his ass from it, it was fun to watch. And on a more dramatic note, it was really nice of Ron to go to bat for Tom with Chris. I was kind of moved by the gift he gave him after Tom had to sell his shares in the Snake Hole.

Leslie and Ann’s fight was also quite funny. There were times when their drunkenness felt a little gimmicky, but for the most part the actors did a great job of playing off of each other. Some of their arguments were just downright hilarious too, my favourite being the “no offense” fight that saw the two of them continually one upping each other until Ann called offense.

The only real letdown for me in this episode was April and Andy’s role playing game. There was nothing in particular that bothered me about the storyline. It was in character for both of them and I have to admit I smiled when I saw Andy brought back his Macklin alter-ego from way back in “Media Blitz”. It’s just on the whole the jokes weren’t landing as frequently as they were with the other stories, and it felt like I was waiting for a big punchline that never came. Which is a pity, because this is the first Andy/April story I haven’t loved since they got married.

Now for the quotes:

LESLIE: Pawnee is looking for a new PR director for the health department and I submitted your name! You have an interview tomorrow at 9 am.
ANN: 9 am, wow.
LESLIE: Yes, I know! I couldn’t get it earlier.

LESLIE: And let’s be honest, it would be nice to not have to pull strange things out of people’s butts every night.
ANN: You’ve mentioned that before. That doesn’t happen that often.
LESLIE: It happened once.
ANN: Just once.
LESLIE: That already is too many times.

JEAN-RALPHIO: Swan song, how you living?
RON: Yes.

LESLIE: Well I mean let’s be honest. How long is it gonna last with this guy?
THE DOUCHE: Sitting right here.
ANN: I don’t know, he’s dumb but he’s fun.
THE DOUCHE: Thank you.

TOM: Try a little snake juice. It’s 140 proof which means it’s 70% alcohol, but don’t worry there’s plenty of caffeine in it to keep you awake.

ANN: Also, I can talk about my qualifications for this position. But first I am going to go throw up in a waste basket.
LESLIE: Would you mind if I joined you?
ANN: Not at all. Shall we?

LESLIE: We need to remember what’s important in life. Friends, waffles, and work. Or waffles, friends, work. It doesn’t matter. But work is third.

And line of the episode:

APRIL: Ugh, I hate talking... to people... about things. This is a nightmare.

Parks and Recreation – “Road Trip” (A-)

This was the second episode in the Parks and Recreation double header on NBC, so forgive me if there’s a little overlap in this review. Fair warning – “Road Trip” benefited from the fact that I was watching it at 5 am, and at the time I was so out of it I think I would have laughed at just about anything. Of course, it also benefited from the fact that it was really, really funny, so what are you going to do?

It’s great to finally see Ben and Leslie get together. This was the right time to hook them up – any longer and I think it would have gotten a little tedious. And what a ride it was. The road trip was hilarious, filled with great conversation starters like The History of Ladders and dormitories at Johns Hopkins University. Oh and let’s not forget Banjo Boogie Bonanza. Never ever forget Banjo Boogie Bonanza.

And then, when Leslie had finally gotten past her initial reluctance to go for it with Ben, Chris showed up and served as one of the funniest third wheels in history. I was happy to see Chris return to his uber positive roots in this one. It felt like the writers had been struggling a bit over the last couple of weeks to balance his newfound role as the boss, a position that requires handing down bad news, with his almost unflinching positivity (although they did have a great moment in “The Fight” where he called to Ben to lay down some bad news and realized he wasn’t there anymore).

He made me laugh out loud on at least two occasions in this episode though. First, when he exuberantly suggested they all go play mini-golf in celebration of getting the Little League championship, right as Ben and Leslie were about to act on their feelings. And second, on the car ride home, where he followed up an intense conversation about The History of Ladders by air strumming to Banjo Boogie Bonanza. Maybe the funniest moment of the episode.

Of course that would be ignoring Libertarian Ron’s one on one lesson to a 9 year old girl about the importance of government. There’s clearly no shortage of good story ideas for Ron, who’s stolen the show over the last couple of weeks, and that’s probably because Nick Offerman is so intensely funny that he can make you laugh in pretty much any situation. The sequence where he explained taxes to the young girl by eating her lunch has to stand out as one of the better Ron Swanson moments of all time (though there’s so many of them it’s hard to make a list). When he went back in and took that extra bite of her sandwich to demonstrate the “capital gains tax” I had hard time composing myself. The girl’s mother gave probably the best summary:

MOTHER: You ate her lunch and you gave her a land mine. Really?

My one qualm with the episode was Tom’s game show, Know Ya Boo. It wouldn’t have mattered if “The Fight” hadn’t aired literally right before this one, but it probably wasn’t a good idea to have two plots centered on Tom’s business ventures in a row. It just seemed like a too much of the same joke in too limited a time span, and by the end of the second half hour I was growing a little tired of it. Other than that I really had no other problems with the story.

And it wasn’t all bad either. It’s good that they showed April and Andy fighting a bit. I’m all for this marriage – it’s been one of the funniest things to happen to Parks and Rec this season – but they did do it spur of the moment and they’re both really young, so it’s important they show them struggling a bit too. And the way they handled the conflict was quite sweet. A disagreement over music is the perfect fight for a young couple to have (by the way Neutral Milk Hotel is a real band and they are awesome), and the way they solved their problems in the end spoke not only to their growing maturity (though hopefully not too growing) but their connection as a whole.

ANDY: Maybe April doesn’t think we’re the greatest band in the world, but man. She loves me, and I love her so, you know, who cares.

My favourite quotes from the episode:

ANN: Wow, that was the most sexual tension I have ever seen in a conversation about documents.

ANN: It’s a dumb rule.
LESLIE: I know!
ANN: But if you have to follow it I would just suggest avoiding one on one tensiony situations with him.
CHRIS: (cutaway with Ben and Leslie) I am sending you two on a trip!

LESLIE: Ann, everything you have is too sexy. This is actually the dress that Julia Roberts wore as a prostitute in Pretty Woman.
ANN: I know, I look really good in it.

TOM: Leslie’s not here today. No boss – we can do whatever we want.
RON: I’m your boss.
TOM: (through laughter) That’s a good one Ron.

ANDY: I love Slurp HD. Have you guys seen Ultimate Battle Smoothie?
TOM: That’s a dope show.

LESLIE: And so as you can see, Pawnee has 12 beautiful baseball diamonds. And our seats have extra cushioning due to the massive size of our average citizen.

APRIL: This question is gross.
TOM: That’s kind of the point.

CHRIS: Well now I’m up. You want to Boggle?

And line of the episode:

LESLIE: The racoon problem is under control. They have their part of the town and we have ours.

Modern Family – “Good Cop Bad Dog” (B+)

I really wish I could give each individual storyline in “Good Cop Bad Dog” a different rating, because the happy medium I ended up giving it doesn’t do Phil and Claire’s story justice. There was this amazing moment in this episode, right after Alex and Hayley lied about cleaning up their bathroom, where you could see it in Phil’s eyes that he had just snapped. Pretty much any scene after that involving Phil, Claire, or the kids was laugh out loud hilarious.

It was a great idea to have those two switch roles. And the best part was that both sides of that storyline were funny. I enjoyed watching “fun” Claire torture Manny and Luke as much as I did Phil turning into a nightmare disciplinarian. In fact I think my favourite scene (although Phil staring down the girls in the bathroom is up there too) was when the two groups finally reunited and both parents got to see the end results of their role reversal.

LUKE: I’m 12, I need limits!

It’s just too bad that most of those great scenes were followed by the life sucking energy of Cam and Mitchell’s story. If Claire and Phil got an A for their effort, than Cam and Mitchell got a C. Maybe I’m being a little harsh, but I’m getting kind of sick of watching Cam passive aggressively overreact on a weekly basis. And it’s not because it’s necessarily a bad look for the character. It would be funny if we didn’t see it so often. I think the problem lies in the fact that Cam and Mitchell are paired up with each other way too much.

Now I’m not an idiot. As a couple they’re obviously going to spend the majority of their time on screen together, just like the rest of the families on this show. But I think the big difference between Cam and Mitchell and the other families is that the other families have kids (who can talk and interact, I didn’t forget about Lily). Claire and Phil probably have the same number of storylines together, but it’s easier for the writers to split them up. Claire could spend a week with the girls while Phil does something with Luke and it can all end up tying together in the end. The same is true for Gloria, Jay and Manny as well. And the best part is the kids act as a bridge between the two families. There are more opportunities for comingling because Manny and Luke are around the same age. 

The same isn’t true for Cam and Mitchell. When they’re in a story together the only thing the writers can really do is play them against each other (or have them react to some external faux pas), and it’s much harder to pair them up with the other families without having to come up with some really forced explanations as to why they’re doing so. We get to see a lot more sides of the Pritchetts and the Dunphys, while Cam and Mitchell seem to be stuck playing out the same story week after week.

Jay and Gloria’s storyline was thankfully a little better than Cam and Mitchell’s. I was a little worried when I first saw him but Guillermo turned out to be a really funny addition to the episode. His good doggy bad doggy treat system was absolutely hilarious. I think my favourite scene though had to be Jay’s talk with Guillermo’s dog. Ed O’Neill did a fantastic job essentially acting with himself and that dog was so awesome I can’t wait to see how they use it in subsequent episodes. It looks like we have a new permanent fixture in the Pritchett family.

My favourite quotes:

CLAIRE: What was good about Luke’s report card?
PHIL: He didn’t lose it.

JAY: She’s got a big heart. It’s the one thing I’d like to change about her.

GUILLERMO: What is this multi-billion dollar industry missing?
JAY: Multi-billion dollars.

GUILLERMO: She’s still full from the bad doggy treat.

PHIL: Note to Claire: if you want intense family drama rent Spy Kids. They saved their parents lives. You think they would have done that if they got yelled at all the time.

LUKE: You know what, Mom’s the crazy one. She ran over my hand.
CLAIRE: We were having fun!

And line of the episode:

PHIL: Girls, grab your buckets and meet me by the car.
CLAIRE: They don’t have to do that.
PHIL: They do if I say so. (to the girls) I’m sorry I swear I just told you to GRAB YOUR BUCKETS.

Cougar Town – “Damaged by Love” (B)

The real irony of “Damaged by Love” was that, despite two notable guest appearances by Nia Vardalos and Ken Jenkins, it was a kid on a Big Wheel that ended up stealing the show. And that’s not even meant to reflect poorly on the guest appearances. That kid was just really damn funny.

Of course I’m getting ahead of myself. This episode was really about Jules and Bobby trying to help Travis get through having his proposal rejected by Kirsten. That’s actually where Ken Jenkins came in. Reprising his role as Jules’ father Chick, he was brought in along with Bobby to help cheer Travis up. I had mixed feelings about this storyline. On one hand, throwing Jules and Travis into a strip club together was a great idea, and guest star Crista Flanagan did a hilarious job of portraying Destiny, the lone stripper in the club. On the other, Bobby and Jules fighting with each other sucked a bit of the life out of the storyline, taking away the easygoingness that makes those two so enjoyable together.

 I was also a little disappointed in Nia Vardalos’ guest appearance in this episode. I was never able to get into the inappropriate flirting her character Angela insisted on doing with Andy. There was just no room for Andy to be Andy in that scenario, and Ian Gomez spent most of his week reacting to Angela instead of being funny himself.

The storyline’s one saving grace however was that it allowed for a few good scenes between Ellie and Laurie. I really liked Ellie’s question mark complements as she tried to convince Laurie to be her human stress ball. I honestly can’t remember that far back but I feel like this was one of the first times Ellie and Laurie have really bonded, so it was nice to see those two characters find some common ground.

It was Grayson who stole the episode though. His rollerblading journey home was fantastic. Josh Hopkins deserves a ton of credit for carrying pretty much the entire storyline on his own. Of course, that’s not meant to diminish the contribution of his younger counterpart, as his silent companion only compounded the ridiculousness of a grown man’s inability to rollerblade a few blocks home.

My favourite lines:

BOBBY: Yup, love is a battlefield.
JULES: Did you just quote Pat Benatar?
BOBBY: I often do in tough situations.

GRAYSON: You’re not my mom.
JULES: Don’t sass me! I am not in the mood.

JULES: Honey why don’t you grab a table near the pole.

And my favourite line:

LAURIE: When Smith dumped me it literally took me months to get back to a place where I could sleep with random dudes to feel good about myself.