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A Place in this World

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 17:48:15 +0000

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Jury Duty

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 17:47:31 +0000

Synopsis: Jim is welcomed back to the office after a week of jury duty. He admits to the camera that he actually took four days off. When Dwight uncovers the truth he tries to get Jim fired and the rest of the office are angry at the deception. Jim brings Pam and his children into the office to elicit sympathy. Meanwhile Angela gives birth prematurely and Oscar leads a small group to the hospital to see her. The child looks very healthy and full grown and Angela is forced to admit that she conceived the baby out of wedlock.

The Good: Dwight being a father to Angela's baby at least gives those two characters something to do. That is assuming the writers run with it. Pam has taken understandable breaks from the office to look after her children so there will need to be some real effort to keep this story going.

The Bad: The Jim story was a bad idea that kept getting worse. The idea that a long term employee like Jim would be fired by a push over like Andy had no teeth at all. So the early parts of the story seemed flimsy, especially combined with Dwight playing his usual dumb-detective role. We also had to imagine that the office was suddenly a hive of activity in Jim's absence despite the fact that we almost never see real work being done. Anyway, Jim was certainly in an awkward position and with Andy flapping around there was bad blood in the office. Fair enough.

So Jim and Pam bring their kids into the office to try and get everyone oohing and ahing and on their side. Instead we get a pretty horrible scene where everyone sees through this shameless attempt to win them over and Cece begins crying under the cross examination over her drawings. It made Jim and Pam look like terrible people and the rest of the office not much better.

Worst of all though Jim is then told to take the rest of the day off to go calm down his weeping offspring. Darryl points out that he has kids so now understands that Jim did not really have a vacation last week but was instead suffering through tantrums and diapers. Umm, so what?! Millions of people have to go to work and take care of their children around that. Pam is at home to do that job while Jim is at work. It was a deeply patronising suggestion that Jim would be forgiven for skipping work to spend time with his family. We really needed a scene where he promised to make it up to them all and lost four vacation days.

Angela, as a character, has been long forgotten by the writers. I don't think it's funny to imagine that she is in a loveless marriage to a closeted homosexual. And at this point that is all we know about her. I thought it was ridiculous that she would have any discussions with Dwight in front of the camera. I know after eight seasons it seems beside the point but when she has to look at the camera to deny an affair we all saw on camera the whole thing becomes too silly to buy into. I felt the same way about Andy "clearing" the warehouse to blow off some steam but do his silly dance moves in front of several cameras.

Comic Highlight: Kevin's explanation of how the accounts team "family" tree worked had an air of believable stupidity to it "Oscar's the Dad. I'm Oscar's Dad. And Angela's my mum."

That's what I said: I wish the writers would just work out a simple emotion they want us to feel and build a story around it. When we have to juggle reactions to who is behaving well and who is being ridiculous in multiple storylines the whole world of The Office can become unbearable.

Operation Ann

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 17:46:35 +0000

Too much of this episode felt contrived and complicated.

The B plot involving Leslie's clues was poorly thought out. Ron was instantly giddy at the thought of solving riddles, which is fine, but it became obvious too quickly how he was going to respond to each new challenge. Similarly every scene Andy was in was a barely concealed excuse for physical comedy. Again that's fine sometimes but when a viewer feels manipulated it turns them off. The riddles themselves seemed needlessly complex considering that they existed only to set up a meeting place. Once Ben found her they just went off to have dinner. I don't mind Leslie getting all excited over a special evening but all this effort just to meet someone felt manufactured.

Leslie's attention was on Ann of course and that story also suffered from a lack of organic developments. Ann's character is still a problem on the show. She doesn't serve an obvious purpose and beyond being diffident and pleasant I still don't feel I know her. I certainly don't feel invested in her relationship status. This might be a good use of Tom but it's hard to see how she could overcome her knowledge of his silliness.

The Valentine's Day Dance was poorly explained as an event. Was it for the residents of Pawnee? Did they request this? Wouldn't there have been single men at the dance anyway (for Ann to meet)? How can Chris know one kind of DJ would be inappropriate but not recognise that his own music choices were equally so? The joke about Jerry bringing an escort was over far too quickly. April being helpful to Ann was a nice moment but it didn't do a lot for me. Too many of the supporting characters feel like props in the Leslie Knope whirlwind right now. I don't feel invested in their stories or personalities.

The Friendship Contraction

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 17:45:12 +0000

Synopsis: Sheldon wakes Leonard in the middle of the night for an emergency preparedness drill. The next day Leonard opts out of the Roommate Agreement in frustration. Sheldon is lost without him and can't do any of his chores.

The Good: The details surrounding Sheldon's emergency drills were typically fun. The use of Bunsen burners and light sabres in the dark and all of Sheldon's thorough preparation made for some good lines. I also enjoyed Penny pointing out that Sheldon doesn't use girlfriends "for what they're for" or his memoir title being "You're Welcome Mankind."

The Bad: Otherwise this was a disappointment. On drama shows you may be familiar with the concept of a "Bottle" episode. It usually means an episode set in one location to save money. Although The Big Bang Theory doesn't have the same financial constraints I often feel episodes about Leonard and Sheldon's friendship are the creative team's equivalent. These stories allow them to write scene after scene of Sheldon being inflexible and childish and they never change the dynamic at the heart of the show.

I have two major objections to these stories. The first is that neither Leonard nor Sheldon change. We don't really get any closer to understanding why Sheldon can't look after himself. The impression we are left with is that he is an overgrown child. He wants someone to chauffeur him around so that he doesn't have to be independent and face the outside world alone. That's plausible but it would be nice if the writing could burrow deeper and catch Sheldon admitting to these fears and insecurities.

When Penny starts to go "Aww" and push Leonard to help him out it felt undeserved. Sheldon puts a lot of effort and energy into bullying Leonard into being his servant and shows no gratitude or self awareness. If there was some sense that he was grateful to Leonard then I wouldn't mind so much. As it is though he clearly doesn't care about Leonard and if he could would find another weak willed friend to do the same for him.

This leads into my second objection. If the writers really think Sheldon is better as a character by being callous that's fine. It really is. But if that's the case then he can't be the object of sympathy. And reflexively Leonard needs a backbone. Leonard continues to look like a wimp and a fool for constantly giving in to Sheldon's demands. If there really is no gratitude coming to him then he shouldn't settle for "Leonard's Day." If Sheldon isn't going to change then Leonard must or we are left to see him as a fool.

The nickname plot is a formula (see Seinfeld 919) and can only end badly. It functioned neatly as a B plot but was never very funny.

Comic Highlight: Sheldon has been using a device to distil urine into drinking water. Unfortunately during the blackout he sets a marshmallow on fire. He drops it in his glass of water and sighs. "It took me a gallon of urine to make that water."

In Conclusion: The sit com formula for long series runs pretty much demands that main characters be likeable. To have a wimp and a bully instead is what holds the show back from touching real emotions.

A Beautiful Mess

Sun, 29 Jan 2012 19:35:22 +0000

Synopsis: Debbie develops a rash from the stress of running day care. Fiona insists that she has a birthday sleep over to relax. Fiona is getting constant abuse from Craig's wife and they eventually turn up at the door seeking a way to keep their marriage together. Kev encourages Ethel to spend time with someone her own age. Lip comes up with various schemes to get rid of Jody. Frank tries desperately to stop Sheila from making her way further into the world.

The Good: The overall theme of this episode seemed to show us ways in which Fiona and Lip resembled Frank. Lip, in particular, was full of schemes to screw Jody over and get rid of him just as his father was doing the same to Sheila. Frank even points out that Karen reminds him of Lip's mother. I liked the way Lip snapped when confronted by Karen in the bathroom. Earlier in the episode he had tried to pretend he didn't care when she refused to continue sleeping with him. Here though he forced a kiss on her, a pretty uncomfortable moment considering she is a sex addict. It seemed very much like Lip; he didn't want to tell her how he felt so he just showed her. He really did treat Karen poorly and deserved the kicking he received.

As for Fiona, she ended up hiding with Frank as last episodes actions came back to haunt her. She seemed a bit cowardly hurling insults at Craig's wife when you can imagine her having the same reaction if the shoe were on the other foot. The guilt and disappointment of it all pushed her to realise how much she misses Steve though which made sense.

Frank was typically clever as he "fixed" things around the home to make himself seem indispensible. Kev and Veronica's parenting conversations remain sweet and entertaining.

The Bad: The sign which Craig's wife and kids held up in the street (about Fiona) was completely implausible. It was one of a number of oddly cheap moments here. Frank's plan to fire a gun in Sheila's vicinity and hope it frightened her felt quite lazy. It seemed like a pretty lame gag to lead to him wearing an eye patch. That led to him hiring a one-armed man from the bar to try and scare Sheila indoors. That was a story from another comedy (literally if you saw Arrested Development 110) and was a complete contrast from the serious wrongdoing from last week.

The culmination of these silly attempts to reverse Sheila's progress saw the wheels of a plane fall out of the sky in front of her. This terrifying moment was about as shameless (ha ha) a deus ex machina moment as I can remember. If somehow it leads to Frank getting his comeuppance then maybe it will have served some purpose. But as it was it came across as a pathetic attempt to keep Frank and Sheila in the same place so that the writers wouldn't have to think of a new storyline. The tone was also a problem as once more it looked like Frank was meant to be a lovable rogue and not the leech that he is.

The Unknown: The episode felt more disjointed and less focussed than any this season. There were a lot of different storylines getting started (Carl, Debbie and Ethel all having new kids to interact with) and different people to deal with (The Heisners, Adam). Fiona and Lip both had emotional outbursts which came seemingly out of nowhere. To some extent this reflects reality more accurately then perfectly constructed stories. But there is a reason why TV formulas work and by veering so far from that there were times when this was less enjoyable than it might have been.

Debbie's sleepover was something of a case in point. Not every story has to push your emotional buttons but I didn't know what to make of her botched birthday party. Apparently she has no friends, craps on those who do like her and is attracted to people who are bad for her (Little Hank, Holly). I'm not sure quite what it did for her character. She didn't seem to care too much either about her stress rash showing or not having real friends. Hopefully it will all help build her story but it felt a bit unfulfilling here.

Best Moment: When Fiona learns that she has to work at the club Ian and Lip happily step in to run the birthday party. They both scoop Debbie up and carry her off lavishing her with affection. That was a very nice moment of family solidarity and maturity.

The Bottom Line: Like the Gallagher home this episode felt a bit chaotic. Sometimes that can feel authentic, other times it can feel unsatisfying. This was more of the latter but no big deal.

Livin' on a Prayer

Sun, 29 Jan 2012 19:34:40 +0000

Synopsis: Lois organises a play date for Stewie and a boy called Scotty. When Scotty faints she rushes him to the hospital. He has cancer but his parents, Ben and Hope, aren't treating him because they are Christian Scientists. Lois decides to kidnap Scotty and get him the medical care he needs.

The Good: This was a surprisingly pleasant and straightforward episode with a clear purpose and message. I should clarify that the "moral of the story" may offend some as it simplified the beliefs of Christian Scientists and took pot shots at religion in general. However if you can accept the liberal, secular viewpoint that it was advancing then it was a very satisfying story which followed a specific moral code without getting distracted by the usual nonsense.

Lois' argument that God had a hand in medical science and so it is not un-Christian to use it is hardly a controversial viewpoint so I imagine the majority of viewers will have found the episode innocuous. She argued her viewpoint well and left the comedy to Peter as he messed around in the background. I also liked that Joe got to voice the argument that America was founded by those fleeing religious intolerance and so it's not right to force your views on anyone.

I also thought the episode was filled with solid gags, about half of which landed. The idea of milk cartons where a missing victim picture would talk directly to people eating their breakfast (like pictures in Harry Potter) was a fun idea which tied in with the kidnap story. "The Boy Who Cried Wolf" and "Dracula in San Francisco" were the kind of flashbacks the show used to do where the punch line has a bit of a twist you didn't expect. Jokes about the Brady Bunch and Thelma and Louise were less good but were ok. I enjoyed Tom Tucker questioning whether one kidnapping had really "rocked" the whole town. It's something you do hear which is almost never literally true, so it made sense to question it. It's just so clearly not his place to say it and that fits his character.

Flashback ratio (good-medium-bad): 3-5-2

The Bad: A couple of jokes fell flat or were too predictable (like the Clown car) but that will almost always be the case. As mentioned above some may be put off by Family Guy addressing religion. Of course if you do feel that way I would ask where you've been through all the rape, death, misery and mockery of everyone else we've sat through.

Best Joke: During his chat with Lois about religion Joe tries to get the Griffins to come to the Policeman's Ball. Peter deflects this by saying "We're really more of a Fireman's Ball family." Joe angrily retorts "Oh yeah are the firemen going to come and put out the RAPE!?"

The Bottom Line: A straight up "moral of the story" episode as seen from a modern liberal perspective.

Moe Goes from Rags to Riches

Sun, 29 Jan 2012 19:33:50 +0000

Synopsis: At a town meeting Moe is mocked for having no friends. The suggestion that his bar rag is his best friend seems like a cheap joke but turns out to be the truth. The bar rag then narrates its surprising origins as a medieval tapestry down to today. Meanwhile Bart also publicly mocks Milhouse who won't forgive him.

The Good: The idea of Moe's bar rag narrating a Forrest Gump style story about its origins was pretty interesting. Unfortunately it was only the idea that was interesting.

The Bad: I'm sure you've all seen a dozen of these episodes now. The writers tire of telling stories in modern day Springfield and so find a way to whip out some loosely connected historical situations and shove the regular characters into them. The problem here is that none of the historical re-enactments was remotely interesting and most were too brief to make any impression. The rag starts in medieval France, flits over to Persia and then flops back through Spain on its way to America.

The jokes were as lazy as possible. The French are no good at war, Persian King's had many wives and people ate dead skin during the depression. We also got a litany of Homer-based exaggerations including him dancing on the ceiling, walking around with a hole in his stomach and having his head used as a battering ram by some Vikings. If all this weren't dumb enough we then find out that Moe was raised by a Yeti on the slopes of Everest. Umm, right.

The B plot was somehow even thinner as Bart begged for Milhouse's forgiveness. That was literally it. He offended him, he begged for his forgiveness.

Best Joke: The rag began as a medieval tapestry which was the only setting we spent any time in. I did smile at Duke Burns telling Marge she had twenty five years to complete the piece. I also enjoyed the rag explaining that tapestries were the rock stars of their day. Local women would gather to admire it and soon they chuck keys at the tapestry followed by a chastity belt.

The Bottom Line: You can tell that someone came up with the idea for the narrating rag (voiced by Jeremy Irons) but then had no idea what the point of it all would be. The journey through history was aimless and the conclusion was asinine. The rag ends up as a chew toy for Santa's Little Helper. The message was thrown out that the love of a dog is somehow the purest form of friendship. That was a pretty lame conclusion in an episode about actual human loneliness even if you ignore that the dog doesn't love the rag he just likes to bite it.