Episode 8 - The Break-Up
29 March 2012
Synopsis: Liz finally breaks up with Dennis. But he concocts a plan to get her back by pretending to be sensitive and kind. After a disastrous night out with Jenna she begins to consider the pros and cons of Dennis. Meanwhile Jack is dating Condoleezza Rice but of course she is always travelling so they can’t see one another. Toopher and Tracy attend work sensitivity training after insulting each other.
The Good: The three plots are all fun ideas but none of them really fulfil their potential.
The Tracy and Toopher arguments actually have a lot of depth to them and hit on important identity issues for African-Americans and of course both characters. Their differing reactions to hearing the ‘N’ word are telling about who they are and funny (see Comic Highlight). The way they end up agreeing to work on a sketch to expose the issues they are dealing with was an interesting and positive plot development. It seemed like the start of a fun relationship between the two black guys at TGS. The concept and execution of “Black Frasier” was a hilarious and original parody idea.
Jack dating Condoleezza Rice is a fun idea.
Dennis is a fun character and will be missed if he is gone for good. His lack of political correctness (“I cried like a big dumb homo”) and his scheming self confidence make him fun to watch.
The Bad: However we haven’t gotten to know him well enough to care about the break-up with Liz. In the end he is just portrayed as a loser who she should be glad to have gotten rid of. There’s nothing wrong with that for her character but having spent two episodes introducing him it seems like a waste.
The montage of Liz being rude or oblivious at the bar doesn’t do much for her character either. As the central sympathetic figure in the show it doesn’t really make viewers like her more to see her like that. We need to see the well rounded Liz Lemon, we need to see where she is fun and comfortable and therefore might find happiness one day.
The Jack and Conde stuff isn’t very funny at all. It’s the kind of clichéd jokes which a stand-up comic might make. She’s hugging President Putin on television so Jack is jealous, she wants to sexually roll play Abu Ghraib prison etc. The jokes were just too obvious and predictable leading to the inevitable break-up.
Finally the Toopher-Tracy sketch gets dropped so that Tracy can dress up as a woman and fake vomit all over the place on TGS. Their new working friendship is forgotten and the whole plot seems pointless as a result. In fact Toopher looks like less of a character once he approves of the new sketch. He is always looking down on Frank’s low brow behaviour and earlier in this episode claimed he couldn’t write anything good for Tracy. Yet here he is laughing at Tracy playing down to all the racial stereotypes that he complained about.
Josh announcing he was raised as a girl for ten years seems like a needlessly embarrassing revelation with no follow up.
Comic Highlight: Jack, Liz, Toopher, Tracy and Norman from Human Resources all sit down together to discuss Toopher’s complaint. Tracy says he used the ‘N’ words as a term of endearment and encourages Toopher to do the same. So he does he calls Tracy “My N*****.” Everyone jumps up offended and shouting whoa. “It just sounds so hateful coming from you!” says Liz. Tracy turns to Norman and says “I wish to file a complaint!” The irony of it all is wonderful, unexpected and expertly characterises Toopher and how others see him.
The Bottom Line: Three great ideas, none of which go anywhere much. A strange misstep for the show.
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