And To Think They Were This Close To Regionals

This is it for the Thursday night line up until after the holidays. I know, I’m sad too guys...

Spoilers:

Community – “Regional Holiday Music” (A-)

Sadly, this is the last episode of Community I’m going to be able to review for a while. Apparently the network that just brought back Fear Factor has no room for it on their midseason schedule. The good news is that the show managed to go out on a high note, delivery yet another spectacular Christmas special. If there’s one show that knows how to do a holiday themed episode, it’s Community.

This year gave us a Glee parody, a rather easy target but probably pretty deserving nonetheless. Fairing warning though – I picked up on most of the references the writers gave us, but I’m not a regular Glee watcher, so I had to fill in some of the blanks every now and then using Wikipedia and some of my own intuition (mostly Wikipedia though). If I get something wrong, I apologise. For the most part though I thought they nailed it.

As is the case with most of these themed episodes there were certain sections that were better than others, but I’ve got to say I was pretty impressed with the consistency of the musical numbers. I actually thought Shirley’s turned out the best. Her little rumblings under the music as the choir children asked whose birthday they were celebrating sort of snuck up and stole the whole show. Other than a very well done recurring joke about regionals that was probably my favourite part of the episode.

Of course, I was also pretty happy to see the writers put Donald Glover’s musical talents to good use. A few of my friends turned me onto his stuff a few weeks ago and I couldn’t believe how good he was. Watching him and Danny Pudi bring it in a Christmas themed rap video was awesome, topped only by the reveal that they were performing the whole thing in front of their bunk beds.

It was pretty clever too the way they recruited Pierce by pandering to his generation’s well known “historical vanity.” I don’t think it was the best song, but I enjoy Pierce’s long chorus of “you’re welcomes.” As for Annie’s piece, her song definitely had some good lines in it, but it wasn’t until after the episode (when I hit Wikipedia) that I realized it was supposed to be a commentary on the over-sexualisation in Glee. Before that it was a little off putting...

But when it came time for the big pageant the whole ensemble didn’t disappoint. It’s always funny when Britta goes free style, so when Abed told her the words to his song were in her heart I was pretty excited. You had to love the collective disappointment of the crowd when she hit the stage. I also thought Mr. Rad’s breakdown was really well done by Taran Killam. I really like that they incorporated the fate of the last Glee club into his rant. The fact that he was responsible for the bus crash was a pretty awesome call back to the last time Community did Glee. Actually, despite the Christmas theme, “Regional Holiday Music” didn’t seem all that out of place with some of the series’ Halloween episodes. As Britta so expertly put it, “I realize the stakes aren’t actually that high, but somehow that just makes it extra scary.”

Anyway, it’s nice that Community could exit on a high note. For those of you who don’t yet watch the series, you’re probably not reading this, but I highly recommend you take the time to catch up. And then please, whenever it comes back, watch! The show needs the ratings. It’s too good to get cancelled.

My favourite lines:

DEAN PELTON: The Glee Club is at West Side Hospital recuperating from a collective nervous breakdown.

DEAN PELTON: And to think they were this close to regionals.
PIERCE: What the hell are regionals?
DEAN PELTON: They’re this close Pierce.

ANNIE: I feel like we let Mr. Rad down.
JEFF: No he let himself down when he left this house this morning wearing a sweater vest.

MR. RAD: Glee, it’s a feeling you get when your brain finally lets your heart get in its pants.

ABED: Glee, I’ll understand every scene, because they’ll sing what they mean instead of making a face.

ANNIE: Wait you guys never let me rap with you.
TROY: Well we’re gonna need all hands on deck if we’re going to go to regionals.

ABED: But I kind of thought, you know, this was just for Christmas.
MR. RAD: No no no, this is forever. This is what we do now. This is who we are.

And line of the night:

DEAN PELTON: (with extreme disappointment) Oh Britta’s in this...

Parks and Recreation – “Citizen Knope” (A-)

I’m sorry, but this show cannot make an episode I don’t like. This was largely a transition episode and I still loved it, every sulgar filled second of it. Amy Poehler just takes my breath away... and not in the weird obsessive creep way, in the I respect you as an actress way. Her storyline was borderline sporadic this week and she somehow still found a way to make it all work.

Leslie’s community action group PCP was a good example. I don’t think we’re going to see much of PCP after this episode. I mean I could be wrong – this show loves to drag up its history (to hilarious results) – but judging by the ending it was more something to give Leslie to do while she waited for her polling numbers than a real arc onto itself. But despite the lack of any discernable plot significance Amy Poehler found a way to make the whole thing funny through the sheer will of her performance. I especially loved her homage to Friday Night Lights as she attempted to pump up her followers.

And it really didn’t matter what situation they put her in either. From Leslie accidentally assuming Ben’s news was that she was pregnant to the way she felt out which present to give to campaign manager Elizabeth, Poehler showed time and again that she is one of the best comedic actresses on television right now. I guess it’s true – clear eyes full hearts can’t lose... sorry I just really love that line.

I also quite liked Ben’s solo excursion this week. I mentioned in my last review that I was hoping the writers would take the opportunity to have Ben try something else for a little while, and this was definitely a good start. He’s really developed into his own character this season, and scenes like his horrible interview with Dennis Feinstein or his surprisingly inspiring run in with Jean-Ralphio just showcase what an incredible blessing that is for the show. I’m really starting to like Adam Scott. He’s got great timing and he plays his straight man role quite well.

While I’m at it I might as well round out the review by praising the rest of the cast as well, especially Mr. Nick Offerman. He seemed lead the whole ensemble in what was a very charming little side story. I really thought everybody contributed here, from Andy delightfully eating everything in sight to the slew of great Jerry moments. And watching Ron get choked up at first viewing of the marshmallow version of himself – these are just great characters firing on all cylinders.

I also just want to quickly comment that the ending tag of this episode was maybe the funniest the show has ever done. Jean-Ralphio is such an awesome character. Who else would be able to get himself fired in less than 30 seconds? And the way it just rolled off him too... he didn’t even skip a beat on his way out the door.

To the quotes:

ANDY: I need to get a picture of me holding this so I can frame it.

LESLIE: William, here is a Knope 2012 tree ornament. And Elizabeth I got you a Knope 2012 menorah... maybe...
ELIZABETH: No.
LESLIE: No, okay, then I got you a tree ornament.

BEN: You’re putting an awful lot of sulgar on your pasta.
LESLIE: This is just sugar.

ANN: Okay, those are poisonous so no one eat them.
ANDY: Yeah, duh.
ANN: Go throw up.
ANDY: I didn’t eat any --
ANN: Go throw up.

LESLIE: Speaking of which, the fact that Yahtzee is not in the Rec Center is a tragedy on par with human trafficking... slight exaggeration.

LESLIE: I’ve talked to everyone in the entire state who’s ever run a campaign. Nobody wants a candidate who’s polling at last milkshake sip levels.

JEAN-RALPHIO: Why don’t you use that time and go after one of your passions, like model trains or like, toy Gandalphs or something.
BEN: I don’t know why you jumped straight to model trains... I mean, it’s accurate.

And line of the night:

LESLIE: There’s nothing we can’t do, if we work hard, never sleep, and shirk all other responsibilities in our lives.

The Office – “Christmas Wishes” (B-)

Ahhhh! What happened to Erin? I’m not sure if I like this side of her. She’s normally so sweet and unassuming. Only rarely does she ever wish death on someone. It’s all Robert’s fault for getting her drunk. He corrupted her!

Seriously though, I am glad that the writers have given Erin a new storyline – I specifically mentioned something along those lines in my last post. I know most people didn’t like their relationship the first time around, but a lot has changed since Andy and Erin first went out, and I for one welcome the writers reintroducing that plotline. They’re going to need to make Jessica a somewhat stronger character if they want to get the same vibe as early Jim and Pam, but Andy following her home was a good start.

 The episode as a whole though really didn’t do it for me, which is a pity considering the surprisingly strong history of awesome Christmas episodes from The Office. Even when the show was really struggling in the waning Steve Carell days they could still manage a good Christmas episode. Unfortunately this one was one of those rare exceptions.

I think my biggest problem was with the Dwight/Jim storyline. You could really see in this episode how much Dwight has changed since the early days, and it’s not for the better. Dwight doesn’t prank people. He never has. He’s been pranked plenty of times himself, but he is not the one who pulls them. The fact that all of sudden he’s some sort of mastermind just rang so false it made it impossible to enjoy the storyline, even if what followed had been funny, which it wasn’t. Even Jim felt like a caricature of his former self in this one, and that guy is hard not to like.

There was one bright spot though. I really though Nate (I think that’s his name anyway), one of the new warehouse workers, was funny. He was one of the guy’s air guitaring along with Dwight in the surprisingly strong musical interlude, but his best scene was opposite Darryl and Val as he cut his way into the middle of their conversation. He’s been really funny pretty every time I’ve seen him so far and I wouldn’t mind seeing the writers throw him a few more guest appearances. He’s really shaping up to be an awesome peripheral character.

Alright, some notable lines:

ANDY: I did get you an acre of property on the moon.
DWIGHT: Where? Dark side or light side?
ANDY: Light side.
DWIGHT: Is it by the sea of tranquility?
ANDY: As a matter of fact yes, directly adjacent. Beach front.

ERIN: I love Jessica and I haven’t even met her yet. It’s like we don’t even need to meet, you know. I already love you, stay home.

And line of the night:

NATE: You had me at clookies. I can’t wait to find out what they are.

Never Look Back, Never!

Had to get this out of the way before tonight’s line up. Enjoy!

Major spoilers below...

How I Met Your Mother – “Symphony of Illumination” (B+)

It was hard not to feel for Robin as future Ted finished his ending monologue. It was one of those moments this show does so well, the kind that stick with you long after the episode. We generally don’t get a lot of closure on How I Met Your Mother. We know that Ted will eventually meet someone and get married and a few other select details about the future, but for the most part these characters are still evolving. Maybe that’s why the closing moments of this episode were so powerful. For once we got a definitive answer, and while on one hand it was somewhat sad that Robin was never able to have kids, there was something quite touching about the way Ted told us that “she was never alone.”

The rest of “Symphony of Illumination” was more scattered than that ending might suggest. There were bits and pieces I liked, the gangs various reactions to Robin’s bad news and a well place pole vaulting gag being examples. But Marshall’s side story really wasn’t doing anything for me, and the rest of the episode had a rather meandering feel to it. If not for Robin’s surprisingly deep journey “Symphony of Illumination” would have floundered under the weight of its many disparate elements.

The episode did however have a ton of implications towards a future Barney/Robin relationship. I’m a bit of a hopeless romantic when it comes to fake TV relationships and I really, really want to see these two sail off into the sunset. And quite frankly, this week’s offering was a virtual smorgasbord for speculation. First off, I couldn’t help but notice that Robin immediately chose Barney as the hypothetical father of her children. Sure, that was all part of the ruse early in the episode as Barney was really the only candidate, but later when it’s revealed that the kids aren’t real, does that not say something about where her true feelings lie? I’m going to over analyze and say it does.

On the other hand at no point in Ted’s assessment of Robin’s future did he ever mention Barney. Part of that is a logistical thing – the writers can’t give away the whole game now – but still, every time we get a look into her future the only things we hear about tend to be career related. It makes me nervous. And tack onto that Barney’s newfound love of children (it better be a passing fad) and you can cast some serious doubt as to whether these two ever get together again.

I really hope some of this gets cleared up at the end of the season when I can only assume we’re going to meet Barney’s bride. An episode ago, when we all though Robin was pregnant, her candidacy seemed all but assured. Now she’s still got a pretty good shot, but we’ve still got a ways to go before we get our answer, and a lot can happen in half a season. Even if she’s not the bride though I’m hoping she takes on some sort of wedding crasher type capacity...

They’re ending up together, damn it!

Line of the night:

LILY: Most women want to be a pole vaulter?
ROBIN: In Canada... it’s very big up there. You know, it’s meet a nice guy, get married, vault some poles.

Modern Family – “Express Christmas” (B)

One of the best things “Express Christmas” had going for it was that if you didn’t like a particular storyline or bit, it would be onto another one pretty quickly. That may sound harsh, but for a mixed bag episode like this one it’s actually probably what saved it. I love that the writers are using some new character pairings, but with no fewer than five separate story threads, it was nearly impossible for all of them to succeed.

First things first though – I wasn’t a big fan of the set-up for why the family needed to do Christmas in an afternoon. It came off rather obligatory, like the writers already knew what they wanted to do and didn’t really care if they gave us a satisfactory explanation as to why (which is probably exactly what happened). The idea that each of the families were somehow all taking a trip over the holidays came off somewhat pretentious to me, which undercut the many of the theme of togetherness running through the episode.

Of the five main storylines, I think the standout to me was Claire and Haley. I quite enjoyed their trip through Target (blatant advertising aside) and all of Haley’s shopping prowess. Claire set it up all really well with her “this is your destiny” speech. Also good was Gloria and Luke. Whenever we get to see Gloria’s ruthless side it’s almost always good for some big laughs, and watching her go into crisis mode after running over the Christmas tree and breaking the angel was no exception.

Mitchell, Alex, and surprisingly enough Lily turned out to be a pretty good grouping as well. When the show cast an older actress for the role of Lily at the start of the season, I assumed she would be playing a larger role, but save for a few early episodes she’s been relatively absent over the first half of the season. Here though, young Aubrey Anderson-Emmons was killing it with some perfectly placed lines. Her “I have two daddies” comment was awesome, and the way she made her entrance behind Mitchell and Alex with a branch of the broken Christmas tree was a great way to cap off the bit.

Jay and Cam on the other hand couldn’t pull off the same magic they’ve had with each other in previous episodes. It just felt like their storyline didn’t really have an arc... or jokes. That’s an oversimplification I know, but their scenes together were surprisingly unfunny. The same went for Phil and Manny. They had a few good lines together in the beginning, but once Phil got hit by that stun gun the whole thing devolved into an over the top mess.

The ending itself was a little too cute for my liking, but I’ve enjoyed similar endings before so I’ll give the show a pass this time. The novelty of fake snow is kind of a foreign concept to me. I understand why the kids might be excited, but the adults too? I don’t know, maybe I’m just jaded.

Line of the night (perfectly timed):

LILY: I have two daddies.

Mine Doesn’t Have Any Pictures

Stuck on a Channel just recently celebrated its 1 year anniversary, so I just want to thank everyone for reading, and for the sake of my own self esteem encourage you to continue. Thanks!

Spoilers...

Community – “Foosball and Nocturnal Vigilantism” (A-)

So it only took 3 weeks from the time Annie moved in with Troy and Abed to the time it started paying dividends. I knew I was going to love this living arrangement! Seriously though, what a funny twist on the classic sitcom roommate storyline. This show is just so hilariously self aware it seems to make something out of nothing on almost a weekly basis.

As much as I loved revisiting Abed’s Batman routine, it was Annie and Troy who really stole the show in this episode. Their banter with each other was incredibly funny, especially in the scene where Annie revealed to Troy she’d broken the DVD. I just loved how badly things spiraled out of control after that moment.

TROY: You moving in here was supposed to tone us down!

Not so much though... which is exactly the way it should be. For any of you worried that Annie was too straight laced to keep up with Troy and Abed’s antics, consider yourself reassured.

I also want to give a quick shout out to Craig Cackowski’s police officer character in this episode. He was quite funny in both of his scenes and I really loved that call back to “Conspiracy Theories and Interior Design.” Annie’s coy acknowledgement that she remembered his lesson in gun safety was pretty awesome. Actually, the episode was full of these little self referential items. The steep learning curve is probably the very reason why the show is getting shelved for the time being by NBC (it’s the same reason why Arrested Development got cancelled), but in reality it’s also what makes it so worth watching.

As for Jeff and Shirley’s storyline, all I have to say is foosball anime. I can’t believe they went there... it was one of the most insane things I think I’ve seen out of a TV comedy in a long, long time, but man was it funny. They really captured that Dragonball Z-esque feel too (sorry to real anime fans if that reference is a little too mainstream for you).

It was also just cool to see Jeff and Shirley get there first real plotline with each other since the first season. Nick Kroll (of the very funny The League) did a great job as their European nemesis and all of the foosball cracks were pretty hilarious, especially Shirley’s long held belief that the game is evil. I was pretty surprised too by how touching the ending was. For a storyline that went animated about half way through, you don’t exactly expect an ending with that kind of emotional depth. Though I don’t know why I’m surprised – Community does that sort of thing all the time. That’s why I love it.

To the quotes:

BRITA: I’m volunteering at the animal hospital.
TROY: Animal hospital!
ABED: The animals are the patients.
TROY: That makes sense...

BRITA: He only has the one eye Jeff. I can’t exactly buy him a cat monocle can I... it’s pretentious.

ABED: Foosball’s like the soccer of ping pong.

SHIRLEY: Don’t you get it Jeff, they’re not evil people that are good at foosball. They are good at foosball because they’re evil!

TROY: Let’s not leap to thing doing... right Annie?

And line of the night (one more time because I love it so much):

TROY: You moving in here was supposed to tone us down!

Parks and Recreation – “The Trial of Leslie Knope” (A-)

This was a pretty heavy episode for the series, which is always a risk for a comedy, but when it works it’s something special to watch and it worked in “The Trial of Leslie Knope.” This gets thrown around a lot on TV blogs and it’s slowly become a bit of a cliché, but in this case it’s true – for a show like Parks and Rec, it may be the comedy that keeps you entertained, but it’s the characters that keep you coming back and you’ve got to admire what the writers have done with these characters.

It was a humbling episode for Leslie. Over the course of the series we’ve come to know her as an exceptional public servant, albeit a tad eccentric, with a strong moral compass, and in fact that’s exactly the way Leslie sees herself. But I love that the writers didn’t let her off the hook for what happened in “Li’l Sebastien” (an instant classic for the series). It may have taken a few flashbacks to jog people’s memories, but borrowing from this show’s rich history is so much better than contriving some sort of imaginary indiscretion that could be used against her.

And all in all, the whole trial really lent itself to some great character moments. We got another one of Ron and Leslie’s classic little chats. I don’t know if I’ll ever get tired of those. There was the scene where the whole Parks department stood behind her as she apologised to them (Andy’s “I’ve always liked you” was especially sweet). And of course the well executed finale, where the stenographer Ethel read out Ben’s heartfelt resignation. There was nothing particularly funny about any of the scenes, but gosh darnit if it didn’t make me love this show even more (and if you read this blog with any regularity you’ll know that may be impossible).

I’ve also got to add – in my many kudos to the writing staff this week – that I am incredibly impressed with the way they handled Chris in this episode. He kind of had to play the bad guy in this storyline and with his Mr. Positive persona it definitely put the writers in a tough spot. But the way they just embraced it was sheer brilliance. I loved how no matter how bad what he had to say was, Rob Lowe delivered it with an enthusiastic smile. It kept everything light and really did make the ending where Leslie forgave Chris seem believable.

The only thing really left to talk about now is where Ben goes from here. I sort of wonder whether the show will sitcom its way out of this or try to take Ben in a different direction. Odds are probably with the former, but Parks and Rec doesn’t seem to have much trouble including characters who don’t work at City Hall. It may be cool to see Ben try something else for a little while. I mean, at the moment it looks like it’ll be tough to write him back into the mix anyway. Food for thought I guess...

Oh and Jerry’s real name is Gary – awesome.

My favourite lines:

LESLIE: Tammy 2 is your killer witness, please. You’re going to have to do better... actually she is a terrifying sociopath who could say or do anything. Pretty good killer witness.

ANDY: Okay, mine doesn’t have any pictures.

TOM: Bribing someone to hide a sexcapade – I’m proud to call you a friend.

And line of the night:

LESLIE: I’d like to direct you to your inbox, and specifically an e-mail entitled yay. That’s y, a, and 18 y’s and 44 exclamation points.

The Office – “Mrs. California” (B-)

To be honest, this episode didn’t really wow me like I was hoping it would. Don’t get me wrong, I thought Maura Tierney did a great job (I used to be a huge fan of her on News Radio). She’s a strong casting choice for that role and from the looks of that ending she’ll be back again in the future. But I just didn’t like the way they used her in this episode.

The show has relied pretty heavily this season on Andy’s inability to read Robert, and for the most part it’s worked pretty well, but in this episode the shtick just seemed a little worn. Instead of delivering perhaps a different side of Robert that we haven’t seen before, we got more of the same Andy/Robert awkwardness, and when that got old there wasn’t much left. Jim’s prolonged escape was more weird than it was funny and I wasn’t a huge fan of watching the rest of the cast try to bully Robert’s wife out of the office.

The new look Office is starting to lose some of its original luster, and it’s up to the writers now to explore different territory. The last two episodes have been great examples. Last week’s “Gettysburg” suffered because it relied too heavily on Andy’s desire to be accepted as the new boss, a storyline I think most viewers by now have already embraced (or stopped watching altogether). We didn’t need another episode exploring that dynamic. The same is true for this episode. Now part of Robert’s character is always going to be is bizarre enigmatic behaviour, but if they never develop him beyond that he’s going to become stale and repetitive, and The Office is going to suffer because of it.

Perhaps the one saving grace of “Mrs. California” was Dwight and Darryl’s side story. I still think it’s stupid that Dwight owns the building – that was never a storyline I got behind – but I did like the banter between him and Darryl. Can anyone think of any other times these two have been paired together? My mind is coming up blank, which is weird because they seem to have a lot of chemistry together. I particularly loved Dwight mistaking Darryl’s Val for Val Kilmer. That was a good ending tag for the episode.

Oh, and just real quick – what has happened to Erin over the past few episodes? Ever since Andy told her he was seeing someone (that story disappeared pretty quick, didn’t it) she’s been almost non-existent, which is lame. I miss her! She’s still getting the odd bit here and there, but please writers, give her a real storyline to work with.

To the quotes:

JIM: No, I don’t think we should be trying to make this place seem unpleasant. I think we should let this place just crush her spirit by itself. I mean, it knows what it’s doing.

ROBERT: Where’s Jim?
ERIN: He just rolled out and crawled out.

DWIGHT: This is my gym, my rules. You do exactly what I say no questions asked.
DARRYL: Yeah, I’m gonna ask questions and I might not do what you say.

DWIGHT: How do you think the Fonz got so cool? He stretched his pelvic bowl.

And line of the night:

ANDY: Erin you’re up. Find her a place to work but not too comfortable.
ERIN: Got it. I know exactly which stapler to give her.