It’s A Trap!

Spoilers...

Community – “Course Listing Unavailable” (B-)

“Course Listing Unavailable” was obviously a setup episode and as such didn’t have the same comedic punch I’ve come to expect from the series. But I’d also venture that “Course Listing Unavailable” was a little neglected from a writing standpoint too. The episode didn’t lack in terms of promising scenarios, just in their execution and you have to wonder if writer fatigue perhaps played a role in that. We’re hitting the final stretch of the season now and with the finale right around the corner it would be easy to start looking ahead. It feels like with a bit more time and polish “Course Listing Unavailable” could have been a lot better.

There were two scenes in particular that I thought didn’t quite live up to their potential. The first was Starburns’ wake where the study group each took turns fanning the flames of what would eventually become a wake riot. There were a few funny moments in each of the speeches and I especially liked Pierce’s short and sweet conclusion to the proceedings, but overall it look liked everyone involved was struggling to find laughs in the scene. Troy and Abed’s half hearted rap was a good example as were most of Jeff, Annie, and Shirley’s speeches. It seemed like the joke was too much about the Dean (who by himself had a fairly good week) failing to calm the crowd than it was about the speeches themselves, which left long stretches without much happening comedically.

The second similar instance was the study groups’ hearing. I liked the superintendant’s opening speech, but the rest of the scene seemed to flounder. Chang’s appearance at the hearing wasn’t that particularly funny nor was the fake Dean’s quick jaunt through the room. Even Jeff who normally shines in these circumstances seemed to struggle. Perhaps the hearing was just too close to the phenomenal Law & Order style trial the week before and the writing staff couldn’t justify rehashing the same bit a second time.

I think my main complaint about “Course Listing Unavailable” was just that it was below average for the series. There were still some good jokes in the episode, including Jeff’s freak out over losing his summer and Britta’s Starburns impersonation. Indeed, the ending itself – a nice callback to the very funny “Remedial Chaos Theory” – was quite sweet and probably had me laughing as much as any other part of the episode. But alone these snippets just weren’t enough to save what was a rare off week for the series.

To the quotes!

JEFF: Death is a natural part of life and by the time I finish this sentence a hundred people will have died in China.
TROY: WHY... did you stop talking? I have to call my pen pal.

JEFF: (to Britta) You seemed smarter than me when I met you.

TROY: Britta, why are you making us feel these things.

DEAN PELTON: Oh because his sideburns were shaped like stars. I just got it, I just got that.

PIERCE: I don’t know how this got out of hand either, but as a student who’s been at Greendale for over a decade I think I’ve earned the right to say a few final words.
DEAN PELTON: I’m sorry.
PIERCE: Thank you... LET’S BURN THIS MOTHER DOWN!

ANNIE: Look tiny riot gear.
EVERYONE: Awww...

NURSE: Strange, I’m not finding any pepper spray on you.
TROY: Well check harder. It’s not like I’m crying because I was chased by a gang of scary 12 year olds.

And line of the night:

TROY: I was gonna be the first one in my family to graduate from Community College. Everyone else graduated from normal college. Now they’re really gonna give me a hard time.

30 Rock – “Queen of Jordan 2: The Mystery of the Phantom Pooper” (B+)

I am not the best person to review this episode. I watch absolutely no reality TV... and I mean none – Survivor is the closest I’ve come to it, and even then it’s been at least a few years since I’ve caught an episode. Normally ignoring reality TV works out quite well for me, in fact I quite enjoy not watching it, but I think in this instance it’s obvious that this episode would have been exponentially funnier if I were a fan of the genre. Now don’t get me wrong, the episode was a good one regardless of whether you want reality TV or not, but I know I’m missing some of the finer points here and those can add up. So perhaps put an asterisk beside that grade at the start of the article, and if you liked it more than I did let me know in the comments.

I think my absolute favourite part of this episode was Liz’s rivalry with Virginia the baby (though Kenneth’s rivalry with that cord he tripped over was a close second). Virginia’s perceived slight at the start of the episode, acted out by pretty much everyone around her, was really well done, as were her very funny broken English lines (I liked little Virginia’s “rude” cutaway). But when the two of them showed up wearing the same dress... well let’s just say it didn’t really matter that I hadn’t seen much reality TV – that was hilarious.

My opinion was a little more mixed regarding Jack’s storyline with Avery’s mother in this episode. Their impromptu restaurant opening to cover up for Diana’s slip up in front of the camera certainly had its moments – I thought the crazy guy Jack got to stand in for the imaginary Gus was quite funny and I love how their reluctant cover up managed to unintentionally annoy Angie at almost every turn. I just didn’t think their scheme made much sense in the first place. If they’re trying to hide it from Avery, wouldn’t she know she didn’t go to college with a crazy guy named Gus?

Tracey and Jenna were relegated to the background a bit more than the others in this episode but both managed to shine despite it. I like that after realizing they actually wanted her on the show Jenna immediately thought herself too good for it. Plus she did a great job of hyping up the Liz-Virginia rivalry. Her chair throw at the restaurant opening was perfect.

Tracey obviously had a great scene with Angie near the end of the episode, but I think his best contribution was his perfectly timed line to Liz during her confession in front of the camera after her horrible day with Virginia (coincidently also the scene that produced the episode’s namesake). He managed to capture the subtext of the scene perfectly – look for it as the line of the night.

My favourite lines:

ANGIE: Brandi, now that Barbara’s dead I need a nanny.
BRANDI: That’s perfect! All my children were taken away.

ANGIE: I know they’re not married; I just like them to know I don’t give a fuck about their lives.

DIANA: Welcome to Rus. This evening we’re serving all the perogis Costco had and then Burger King.

KENNETH: (immediately after his first modelling gig) What’s cocaine like?

And as discussed previously the line of the night:

TRACEY: Maybe it’s just that children in general don’t like you.
LIZ: Thank you Tracey.

The Office – “Turf War” (C+)

I really wish they had done this type of storyline with Andy last week. I spent most of my last recap talking about how I wished Andy had kept up the fire he had at the end of “Angry Andy” and then all of a sudden about half way through this episode he got it back, and as I suspected it was by far the most satisfying part of the episode. Now if only we could have skipped the ridiculousness of that benefit dinner and gone straight to that.

Granted, they would have still needed to reintroduce us to the newly wealthy David Wallace, but they probably could have pulled that off near the beginning of the episode, right around the time Andy was weirdly hanging out around the office again (that was really stupid). The storyline wasn’t perfect by any means, especially how it started – did you notice how quickly Robert California became incompetent over the course of the episode? – but the final two thirds was good enough that it almost made up for it. Watching Andy gain the upper hand the way he did was fantastic. It does feel a bit like the Michael Scott Paper Company all over again, but I think in the finale we’re going to see the writers deviate from that storyline considerably so I’m willing to forgive them the similarities for now.

It’s just too bad the rest of the episode couldn’t live up to that standard. I thought Chris Bauer’s Harry Jannerone was as good pairing with Jim and Dwight but the writers were just way too cavalier with the setup to that storyline. They just brushed over the fact that Jim and Dwight were essentially embezzling money from the company and then they got Toby, the HR rep of all people, to play the role of their fictional salesman. Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t Toby the one who’s supposed to be reporting that kind of activity? I’m sorry to go all logic police on everybody but that kind of bugged me.

Although it’s not as if without that gap in logic the storyline would have been that good anyway. The rush to the client’s office was pretty dumb and rather anticlimactic considering Andy had already stolen the account by the time they’d gotten there (actually the scene where Andy got in to talk with the CEO without any hassle was actually my favourite of the episode). After that the whole storyline just sort of crumbled into nothing, making their last few scenes with each other somewhat irrelevant.

I’ve also noticed that the writing staff, in an effort to try to endear us more to Nellie, have taken to trying to make us feel sorry for her. First we had the story of her ex-fiancé in “Welcome Party” and in this episode we got to listen to her tragic collection of phone messages, ranging from credit card debt to a failed adoption. It was hard not to feel some genuine empathy for her character when she got excited over finally getting a friend at work in Pam, but again that flies in such stark contrast to her original character it’s a hard pill to swallow. The writers kind of wrote themselves into a corner with her character, and while I might eventually come around to Nellie 2.0 it’s going to be hard to forget how she came onto the show. It does look like she’s going to be around for a while though as they did rather sneakily realign her against Robert California, who probably won’t last past next week’s finale.

Alright, my favourite line(s) of the night:

HARRY: Oh can I check the employee handbook Lloyd? Well does it say anything about me choking a man with my bare hands?
TOBY: No.
DWIGHT: Wait no? Are you kidding me? You told me there was a rule! I could have choked so many people by now.

Parks and Recreation – “Bus Tour” (A-)

This show has really been firing on all cylinders since it came back from its brief hiatus. This episode had the ominous distinction of falling between two very important events for the show, the debate and the election, and yet “Bus Tour” still managed to hold its own and remain enjoyable from start to finish. It’s almost getting redundant at this point, but lately it feels like this show can do no wrong.

With Leslie down by only a few points on the eve of the election, the campaign decided to go on a bus tour to shift the polls in her favour. There were so many great bits sprinkled throughout the main story it’s hard to keep track of them all, but I’ll try. I loved the dynamic between Ann and Leslie in this episode. It was hilarious watching all the ways Leslie ignored her advice and subtly turned her words against her. Then there were all of Leslie’s great interactions with the press. I laughed out loud at all the questions surrounding how Groffle made it across the syrup river. I think though maybe the moment that stuck out to me the most, likely because I’m the biggest Star Wars nerd of all time but even more likely because I’m just that awesome, was watching Ben shout “It’s a trap!” ala Admiral Ackbar when he saw the press around Bobby’s Newport’s house. That was priceless.

And despite seeing much less of him this week once again Rudd played Bobby’s dimwitted unassuming self to perfection. I love that he prefers video game bowling to real bowling because the little virtual guy looks like him and I love that he doesn’t seem to have a competitive bone in his body, once again giving Leslie a boost at the end of the episode. My only worry, and this may be a bit of a stretch, is that somehow Hahn’s character is going to use sleeping with Chris as a last minute tactic to try and steal the election back. She’s a sneaky one, so I wouldn’t put it past her.

Also, is it just me or has April become therapist to all of Ann’s jilted lovers? She’s had a great couple of episodes doling out advice and I quite like the direction the writers have taken with her character. She’s still April, dark and ill tempered, but you can see her starting to care a little more now and it’s a change I hope we’ll see carried into next season because it’s great character development. Not too sudden, not hitting you over the head, just a subtle change over the course of 4 seasons. And who knows, if Leslie ends up winning this thing it might just be the start of a promising story arc for April, who has already taken over a lot of her responsibilities at the Parks Department.

Of course April’s husband had a pretty good week himself. Again, I feel like I’m repeating myself here, but Andy (and subsequently Chris Pratt) continues to amaze me. For the second week in a row he essentially carried an entire B story on his own and was absolutely hilarious in the process. I still love his alter ego Bert Macklin and every joke he was given in this episode, from his awesome codenames (see below for the complete list) to his brilliant investigation into the pie throwing (poor Jerry... and the owner of that TV) was hysterical. I’m honestly running out of ways to praise the guy.

If I had to choose the weak thread in this episode it would be Ron, Tom, and Donna’s trip to the car rental place, but even then I found the storyline quite funny. There’s nothing quite like a Ron Swanson one liner and the one he capped off his part of the episode with was vintage Ron. I think the biggest flaw of this story was just that it was surrounded by two even stronger ones. I do hope next week though we get a little more Ron because he’s been relegated to the background a bit too much in these last two episodes.

Okay, now for my favourite lines (and Andy’s codenames):

Andy’s Codenames

Andy: Eagle 1
Ann: Been There Done That
April: Currently Doing That
Donna: It Happened Once In A Dream
Chris: If I Had To Pick A Dude
Ben: Eagle 2 (“Oh thank god” being Ben’s response)
Leslie: I’d Be Lying If I Said I Hadn’t Thought About That

LESLIE: What do we want for our city? I’ll tell you what I want. I want better schools. I want cleaner streets. I want to expel the violent gangs of geese in Etweiler square. And I will finally eliminate this city’s libraries!

LESLIE: Ann there is nothing harder in the entire world than saying no to your beautiful face. But I’m going to... no! We’re going to keep campaigning okay, but we’re going to do it in a classy and respectful way to get Ann off of our backs.

REPORTER 1: Are there any other deceased members of Bobby Newport’s family you’d like to attack.
REPORTER 2: And quick ducking the waffle question. Did Groffle use a boat of some kind?
BEN: Alright that’s all the questions for now. Thank you everybody.
REPORTER 1: Are we to assume he swam across the syrup river?

ANN: No, that’s not a real apology. It’s just sneaky, I don’t like it.
LESLIE: Ann for once this is not about you. A man is dead.

APRIL: Okay first of all dark places are awesome.

CHRIS: You’re right, I’ll be fine. (April leaves) I’m not fine it didn’t work.

ANDY: Macklin, you son of a bitch.

And line of the night:

RENTAL GUY: Hey what about you, Mr “A Man’s Word Is Sacred?”
RON: Well it is but you’re an asshole.