Episode 19 - Argus
3 May 2010
Review
Synopsis: Don Geiss leaves Jack his peacock Argus in his will. Jack becomes convinced that Don's spirit resides in the bird and asks Kenneth to tend to him. Grizz wants Dot Com to be his best man but Tracy tries to stop that because Dot Com is in love with Grizz' fiancé. Jenna's new boyfriend Paul turns out to be a Jenna impersonator, but somehow the relationship works.
The Good: I don't really get 30 Rock and I never have. Here we get three relatively sentimental plots that in an average sit com might have made for a feel good episode. But in the zany world of 30 Rock we have been persistently instructed not to care about the characters (except Jack a little bit), so it's difficult to know what the episode was aiming to achieve.
Tracy shows his sweet side once more protecting Dot Com from the pain he will go through at Grizz' wedding. Grizz is fun to watch as ever and his interaction with Liz and their "sexual past" is all pleasant enough. I liked the idea of Dot Com and Grizz having met at "Above the Beanstalk" - a Summer Camp for Giants.
Jack once more gets a pretty straight plot as he mourns for Don Geiss' passing in his own bizarre fashion. The peacock presents an opportunity for a few odd lines but nothing more.
Jenna finding happiness with her own impersonator is typically weird. "Jenna why are you grabbing his boobs?" Liz asks. But hey, if it makes her happy in her self-obsessed way, then why not?
The Bad: Grizz and Dot Com have consistently been one of the strong points of the show with their understated delivery and easy to understand irony. It may be a good thing that they remain in the background but you can't help but wonder what more could be done if a few episodes were built around them. It seems strange that the writers planted the seeds for Dot Com's love for Grizz' fiancé so long ago (311), haven't really mentioned it since yet bring it up now. If they had paid it a little more attention perhaps it might have meant something.
The joke where Jack went through the five stages of grief in slow motion was typical 30 Rock. Where was the humour in it? It was a sketch show idea which had no basis in reality and therefore just didn't make sense.
We know Liz is in Cerie's wedding and now in Grizz'. I assume the third wedding she is referring to is Floyd's. But it was never made clear that all three were on the same day. I suppose that could be fun.
Comic Highlight: Uncharacteristically witty and perhaps not meaning to be Kenneth reacts to the news that Argus (the peacock) has chosen Liz as a mate by saying "Good luck Argus!"
The Bottom Line: Sentimental and pleasant. Not funny.
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