Episode 6 - Jack Meets Dennis
25 March 2012
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Synopsis: Liz gets back together with her ex, beeper salesman and loser, Dennis. Jack mocks him, Liz is embarrassed by him and even Jenna disapproves. Jack offers to become Liz' mentor and she eventually accepts. His first suggestion is that she break up with Dennis but she can't do it. Meanwhile TGS' reputation is saved when a blackout prevents the show from going live with its three stars all physically disfigured. Josh was beaten up by Elizabeth Taylor, Tracy faked a facial tattoo to avoid anyone thinking he was normal and Jenna had a bad reaction to Botox and a chemical peel.
The Good: Liz' story is simple and well told. She is overworked and doesn't have time to work on her social life. This is very adequately demonstrated by the way TGS fell apart due to the foolish behaviour of its cast. So Liz falls back in with her loser ex Dennis.
Dennis too is well portrayed. He plays the loud mouth ignorant New Yorker with conviction right down to inappropriate rat facts and emotional connection to his sports team. The writers even throw in a little bonding moment for them as a couple when they people watch at the restaurant. It was nice to see them having fun as it made it seem more plausible that she would stay with him.
Liz is so embarrassed by Dennis that she ends up justifying herself to Jack and embarrassing herself repeatedly in front of him. The push-pull of the new man in her life and her old man could make for some interesting television. Jack is well characterised as he models himself on former GE CEO Jack Welsh and wants to mentor Liz.
Elsewhere Tracy's outrage at being called "Normal" is fun and a plausible exaggeration. Jenna's story is an old cliche but her continuing insecurity makes perfect sense (see Comic Highlight).
The Bad: Liz being constantly embarrassed got a little old. First she walks off the elevator still talking, then she thinks Jack's protege is a date for her and finally yells at Jack while he is on a conference call.
The "Elizabeth Taylor" storyline was really silly. It was a most bizarre and un-amusing way to get Josh injured. It doesn't help that actress Rachel Dratch is playing a different character in each episode and so seems doubly ridiculous as Taylor.
Comic Highlight: Jack is fretting over the latest focus group and what it says about TGS. He turns on Jenna to ask how old she is. She says 29 and he grills her over when she was born, when she graduated, what song played at her prom and so on. She is word perfect with every answer to fit her assumed age. He finishes with the question "Movie or drive in?" She pauses for a second but then answers "What's a drive in?" Impressed with her professional dedication to the lie Jack smiles and concedes "Of course, I don't know why I bothered to ask. I can tell just from your physical appearance that you are obviously 29." It was a really nice joke that managed to be both blunt and subtle at the same time.
The Bottom Line: A passable character episode about Liz. The important question for 30 Rock is where the story goes from here?
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