Episode 3 - Blind Date
25 March 2012
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Synopsis: Jack sets up Liz on a blind date with a friend of his who happens to be a woman. Liz and Gretchen strike up a friendship but Liz is a confirmed heterosexual. Meanwhile Jack takes over the TGS writers poker night and finds all of their weaknesses. Only Kenneth the page can beat him and Jack is determined to solve the mystery of who Kenneth is.
The Good: This is a pretty good episode for Jack and Liz as their characters get fleshed out in amusing fashion. Liz plays the single career woman struggling with being alone pretty well. The fact that Jack suggests she worry about choking alone in her apartment and then she actually does is played well for laughs. It's also a neat shorthand to show us where she is in life and how she might plausibly accept this inappropriate offer from her boss. The twist of Thomas being a woman was nice and fits with Jack calling Liz - Lemon all the time. As in he would believably refer to Gretchen Thomas as just - Thomas. The way they bond over being single was convincing and it allowed Liz to say "Yes! Oh, everything's the worst!" which was an enjoyable and fitting overstatement. We also established Liz as heterosexual which further defines who she is.
Jack begins to come across as the powerful control freak in a fun way. His knowledge of how people's minds work makes him powerful and confident. His desire to solve the riddle of Kenneth is a nice idea. It establishes Jack as a good potential comedy character who will go to extreme lengths to remain knowledgeable and powerful. So when he turns the TGS poker night into a glamorous catered event, we can imagine him turning his wealthy hand to similar plots with fun possibilities. The way he turns on Kenneth and begins impersonating him was oddly mean and intimidating. It seemed to add depth to Jack's behaviour, as if solving this puzzle had become deeply personal to him.
Tracy's ignorant enthusiasm was fun (see Comic Highlight), particularly when trying to cheat on Dot Coms behalf.
The Bad: Pete is inconsistently characterised here. For parts of the episode he plays a normal guy, Liz' confidant and organised producer of TGS. Then he suddenly bets his wedding ring in a poker game and freaks out and vomits when he loses it. "Weird thing is, I had money left" he later confesses. That behaviour is something that should come from a bitter loser character, not from a straight man. He then ends up laughing in Liz' face both at failing to attract a guy and then because she was out with a woman. Again, if he is her friend and confidant then he shouldn't be doing that. When later he says he Frank is a tender man he'd be lucky to be with I don't know what to think. Is that the straight man making a silly joke, or a silly man making a straight joke which isn't funny?
We don't really get to know Kenneth at all from this. He seems simple and stupid throughout but when he gives his big speech it seems like he is about to define himself in some way. But no he just says he didn't understand the rules, so I don't know whether he is supposed to be simple or is just a hopeless optimist who got lucky. The reason for complaining about this lack of definition is that undefined characters make poor jokes. Without knowing a characters motives and beliefs, dialogue will fall flat.
Comic Highlight: Crazy Tracy suggesting the rules for the next round of poker - "This round, Texas douze, face cards are wild, threes are jinx, fives are twos."
The Bottom Line: A solid character episode for Jack and Liz. It's not full of laughs but it develops the overall show nicely.
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