Episode 17 - Lee Marvin v Derek Jeter
26 April 2010
Review
Synopsis: Jack is happy with Avery until Nancy returns (now divorced) and he is torn between the two of them. Liz is attending lots of singles events but her bitterness is dragging her down. Twofer realises he is the beneficiary of affirmative action and quits.
The Good: All credit to Alec Baldwin and the way that Jack has been written over the years. His love stories remain the only part of 30 Rock that feels genuinely interesting. Torn between two women who appeal to different sides of his personality he plays his indecision well. We also get some choice dialogue throughout. His business style dirty talk with Avery was entirely in character as was his claim to Liz that "this has nothing to do with the slight difference in our genders." I also enjoyed his conclusion that the real tragedy of his situation was that both women might lose him. The story will go on and hopefully end up somewhere fun.
Liz taking dodge ball too seriously to actually meet men was also very fitting. Jenna trying to get attention from one loser single guy who kept ignoring her could have been played for even more laughs.
The Bad: The affirmative action story was ok. The conclusion was that basically none of them deserved their jobs which was a typically pointless and cynical conclusion. I don't have a problem with 30 Rock's "crapping on everyone" philosophy of comedy. What I have a problem with is them giving these plots so little time and effort. Without any developments to get the audience involved in the story the plot just falls flat. Seeing Liz add Jazz Dance to her embarrassing past was yet another throw away joke with no punch to it. Liz isn't credible as a figure of fun and she has taken so much abuse at this point that Jazz Dance wasn't remotely embarrassing.
Part of the reason the affirmative action plot didn't take hold was that Liz had one foot in her own story of failing at singles events. Her speech to a foreign guy who thought it was an AA meeting was another piece of wasted action. It was a pretty lame parody of romantic comedy grandstanding, as Liz listed off all that she wanted in a man and was pelted with dodge balls for her trouble. Again the moment hadn't been built up to enough to make it really funny. But there's also the subtext that women over 30 who try to find love should be made fun of which just isn't uplifting.
Comic Highlight: Not a lot to chose from but Tracy can always be relied upon to bring the old fashioned easy joke. Pete claims that none of the writers are racist to which Tracy retorts "Oh yeah? How come I'm always forced to play ridicurous characters that don't unanunciate well?"
The Bottom Line: Harmless pointless stuff.
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