Episode 3 - Stone Mountain
3 November 2009
Review
Synopsis: Jack and Liz head to Stone Mountain, Georgia to look for a new comedian to join TGS. Jack wants to find someone who will appeal to ordinary decent Americans. He wants to hire a ventriloquist and Liz is determined to stop him. Tracy learns about the idea that celebrities die in threes and fears for his life. Jenna strikes a deal with Frank, Toopher and Lutz, she will let them come to gay Halloween and they promise to take care of her when the new cast member arrives.
The Good: I suppose in a basic sense the point is well made. Wherever you go in America there will be good people, bad people, clever people and stupid people. That rule is no different in New York or Georgia and for once Liz is right about something. Jenna’s deal with the writers makes sense for her character.
The Bad: The Jack and Liz plot finished on a really negative note for me. Instead of being soft and moral, Rick Wayne turned out to be completely vile. It’s not as if the otherwise civil looking Wayne was just rude, he was disgusting. He took heckling to a horrible, personal, sexual, rude level. Complete with the audience cackling with delight it made the point of the story seem to be that all people are ass holes who enjoy seeing people get mocked. I suppose Liz couldn’t be right about anything without it turning sour for her. After all, we only watch to see her be humiliated right?
Worse than that the editing wasn’t successful in jumping between close-ups of Jack trying to remonstrate with Wayne (where the audience sat still) and the wide shots of the audience cracking up. It added to the unconvincing nature of another waste of an episode.
Both Jenna and Frank talk so slowly and patronisingly throughout this episode that it made their story seem even more forgettable than it already was. In particular the scene where Cerie described gay Halloween, I felt the writers just had no idea how to throw in any subtlety or sense of reality. Soon after she “reads” her gay friends face and immediately understands Frank’s plan. It’s so lazy and predictable.
Of course we had the usual array of deeply unconvincing moments to go with each story. Jenna saying “cowabunga” immediately after talking about how she uses dated cultural references, the ludicrously local “local news” in Stone Mountain and Jimmy Fallon joining in Tracy’s madness.
Speaking of Tracy, what a great silly plot idea they wasted. Tracy trying to avoid death was crying out for Grizz and Dot Com to be present all day helping him with everything he did and rolling their eyes. Instead we had Tracy flapping about and calling Betty White. Again a nice idea but the more she talked the less funny it all became.
Comic Highlight: Jack comforting Liz by patting her back with a brush, so as not to actually touch her in her state of sickness.
The Bottom Line: How can a show’s creators look this lazy when writing such silly television?
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