Sandwiches And Sex? I Want That!

Yup, I’m writing reviews again. Spoilers will follow...

House – “Body & Soul” (A-)

Finale fever is in the air, isn’t it? There’s certainly been some added tension to these last few episodes of House. You can sense that the shackles are finally off for this writing staff, which is probably why these past few weeks have seen such a major uptick in quality (though I’ll let you decide if the show is actually getting better or if it’s just that creeping sense of closure making average episodes seem that much better).

House and Dominika are probably the best example of that added weight. If this storyline would have popped up in the middle of season 4 I probably wouldn’t have thought much of it, but since the series finale is looming just over the horizon I find myself asking questions like “is this House’s happy ending?” and “is it possible for House to have a happy ending?” If I were to wager I’d probably put my money on the bittersweet send off, but a lot can happen in 5 episodes.

I’ll admit, on the surface it seems a tad conventional to end the series by giving House that elusive happy relationship he was never able to find during the show’s run (sorry Cuddy), but since House and Dominika have been anything but conventional in their time together I don’t feel particularly cheated with the premise. House has always functioned as one part medical drama and one part comedy, and Dominika seems to be a nice bridge between the two. She crept her way onto this series simply because she and House just have great chemistry together and it’s not hard to cheer for that. I just hope this wasn’t her last episode.

And I say that because of Wilson’s announcement of his cancer diagnosis at the end of this one, which is almost certain to dominate these last few episodes. There’s not too much to talk about at this point – the announcement was mainly there to serve as the episode’s cliffhanger – but it’s obvious what this represents for House. Wilson is essentially House’s saving grace. The one actual stable relationship he’s had over the course of the show. I think it’s safe to say that this is going to dishevel him in a way we haven’t seen before.

New Girl – “Tomatoes” (B-)

Well I don’t think I’m stretching too far to say that the Jess/Nick relationship, which has seemed almost inevitable since the series began, is closer to fruition than it’s ever been. Friends who aren’t into each other don’t fight the way those two did at the end of this episode, at least not on a sitcom anyway, and add to that the fact that Jess broke up with Russell... I don’t think it’s too far of a stretch to say they’re headed in that direction. Something tells me it won’t be hard to get Caroline out of the picture either.

But back to Jess and Russell – while I wasn’t entirely thrilled with the storyline that broke them up, it could have been a lot worse. When Russell and his ex-wife had that “passion” filled argument in the restaurant, I thought for sure the writers would take the predictable route and have Russell realize he still had feelings for her. I’m glad that they at least made it about Jess and Russell, instead of Russell and his ex-wife. That was smart. Still, the whole situation that led to that final conversation felt contrived and devoid of laughs. There wasn’t a whole lot of life in that storyline.

Nor was there much in Schmidt’s storyline either. I quite like Schmidt and Cece as a couple – I could actually see them becoming the staple couple of this show – but while the ending was sweet, the bulk of the episode was between Schmidt and Cece’s weird Russian roommate, who just wasn’t doing it for me. Her mean broken English bit just went on way too long, and reduced Schmidt, one of the most explosively funny characters on this show, to a series of reaction shots. Give Max Greenfield credit, he did his best with it, but he just wasn’t given enough to save the storyline.

I quite enjoyed the episode’s cold open however. Actually most of Nick’s tomato farming scenes were good, primarily because of how terrible he was at it. His inability to complete such basic tasks as watering plants was pretty awesome. The storyline came weirdly out of nowhere, and perhaps it’s somewhat contrived (alright, majorly contrived), but it was funny so I’ll let it go (that tends to be the best criteria for these things).

The writers have got to figure out what to do with Winston though because he has consistently been the weak link on this show. And you can tell that the writers aren’t oblivious to that fact either, which is why his circumstances seem to shift drastically on an almost episode by episode basis. He was downright annoying in this one, and I know he was supposed to be annoying in this episode, but it didn’t lead to any laughs, which should really be the goal for his character since I have very little investment in his relationship with Shelby, which is to say I don’t care about it at all.

Now, I am please to once again say – to the quotes!

NICK: Thank you guys for joining me on this momentous day. As you guys know it’s become a rough year for me. I got dumped by Caroline, and Julia. I opened myself up to love. I was hurt badly, I closed myself up again. The downstairs neighbor put a password on their wi-fi...

SCHMIDT: Beautiful women, you guys can say just about anything, can’t you?

SCHMIDT: You’re gonna sex me in my face?

SCHMIDT: I think I finally understand what The Tree of Life is about.

SCHMIDT: You like my personality?
CECE: I was surprised too.

And line of the night:

JESS: Stop making that face at me, I hate that face!
NICK: This is my only face. I don’t have a lot of faces.

Cougar Town – “Money Becomes King” (B+)

Krazy Kakes sure developed quickly, didn’t it? That’s the type of storyline a writing staff tends to string out over multiple episodes, but I think Laurie’s baking skills were just introduced last week so clearly they weren’t too concerned with making this one last. It’s a fun storyline though, and it should prove to be good material for future episodes. I mean, clearly that’s where this story was headed, so it doesn’t bother me that the writers rushed it along. Although, I do remember a partnership with Grayson at his bar – where did that go?

Anyway, the core of this story revolved around Jules and Grayson sorting through their finance. Well that and Jules dragging people into therapy. We’ll focus on the finances for now though. I thought it was a bit of stretch that the two of them didn’t realize that they would be living together when they got married, but the comedy in this one was strong enough to overcome some of these finer points. I thought the storyline really gained its edge when Andy started looking over their finances. That was a very funny scene.

I’m also a big fan of Jules aforementioned new therapist (she is new, right?). Nicole Sullivan is one of those familiar Scrubs players from back in the day (yup, back in the day) and she did a fantastic job in this episode playing off of Jules’ craziness without falling too sharply into the straight man (or in this case straight woman) role. She’s the type of guest star that could easily be brought back again and again, and if this episode was any indication that is a good thing.

By far my favourite storyline though was Andy and Bobby. Bill Lawrence, Kevin Biegel, and whoever else is on their writing staffs just know how to write the guy love (bravo to those of you who get the Scrubs reference in that). I laughed out loud several times at these two, from Andy’s torment over having to mess with Bobby to their hilarious tear filled reunion. It’s a B story that was so good it actually crept up and stole the episode for me.

Alright, line of the night:

JULES: Laurie, Andy wants to fire you!
LAURIE: Seriously Andy!