Episode 6 - Sun Tea
23 November 2009
Review
Synopsis: Liz’ apartment complex increase her rent so she looks to buy. But in order to make room for a theoretical family, she wants to buy the apartment upstairs. The resident Brian wants to stay and assumes that she is in the same position as him. So she moves in with him and tries to drive him out using tactics which Jenna and Tracy suggest. Meanwhile Jack and Tracy decide they don’t want children and set up an appointment to get vasectomies. It’s also Green Week at NBC and Kenneth encourages everyone to help them cut their Carbon use by five per cent.
The Good: This was a fun solid episode. The plots all linked together intricately which can often carry a comedy. When the stories are well written and flow like this it carries a viewer along, feeding your desire to see what will happen in the end. So Liz seeks advice from her co-workers on her condo issue while dealing with green week at work. Similarly Tracy and Jack both seek a vasectomy because of their own independent issues with children. Each story crosses the other very satisfyingly.
It was a relief to have Tracy back being Tracy. He is much better without Jenna for company because he can let his believable stupidity rock and roll (see Comic Highlight). Seeing him wearing Bill Cosby’s old sweat shirt and coming to the realisation that he might want a daughter was all fine. It fit well with Jack playing his emotional heart string moment nicely as Tracy Junior shows him what he might be missing out on. Junior’s acrostic managed to set up both the emotional payoff and a nice silly gag.
I also loved Jack and Kenneth bonding over their disdain for global warming. One out of ignorance the other out of greed. Then in a classic bit of scripting, Jack says that NBC has to do more to fight global warming for the sake of “the children.” He asks Kenneth “what have the children ever done for us?” To which Kenneth cuttingly but unknowingly replies “Well they make our shoes and wallets.”
Liz’ story followed the traditional path of her trying to improve her life and ending up crushing her old morality in order to follow Jack’s advice. I enjoyed the way each of her friends’ advice backfired and Dot Com was once more enjoyable to watch, this time as her fake boyfriend. The way Frank’s seemingly gross behaviour connected to the Green Week plot and then inspired Liz’ final play was clever writing.
The (almost) running gag about Italian airports\sex parties was funny. Al Gore sure is a good sport.
The Bad: Liz was particularly mean to Brian and although she was initially sad she ended up all crazy satisfied in the end. It just makes her look horrible and uncaring which is harder to care for.
Comic Highlight: Tracy is telling Jack how annoyed he is sometimes to have children (with Tracy Junior in the room).
T: “Having a family can be the worst. For example I have this strip club story from this weekend that I need to tell you Jackie D, it is disgusting! But I can’t because I got this little D-bag here.”
TJ: “I know what that means.”
T: “And yet you won’t tell me!”
The Bottom Line: Strong writing of the story with some fun jokes sprinkled throughout like Sun Tea on a window box.
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