-Throughout Eleanor's quest to become a better person has been the unspoken fact that her motivation for self-improvement is inherently selfish. She doesn't want to become a better person because it's the right thing to do. She wants to become a better person so she can stay in the good place and not be tortured for eternity. Sure she's doing good things out of this desire for self-preservation but would she be so eager to do good if her soul wasn't on the line? It's easy to say her experiences have changed her and she wouldn't backslide into old habits but it's more plausible that she ultimately wouldn't change that much. Actions are important but motivation is important too and "What's My Motivation?" brings this to the surface.
-If the hyper-serialized approach to The Good Place has a drawback, it's that there hasn't been much time to develop the neighborhood beyond our principle characters. We hear a lot about how all the craziness is affecting the residents but we don't really see how they actually feel about all this. "What's My Motivation?" starts to rectify this by showing that the neighborhood is not at all happy with all the grief and trouble Eleanor has caused them. It even brings back classic residents like "The Girl Whose Dog Was Kicked Into The Sun" and "The Guy Who Fell Into the Sinkhole" (They have actual names, but I have yet to learn them. Maybe I will if there's a season 2). It's a good way of affirming that yes, Eleanor has caused a lot of pain and suffering since she's gotten there and needs to rectify it.
-If you're going to quickly move past a plot point as ripe for stories as "The Neighborhood Hates Eleanor" with a joke, it better be an amazing joke. And the idea that all of the residents of the Neighborhood would find "Bobody's Nerfect" hysterical enough that they'd be willing to forgive Eleanor for all she's done? That's an amazing joke. It's the way Bell delivers it as a last-ditch effort and how slowly but surely a multitude of laughter sweeps in that sells it. It's ridiculous and kind of stupid and just absurd enough to work.
-The "Someone says 'I Love You' and The Other Person Doesn't Know How to Respond" story has been done to death at this point, but The Good Place makes it work by channeling it through what we know about Chidi's character. Because of his tendency to overthink things and his obsession with ethics, of course he's going to agonize over his motivation for saying it back. It also helps that the story is brief, serving more as the key to why Eleanor's point score isn't going up.
-Jason marrying Janet was played mostly for laughs when it happened last week and while it's still mainly a source of comedy this week (Mainly for Jason still being unable to grasp that Janet isn't a girl and Michael isn't her father), it winds up tying back into the story in a big way as Michael finds out the truth about Jason, which ultimately leads to the train stealing ending twist.
-Janet has mostly been deployed for comedy purposes throughout the series and her nature as a cosmic database prevented her from growing and changing like the others did so the revelation that Jason bonding with her while she was rebooting has given her feelings and a bit of agency is a nifty twist I didn't expect. Janet is capable of character growth now, even if she's still fairly aloof and robotic and I'm really excited to see the show possibly explore that.
-The return of the lie detector cube and basic morality test was hilarious and revealing in how Jason's answers differed from Eleanor's when she took the test a few episodes back. It underlines just how out of place Jason truly is in the good place.
-Nice to see Eugene Cordero return as Pillboy in the flashbacks to Jason's untimely death. Suffocating in an airtight safe you've been doing whippets in as part of the world's worst robbery is a ridiculous way to go but for Jason, it's fitting. It's also interesting in how the revelation of how he died actually does cause Jason to do some self-reflection for the first time in his "life". Jason bemoaning what an idiot he is was much more poignant than I would've expected, even with the tragicomic punch of him realizing why wearing a snorkel in the safe didn't work.
-Eleanor realizing the only way she can get her point score up enough to stay in the good place is by deciding to give up and go to the bad place is a strong twist that pays off 11 episodes worth of character development well enough. Even better is the reveal that there IS a "medium place" and Eleanor's decision to join Janet and Jason in stealing a train to go there, undercutting Eleanor's sacrifice in a believable way. Eleanor has grown a lot but her choice to go meet Mindy St. Clair shows the limitations of that growth. She's been saying she belongs in a medium place all along and now that she knows it's possible, she's willing to throw away everything she's been working towards. Why try to be better if there's a place where she doesn't have to be better AND doesn't have to be tortured? It's a great hook to head into the endgame of the season on and I can't wait to see how this plays out.
-Shawn has arrived and brought with him official spelling (courtesy of the credits) on how to spell his name! He's played by Marc Evan Jackson, which is very obvious casting in retrospect (Jackson is brilliant at making self-seriousness hilarious and has been on fellow Mike Schur shows Parks and Rec and Brooklyn Nine-Nine.) and also brilliant. He doesn't get much to do in his debut, but I'm sure he'll be a significant part of next week's finale.
-Tahani has both sacrificed her life for someone AND changed the consciousness of a nation. I wonder if we'll get to see the former, based on this trend of flashbacks showing the character deaths that's been present the last couple episodes.
-Michael trying to give rousing speeches, only for them to be derailed by his own preoccupations and despair has become a great running joke this season.
-Janet can love things now and she can hate things too. "So far it's genocide and leggings as pants".
-"I truly believe [Fake Eleanor} is a good person". "Are you sure? Because I believe she's stealing my train". This line doesn't seem funny on paper but when Marc Evan Jackson says it, it's hysterical.
Friday, 13 January 2017
Superstore Considers It's Options in Rebranding
-One of the things Superstore has to confront the longer it runs is that retail jobs don't tend to last forever. Sure someone like Glenn is content to stay at Cloud Nine for the long haul but what about someone like Jonah who applied on a whim after dropping out of business school or Amy who clearly wants more out of life? Sure they don't have any other options right now but can we really expect them to plausibly be there for the entire series (Assuming Superstore has a long run)? That tension is brought to the forefront tonight in Rebranding, yet another winning episode of Superstore.
-It's been a while since Jonah's time in business school has been meaningfully explored but it comes back tonight with the arrival of Rex, a Corporate VP who just happens to be Jonah's old friend from business school. This makes Rex much more interesting than if he was just some corporate suit with no connection to the characters. It also gives the show an organic way to reveal that Jonah could go back to business school if he chose, which spins the story away from the rebranding of the Cloud Nine in-store brand and towards Jonah and his future.
-Of course there's no tension in the idea of Jonah leaving anytime soon because he's one of the leads of the show and it's far to early for Ben Feldman to decide he wants to walk away. So the show does a couple of clever things. First, it makes it clear that Glenn is the only one outwardly concerned about the idea that Jonah might leave. Then it makes it clear that Jonah has no intention to leave and makes the story about him trying to show Amy that he's not different from her even with his deferral. Then it drops the second reveal that Jonah's deferral lapsed without him realizing it and he actually doesn't have the option to just pick up where he left off. Suddenly the story's about Jonah realizing that he doesn't have an option anymore and he IS in the same boat with Amy and the rest of them. It makes for a much more compelling story than if we just watched Jonah grapple with whether to go back to business school. Jonah knows he was miserable in Business School and what we saw of him there shows he was floundering but he liked having that option there. So even though he didn't want to go back, finding out that the option isn't there anymore is a blow and it feels like one.
-Props to Ben Feldman tonight, who gave maybe his best performance yet as Jonah. From the video of "Business School Jonah" spitting out a bunch of corporate buzzwords and nonsense to the look on his face when he learns his referral has lapsed, he really brought it tonight.
-Ravi Patel doesn't get a whole lot to do tonight as Rex, but he's terrific in his brief screentime, really selling both Rex's corporate fake niceness and the business school bro vibe he gives off around Jonah. Hopefully he'll be back because his dynamic with Jonah is just dying to be explored further.
-Also, if Jonah isn't periodically called Iceman for the rest of the series, I will be furious.
-I kind of wish we could've seen Jonah's Business School rap but cutting away from it was probably the right choice. There's no way it could've lived up to what we could create in our imaginations.
-I'm at the point where I get excited every time Michael Bunin is on as Jeff. Bunin takes a character who could've been a generic authority figure/love interest and makes him a fully realized human being who always manages to steal the show with his subtle oddness. His reaction to Cheyenne's pitch that the Supercloud mascot should've been a superhero with clouds for arms was hysterical. The look on his face when Sandra boops his nose was just as good.
-Last week, I was a little concerned with the casual abuse heaped on Sandra. When Mateo throws her under the bus by telling Dinah she's in a relationship with Jeff to keep her from figuring out that he told Jeff she called him an asshat, I was worried with where this was going. Sandra just going with the idea that she's in a secret relationship with Jeff though and having everyone be impressed and intrigued by the fake details she provides was the best possible route for this story. Kaliko Kauahi is the best utility player Superstore has and she showed why tonight.
-Deliciousness and Mr. Man might be the world's greatest pet names, even if they are fake.
-Also Sandra's lie is never revealed, which gives her a very rare "win" and keeps Mateo's actual secret relationship with Jeff a secret, both of which were unexpected surprises. This also gives the writers the option to revisit Sandra's deception down the road which I hope they take advantage of.
-Cheyenne trying to hide the heavily discounted Halo products she wants until her shift was over and she could purchase them was more of a runner than an actual story but it was a good runner and the pay-off of a defeated Cheyenne discovering a massive stockpile of Halo stuff in storage was funny and more uplifting than Superstore usually allows. Really everyone won today except Jonah (And kind of Mateo.).
-This week in Mark McKinney is a damn treasure: Glenn trying and failing to hide his palpable excitement about Jonah's deferral lapsing. The little jump he does at the end is incredible.
-Best interstitial: Cheyenne tries to move a Halo display out of reach of a determined customer.
-This week in ridiculous customers: Jonah helps a man who is facing an existential crisis brought on by the replacing of the Halo toilet paper with Supercloud. Him putting rolls of toilet paper to different parts of Jonah's body to see if it feels different was a terrific visual.
-Another great Jeff bit Bunin sells the hell out of: Him playing "Get Ready For This" to try and jazz up the employees for Supercloud followed by a cut to him being surprised at how long the song is. "What was that, 11 minutes?"
-Glenn tries to cheer up Jonah. "You will always have a place here until the day you die. You can die here."
-It's been a while since Jonah's time in business school has been meaningfully explored but it comes back tonight with the arrival of Rex, a Corporate VP who just happens to be Jonah's old friend from business school. This makes Rex much more interesting than if he was just some corporate suit with no connection to the characters. It also gives the show an organic way to reveal that Jonah could go back to business school if he chose, which spins the story away from the rebranding of the Cloud Nine in-store brand and towards Jonah and his future.
-Of course there's no tension in the idea of Jonah leaving anytime soon because he's one of the leads of the show and it's far to early for Ben Feldman to decide he wants to walk away. So the show does a couple of clever things. First, it makes it clear that Glenn is the only one outwardly concerned about the idea that Jonah might leave. Then it makes it clear that Jonah has no intention to leave and makes the story about him trying to show Amy that he's not different from her even with his deferral. Then it drops the second reveal that Jonah's deferral lapsed without him realizing it and he actually doesn't have the option to just pick up where he left off. Suddenly the story's about Jonah realizing that he doesn't have an option anymore and he IS in the same boat with Amy and the rest of them. It makes for a much more compelling story than if we just watched Jonah grapple with whether to go back to business school. Jonah knows he was miserable in Business School and what we saw of him there shows he was floundering but he liked having that option there. So even though he didn't want to go back, finding out that the option isn't there anymore is a blow and it feels like one.
-Props to Ben Feldman tonight, who gave maybe his best performance yet as Jonah. From the video of "Business School Jonah" spitting out a bunch of corporate buzzwords and nonsense to the look on his face when he learns his referral has lapsed, he really brought it tonight.
-Ravi Patel doesn't get a whole lot to do tonight as Rex, but he's terrific in his brief screentime, really selling both Rex's corporate fake niceness and the business school bro vibe he gives off around Jonah. Hopefully he'll be back because his dynamic with Jonah is just dying to be explored further.
-Also, if Jonah isn't periodically called Iceman for the rest of the series, I will be furious.
-I kind of wish we could've seen Jonah's Business School rap but cutting away from it was probably the right choice. There's no way it could've lived up to what we could create in our imaginations.
-I'm at the point where I get excited every time Michael Bunin is on as Jeff. Bunin takes a character who could've been a generic authority figure/love interest and makes him a fully realized human being who always manages to steal the show with his subtle oddness. His reaction to Cheyenne's pitch that the Supercloud mascot should've been a superhero with clouds for arms was hysterical. The look on his face when Sandra boops his nose was just as good.
-Last week, I was a little concerned with the casual abuse heaped on Sandra. When Mateo throws her under the bus by telling Dinah she's in a relationship with Jeff to keep her from figuring out that he told Jeff she called him an asshat, I was worried with where this was going. Sandra just going with the idea that she's in a secret relationship with Jeff though and having everyone be impressed and intrigued by the fake details she provides was the best possible route for this story. Kaliko Kauahi is the best utility player Superstore has and she showed why tonight.
-Deliciousness and Mr. Man might be the world's greatest pet names, even if they are fake.
-Also Sandra's lie is never revealed, which gives her a very rare "win" and keeps Mateo's actual secret relationship with Jeff a secret, both of which were unexpected surprises. This also gives the writers the option to revisit Sandra's deception down the road which I hope they take advantage of.
-Cheyenne trying to hide the heavily discounted Halo products she wants until her shift was over and she could purchase them was more of a runner than an actual story but it was a good runner and the pay-off of a defeated Cheyenne discovering a massive stockpile of Halo stuff in storage was funny and more uplifting than Superstore usually allows. Really everyone won today except Jonah (And kind of Mateo.).
-This week in Mark McKinney is a damn treasure: Glenn trying and failing to hide his palpable excitement about Jonah's deferral lapsing. The little jump he does at the end is incredible.
-Best interstitial: Cheyenne tries to move a Halo display out of reach of a determined customer.
-This week in ridiculous customers: Jonah helps a man who is facing an existential crisis brought on by the replacing of the Halo toilet paper with Supercloud. Him putting rolls of toilet paper to different parts of Jonah's body to see if it feels different was a terrific visual.
-Another great Jeff bit Bunin sells the hell out of: Him playing "Get Ready For This" to try and jazz up the employees for Supercloud followed by a cut to him being surprised at how long the song is. "What was that, 11 minutes?"
-Glenn tries to cheer up Jonah. "You will always have a place here until the day you die. You can die here."
Saturday, 7 January 2017
Crazy Ex-Girlfriend: Who Is Josh's Soup Fairy/When Do I Get To Spend Time With Josh?
Wow. So a lot happened on Crazy Ex-Girlfriend tonight. I mean a lot. I'm going to break it down by the episode for reasons that'll be clear on the first bullet point of the second episode.
Who Is Josh's Soup Fairy?
-So the most important thing we learned tonight: Mrs. Hernandez can talk! And she's apparently been talking this whole time without Rebecca realizing it! I can't remember the last time I laughed as hard as when she suddenly starting tearing Rebecca a new one for her making Paula being upset all about her. As people like Karen and Maya have grown more prominent in the Whitefeather stuff this season Mrs. H has receded into the background a bit, but she re-emerged just at the right moment for her best moment since the silent "I'm/You're A Good Person" reprise last season.
-The conflict between Scott and Paula last week was pretty even between both sides but Scott officially became the villain this week as he revealed he had impulsively cheated on Paula. It's a shocking move that comes from out of the blue (though probably intentionally) but ultimately makes sense with what we've seen from Scott last episode along with how he almost cheated on Paula previously with the woman he ultimately cheated with.
-Is this the end of Scott? I hope not. Steve Monroe has been great with his increased screentime this season and though Paula immediately throwing him out after he revealed he cheated on her was the right move, that doesn't seem like the end of their story.
-Rebecca takes Mrs. Hernandez's blow-up to heart and decides to help Paula out by watching Tommy, her one remaining son (The other one took off on a greyhound across the country until he runs out of money he stole. Definitely a lost cause) for a weekend so Paula can go on a law school trip. Of course Rebecca is completely out of her depth here. Despite the Uptown Funk-type number that declares her to be "So Maternal", Rebecca has no clue what she's doing when it comes to Tommy. They do wind up striking a weird kind of bond though, probably because Rebecca essentially treats Tommy like an adult when she's not treating him like a preschooler. Or because she gave him 200 dollars for "candy". Either way, Steele Stebbins proves to be a good scene partner for Rebecca and their dynamic is a lot of fun to watch.
-Of course the moment Rebecca says "hi" to Josh in the grocery store, you know there's going to be trouble. So of course the moment she finds out he's sick, she orders him soup and when an incident keeps him from knowing who sent the soup, she gets Tommy a fake I.D. and drags him to a club so she can tell Josh, only to very quickly lose Tommy. It's all typical Rebecca and it's hard to watch her fall back into the same cycle she's fallen into many times before, but it's necessary to Rebecca's journey here. She can't be friends with Josh because she's an addict and when she gets a taste of friendship from him, she goes overboard at the expense of everything else in her life. It's a serious problem but at least Rebecca finally seems to realize that.
-Josh's walk down the runway was the perfect mix of cringe-worthy and hysterical. From the way White Josh and Hector (Who figure out what's about to happen way before Anna does but can't stop her from bearing witness) try to salvage what he's doing to Anna to the way Josh tosses that sleeve on Anna's head. it's a terrific scene that makes you completely understand why Josh and Anna don't work. It's not that she's from the city and pretty condescending about everything in the San Gabriel Valley, it's that she's a functioning adult and Josh isn't. She told him she liked how simple he was but she didn't realize just how simple he really was. Her immediately leaving and breaking up with him following the performance is harsh, but ultimately understandable. I sure will miss Brittany Snow though.
-Josh labeling Anna a "poo person" immediately following their break-up is typical Josh. He doesn't want to do any self-reflection, he just wants to blame Anna's rejection on her being a bad person and move on.
-In case you somehow still thought Rebecca and Josh were a good match or something to root for, Josh's "Duh" number and realization that he "loves" Rebecca drives home the truth that they definitely are not. Josh chooses Rebecca because she's always there for him, always nice to him (Peeing incident excluded) and takes care of him. He doesn't want a girlfriend, he wants a mother. He wants someone who will be supportive of him and enable him to be a manchild without him having to offer much in return. Josh lacks a fundamental maturity and every time he's confronted with that, he runs from it to anything that can offer him validation. It's incredibly unhealthy and destructive. Rebecca deserves better.
-Rebecca turning down Josh's declaration of love and offer to talk so she can come clean to Paula about what really happened with her and Tommy (Who was totally fine and just took an Uber home) is probably the biggest moment of personal growth she's had so far on this show. With the man of her dreams finally in her reach, she pushes him away so she can focus on Paula. which is a gesture much more meaningful than any apology Rebecca could give. Paula has sacrificed so much for Rebecca and Rebecca finally returns the favour. For once Rebecca is no longer thinking about herself and her needs. It's a very earned way for the show to finally close the rift between Paula and Rebecca and restore things to how they were.
-Rebecca tries (and fails) to dissuade Tommy's boob obsession by calling back to last season's Heavy Boobs number and the explanation that they're just sacs of yellow fat.
-Paula once lost Tommy at a mall for the weekend and he wound up living in a Barnes and Nobles. Makes sense.
When Do I Get To Spend Time With Josh?
-So after When Do I Get To Spend Time With Josh? establishes and then challenges another new status quo for Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, it's becoming apparent that this season is going to be divided into 3 acts/mini-seasons. The first act (Roughly the first four episodes of the season) was about Rebecca throwing herself into a relationship with a less-committed Josh and it exploding spectacularly, along with the dissolution of her relationship with Greg. The second act (Episodes 5-8) was about her efforts to replace her romantic relationships with female friendships and how it forced her and Paula to confront the imbalance in their relationship. Now we're in Act 3 and Josh and Rebecca are finally together and in love but Rebecca is slowly starting to realize what Anna realized: Josh is too simple for her.
-To be honest I wish we had a bit of a breather episode between this one and Soup Fairy. They were both strong episodes but the plot has moved so quickly I almost got whiplash watching. That's the reality of a 13-episode season though, especially when you're trying to cram in as much as this show is doing. Still Josh and Rebecca getting together (With Paula's blessing) within the first two minutes of this episode feels rushed.
-Josh and Rebecca's "new beginning" involves a montage underscored to West Covina, the very first musical number the show ever did and a return of many of the things, locations and people from that video from the "accidente" sign guy to the xxx store sign flipper. It's a good way to establish the love bubble between the pair that's about to burst.
-After a season where Rebecca ignoring her job has become a running joke, her job suddenly becomes very urgent with the introduction of Scott Michael Foster's Nathaniel, the new boss after Daryl sells part of the company to Nathaniel's family's law firm (Though Nathaniel is quick to obtain the shares he needs to control the company completely making Daryl a figurehead). Nathaniel makes a strong first impression and makes for an interesting contrast to Rebecca. Where Rebecca is driven by her emotions, Nathaniel is all business and has no time for other peoples feelings if they get in the way of a bottom line. He represents the kind of soulless corporate lawyer Rebecca moved to West Covina to get away from and he's certainly the antagonist in the episode but he's not a monster by any means. He's just a professional and if firing people will save him money, that's what he's going to do. It makes for a compelling character and I'm excited to see where this goes.
-Nathaniel immediately sizes up Josh as a loser, and while he may be overly harsh with that designation, he's not wrong when he says Josh isn't right for Rebecca and Rebecca knows it.
-Rebecca may be with Josh but this time she doesn't lose all of the growth she experienced during the last few episodes. Progress! Sure her actions to save everyone's jobs (Except for poor George) become partly motivated by her anger at how Nathaniel starts making her doubt Josh and even get bored by him for a minute (The most aware of Josh Rebecca has ever been) but she also cares about Whitefeather and Associates and isn't going to just let Nathaniel fire people even if it means doing some of the soul-destroying work she despises and letting gross white men demean her sexually (Provided they hire her of course). It's another big sacrifice from Rebecca for the sake of other people.
-Rebecca may have decided not to quit her job for now but it seems likely she'll quit by the end of the season, even if the sexual tension between her and Nathaniel is palpable. After all, if Whitefeather and Associates becomes just like the firm she left in New York, why stay?
-Apparently the friendship contract Paula and Rebecca signed is gone, or at the very least does not apply to gravedigging situations. That's fine because it leads to the dementedly funny scene of Paula trying to climb out of a grave and Patton Oswalt's cameo at the end as the aquarium-obsessed security guard.
-Josh forgives Rebecca for blowing him off to go do her job and snapping at him in front of his parents but this episode just cements how emotionally immature he is. He's like a puppy dog who just wants attention and validation. He's been inspired to start pushing for a promotion at work, but going for a management position at an electronics store isn't as ambitious as Josh thinks it is. Rebecca is able to blame her dissatisfaction on Nathaniel, but she's not going to be able to do it forever. The love bubble has burst and it's going to be impossible to get it back.
-The show is definitely setting up Nathaniel to be a love interest for Rebecca, but is he right for her? The brief references to his father suggest similar parental issues but he's also a rich jerk and CXGF isn't the kind of show that ignores that kind of thing. Hmm.
-Crazy Ex-Girlfriend has gone meta before but never quite to the degree of the two songs in tonight's episode (references to blowing their production budget on Love Kernels excluded). Who's The New Guy? has Paula, Karen, Mia, poor George, and the Canadian guy whose name I can't remember wondering about the new character (as in "what a character") that's suddenly in their lives, if he'll only be around for a couple episodes (Karen has manic episodes) and how invested they're supposed to be in someone introduced so late in the season (It's almost fall!). It's a funny, clever number that lampshades the show's low ratings with a smile and some stellar choreography.
-George, we hardly knew ye. Danny Jolles gives his all in George's Turn, a song from an extra who's finally ready to stop being ignored and start making an impression. Of course he gets cut off by commercial less than 30 seconds in, but it's an impression all the same. George's Turn might be an even funnier microsong than Period Sex if that's even possible.
-Ultimately these were two very strong episodes of CXGF that have me both excited for the rest of the season and sad that there's only a few episodes left, possibly forever. But whatever the future holds, I can't wait.
Who Is Josh's Soup Fairy?
-So the most important thing we learned tonight: Mrs. Hernandez can talk! And she's apparently been talking this whole time without Rebecca realizing it! I can't remember the last time I laughed as hard as when she suddenly starting tearing Rebecca a new one for her making Paula being upset all about her. As people like Karen and Maya have grown more prominent in the Whitefeather stuff this season Mrs. H has receded into the background a bit, but she re-emerged just at the right moment for her best moment since the silent "I'm/You're A Good Person" reprise last season.
-The conflict between Scott and Paula last week was pretty even between both sides but Scott officially became the villain this week as he revealed he had impulsively cheated on Paula. It's a shocking move that comes from out of the blue (though probably intentionally) but ultimately makes sense with what we've seen from Scott last episode along with how he almost cheated on Paula previously with the woman he ultimately cheated with.
-Is this the end of Scott? I hope not. Steve Monroe has been great with his increased screentime this season and though Paula immediately throwing him out after he revealed he cheated on her was the right move, that doesn't seem like the end of their story.
-Rebecca takes Mrs. Hernandez's blow-up to heart and decides to help Paula out by watching Tommy, her one remaining son (The other one took off on a greyhound across the country until he runs out of money he stole. Definitely a lost cause) for a weekend so Paula can go on a law school trip. Of course Rebecca is completely out of her depth here. Despite the Uptown Funk-type number that declares her to be "So Maternal", Rebecca has no clue what she's doing when it comes to Tommy. They do wind up striking a weird kind of bond though, probably because Rebecca essentially treats Tommy like an adult when she's not treating him like a preschooler. Or because she gave him 200 dollars for "candy". Either way, Steele Stebbins proves to be a good scene partner for Rebecca and their dynamic is a lot of fun to watch.
-Of course the moment Rebecca says "hi" to Josh in the grocery store, you know there's going to be trouble. So of course the moment she finds out he's sick, she orders him soup and when an incident keeps him from knowing who sent the soup, she gets Tommy a fake I.D. and drags him to a club so she can tell Josh, only to very quickly lose Tommy. It's all typical Rebecca and it's hard to watch her fall back into the same cycle she's fallen into many times before, but it's necessary to Rebecca's journey here. She can't be friends with Josh because she's an addict and when she gets a taste of friendship from him, she goes overboard at the expense of everything else in her life. It's a serious problem but at least Rebecca finally seems to realize that.
-Josh's walk down the runway was the perfect mix of cringe-worthy and hysterical. From the way White Josh and Hector (Who figure out what's about to happen way before Anna does but can't stop her from bearing witness) try to salvage what he's doing to Anna to the way Josh tosses that sleeve on Anna's head. it's a terrific scene that makes you completely understand why Josh and Anna don't work. It's not that she's from the city and pretty condescending about everything in the San Gabriel Valley, it's that she's a functioning adult and Josh isn't. She told him she liked how simple he was but she didn't realize just how simple he really was. Her immediately leaving and breaking up with him following the performance is harsh, but ultimately understandable. I sure will miss Brittany Snow though.
-Josh labeling Anna a "poo person" immediately following their break-up is typical Josh. He doesn't want to do any self-reflection, he just wants to blame Anna's rejection on her being a bad person and move on.
-In case you somehow still thought Rebecca and Josh were a good match or something to root for, Josh's "Duh" number and realization that he "loves" Rebecca drives home the truth that they definitely are not. Josh chooses Rebecca because she's always there for him, always nice to him (Peeing incident excluded) and takes care of him. He doesn't want a girlfriend, he wants a mother. He wants someone who will be supportive of him and enable him to be a manchild without him having to offer much in return. Josh lacks a fundamental maturity and every time he's confronted with that, he runs from it to anything that can offer him validation. It's incredibly unhealthy and destructive. Rebecca deserves better.
-Rebecca turning down Josh's declaration of love and offer to talk so she can come clean to Paula about what really happened with her and Tommy (Who was totally fine and just took an Uber home) is probably the biggest moment of personal growth she's had so far on this show. With the man of her dreams finally in her reach, she pushes him away so she can focus on Paula. which is a gesture much more meaningful than any apology Rebecca could give. Paula has sacrificed so much for Rebecca and Rebecca finally returns the favour. For once Rebecca is no longer thinking about herself and her needs. It's a very earned way for the show to finally close the rift between Paula and Rebecca and restore things to how they were.
-Rebecca tries (and fails) to dissuade Tommy's boob obsession by calling back to last season's Heavy Boobs number and the explanation that they're just sacs of yellow fat.
-Paula once lost Tommy at a mall for the weekend and he wound up living in a Barnes and Nobles. Makes sense.
When Do I Get To Spend Time With Josh?
-So after When Do I Get To Spend Time With Josh? establishes and then challenges another new status quo for Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, it's becoming apparent that this season is going to be divided into 3 acts/mini-seasons. The first act (Roughly the first four episodes of the season) was about Rebecca throwing herself into a relationship with a less-committed Josh and it exploding spectacularly, along with the dissolution of her relationship with Greg. The second act (Episodes 5-8) was about her efforts to replace her romantic relationships with female friendships and how it forced her and Paula to confront the imbalance in their relationship. Now we're in Act 3 and Josh and Rebecca are finally together and in love but Rebecca is slowly starting to realize what Anna realized: Josh is too simple for her.
-To be honest I wish we had a bit of a breather episode between this one and Soup Fairy. They were both strong episodes but the plot has moved so quickly I almost got whiplash watching. That's the reality of a 13-episode season though, especially when you're trying to cram in as much as this show is doing. Still Josh and Rebecca getting together (With Paula's blessing) within the first two minutes of this episode feels rushed.
-Josh and Rebecca's "new beginning" involves a montage underscored to West Covina, the very first musical number the show ever did and a return of many of the things, locations and people from that video from the "accidente" sign guy to the xxx store sign flipper. It's a good way to establish the love bubble between the pair that's about to burst.
-After a season where Rebecca ignoring her job has become a running joke, her job suddenly becomes very urgent with the introduction of Scott Michael Foster's Nathaniel, the new boss after Daryl sells part of the company to Nathaniel's family's law firm (Though Nathaniel is quick to obtain the shares he needs to control the company completely making Daryl a figurehead). Nathaniel makes a strong first impression and makes for an interesting contrast to Rebecca. Where Rebecca is driven by her emotions, Nathaniel is all business and has no time for other peoples feelings if they get in the way of a bottom line. He represents the kind of soulless corporate lawyer Rebecca moved to West Covina to get away from and he's certainly the antagonist in the episode but he's not a monster by any means. He's just a professional and if firing people will save him money, that's what he's going to do. It makes for a compelling character and I'm excited to see where this goes.
-Nathaniel immediately sizes up Josh as a loser, and while he may be overly harsh with that designation, he's not wrong when he says Josh isn't right for Rebecca and Rebecca knows it.
-Rebecca may be with Josh but this time she doesn't lose all of the growth she experienced during the last few episodes. Progress! Sure her actions to save everyone's jobs (Except for poor George) become partly motivated by her anger at how Nathaniel starts making her doubt Josh and even get bored by him for a minute (The most aware of Josh Rebecca has ever been) but she also cares about Whitefeather and Associates and isn't going to just let Nathaniel fire people even if it means doing some of the soul-destroying work she despises and letting gross white men demean her sexually (Provided they hire her of course). It's another big sacrifice from Rebecca for the sake of other people.
-Rebecca may have decided not to quit her job for now but it seems likely she'll quit by the end of the season, even if the sexual tension between her and Nathaniel is palpable. After all, if Whitefeather and Associates becomes just like the firm she left in New York, why stay?
-Apparently the friendship contract Paula and Rebecca signed is gone, or at the very least does not apply to gravedigging situations. That's fine because it leads to the dementedly funny scene of Paula trying to climb out of a grave and Patton Oswalt's cameo at the end as the aquarium-obsessed security guard.
-Josh forgives Rebecca for blowing him off to go do her job and snapping at him in front of his parents but this episode just cements how emotionally immature he is. He's like a puppy dog who just wants attention and validation. He's been inspired to start pushing for a promotion at work, but going for a management position at an electronics store isn't as ambitious as Josh thinks it is. Rebecca is able to blame her dissatisfaction on Nathaniel, but she's not going to be able to do it forever. The love bubble has burst and it's going to be impossible to get it back.
-The show is definitely setting up Nathaniel to be a love interest for Rebecca, but is he right for her? The brief references to his father suggest similar parental issues but he's also a rich jerk and CXGF isn't the kind of show that ignores that kind of thing. Hmm.
-Crazy Ex-Girlfriend has gone meta before but never quite to the degree of the two songs in tonight's episode (references to blowing their production budget on Love Kernels excluded). Who's The New Guy? has Paula, Karen, Mia, poor George, and the Canadian guy whose name I can't remember wondering about the new character (as in "what a character") that's suddenly in their lives, if he'll only be around for a couple episodes (Karen has manic episodes) and how invested they're supposed to be in someone introduced so late in the season (It's almost fall!). It's a funny, clever number that lampshades the show's low ratings with a smile and some stellar choreography.
-George, we hardly knew ye. Danny Jolles gives his all in George's Turn, a song from an extra who's finally ready to stop being ignored and start making an impression. Of course he gets cut off by commercial less than 30 seconds in, but it's an impression all the same. George's Turn might be an even funnier microsong than Period Sex if that's even possible.
-Ultimately these were two very strong episodes of CXGF that have me both excited for the rest of the season and sad that there's only a few episodes left, possibly forever. But whatever the future holds, I can't wait.
Friday, 6 January 2017
Superstore Looks For Happiness in Lost And Found
It's a new year so I'm playing around with my recap formats. Basically from here on out the I Got Thoughts point form format I've been using will become the standard for all my recaps. This will increase my output (maybe) and hopefully increase post quality. So if this review looks different from normal, that's what's going on.
-It's been a long couple of Superstore-less months but they're over now. Lost and Found was a terrific welcome back as Superstore kicks off the second half of the season.
-Poor Amy. Superstore holds off on revealing what happened in the aftermath of her confession of unhappiness to Adam for most of the episode but the glimpse we get of her angrily on the phone with him is all we need to know things have deteriorated even further. Then when she randomly winds up with 906 dollars and after being talked into spending it on herself instead of worrying about others for once, she winds up being talked into spending it on the break room. Then just as she's at peace with that decision, it all goes away and she's left where she started. It's a rough ride, but a funny one.
-Amy being the one who takes care of everyone has been part of her character since the beginning of the show but Lost and Found cleverly shows the downside of her constant selflessness. She spends so much time thinking about others that she never thinks to think about herself, and when she does think about herself or do something for herself, it doesn't go over well. Telling Adam she wasn't happy was the biggest thing she's done for herself recently but the slow destruction of her marriage is taking an even bigger toll on her than before because she's not sure how to handle it. It's quietly heartbreaking and Amy's unburdening of everything onto Glenn at the end is beautifully played by America Ferrara.
-Jonah and Amy's Will They/Won't They had been leaned on quite a bit in the first half of the season but the writers wisely choose not to shoehorn it into their interactions tonight. Jonah is trying to help Amy because she's his friend and he wants her to do something for herself for once. There's no ulterior motive or secret longing behind it. It's nice.
-Mark McKinney is a treasure and Glenn's story of trying to cheer everyone up through clowning around and silly stunts was incredible the whole way through. From him ruining Mateo's new leather jacket with silly string (followed by accidentally offering Mateo an unending handkerchief) to Garrett making him dance and dance to his jealousy when Jonah starts playing along with his miming, each scene was a comic triumph.
-The best part of Glenn's story was probably his encounter with Dina though. Her callous takedown of him and monkeys as his monkey hand puppet slowly droops was brutally funny.
-Initially I thought Glenn's story might end with him realizing he was depressed and going on antidepressants, but Superstore went a bit more unexpected by tying his story into Amy's ongoing troubles. It's a beautiful tie-in that works beautifully. Glenn has spent the episode trying to figure out how he can help cheer up his employees, but all he really needed to do is be there for them and provide a listening ear. Amy has a lot of problems and going to that spa would have been a temporary fix. It turns out what she really needed was to talk to someone about what's going on in her life and let all that pain out. It's not going to fix her problems either but it eases the burden a bit.
-Kudos to the writers for having Amy talk to Glenn at the end instead of Jonah. If she had gone to Jonah, it would've felt forced. They're good friends but she's not ready to trust him with that part of her life, especially with her confused feelings. Glenn and Amy have a nice dynamic of mutual respect that doesn't get highlighted that often and hopefully their scene at the end will lead to more Glenn/Amy scenes in the future.
-Trick for doing a serious scene with no verbal jokes in a comedy where you're still mainly going for laughs: put one of the characters in a ridiculous costume. Glenn's outfit in the last scene was hysterical and provided a good visual to latch onto comedy-wise as the episode dove into more serious matters.
-Once you saw the new break room you knew it wasn't going to last. The only question was what would happen to it. I figured Amy would shut it down but the show twisted expectations by actually having her enjoy the new break room once Tate got out of her damn chair. Sandra improbably tracking down the owner of the 906 dollars and him being a nice guy who works with at-risk youth was a much funnier turn of events.
-Dina and Garrett both decide their sleeping together was a onetime scene but Garrett is clearly thrown off by the whole thing more than Dina is and her constant assertions that he's acting weird only make it worse. Garrett is at his best when he has no control over a situation and his eventual public meltdown was a great capper to that story, even if the whole thing felt kind of familiar. I'm excited to see where this not-romance goes.
-The Lost and Found lottery was a great piece of world building and a fun setpiece to kick things off with.
-906 is a beautifully specific number.
-I desperately want "Sometimes you get the giraffe and sometimes you get to wig" to become a recurring expression throughout the season. It makes total sense when you know the context but it's just wonderfully strange without it.
-I'm starting to get a bit worried about how the show is treating Sandra. She's the sad sack character who nothing ever works out for and that's funny right now, but the show should be careful that it doesn't cross the line over to "totally mean-spirited". Dina picking on Sandra for no good reason is one thing. The rest of the employees picking on her for no good reason is another. Their anger was somewhat justified tonight and funny, so I'm not super worried but it is something I'm looking out for. On The Office, the terrible treatment of Toby was funny when it was just Michael being disproportionately angry towards him but it became less funny in later years when no one wanted to be around or spend time with Toby. Of course Superstore's treatment of Sandra is more in line with Jerry from Parks and Rec than Toby but the writers of Parks and Rec were sure to give Jerry an excellent home and personal life to balance it out, which Sandra doesn't have yet.
-Best Interstitial: As funny as the kid casually breaking dishes because no one has tried to stop him is, I'm giving this one to the person who picked up bleach instead of Parmesan (Both next to each other with similar packaging because of course), then puts back the bleach directly with the Parmesan when they realize their mistake. It's something that gets funnier the more I think about it.
-"This letter clears parent company of responsibility in case of employee suicide". Aww, corporate cares.
-"They say laughter is the best medicine." "The best medicine is Penicillin. At least it used to be. With all these superbugs now we might all be dead in 10 years, so I guess laughter's as good as anything". Oh, Tate. What a guy.
-Welcome back Superstore. I've missed you.
-It's been a long couple of Superstore-less months but they're over now. Lost and Found was a terrific welcome back as Superstore kicks off the second half of the season.
-Poor Amy. Superstore holds off on revealing what happened in the aftermath of her confession of unhappiness to Adam for most of the episode but the glimpse we get of her angrily on the phone with him is all we need to know things have deteriorated even further. Then when she randomly winds up with 906 dollars and after being talked into spending it on herself instead of worrying about others for once, she winds up being talked into spending it on the break room. Then just as she's at peace with that decision, it all goes away and she's left where she started. It's a rough ride, but a funny one.
-Amy being the one who takes care of everyone has been part of her character since the beginning of the show but Lost and Found cleverly shows the downside of her constant selflessness. She spends so much time thinking about others that she never thinks to think about herself, and when she does think about herself or do something for herself, it doesn't go over well. Telling Adam she wasn't happy was the biggest thing she's done for herself recently but the slow destruction of her marriage is taking an even bigger toll on her than before because she's not sure how to handle it. It's quietly heartbreaking and Amy's unburdening of everything onto Glenn at the end is beautifully played by America Ferrara.
-Jonah and Amy's Will They/Won't They had been leaned on quite a bit in the first half of the season but the writers wisely choose not to shoehorn it into their interactions tonight. Jonah is trying to help Amy because she's his friend and he wants her to do something for herself for once. There's no ulterior motive or secret longing behind it. It's nice.
-Mark McKinney is a treasure and Glenn's story of trying to cheer everyone up through clowning around and silly stunts was incredible the whole way through. From him ruining Mateo's new leather jacket with silly string (followed by accidentally offering Mateo an unending handkerchief) to Garrett making him dance and dance to his jealousy when Jonah starts playing along with his miming, each scene was a comic triumph.
-The best part of Glenn's story was probably his encounter with Dina though. Her callous takedown of him and monkeys as his monkey hand puppet slowly droops was brutally funny.
-Initially I thought Glenn's story might end with him realizing he was depressed and going on antidepressants, but Superstore went a bit more unexpected by tying his story into Amy's ongoing troubles. It's a beautiful tie-in that works beautifully. Glenn has spent the episode trying to figure out how he can help cheer up his employees, but all he really needed to do is be there for them and provide a listening ear. Amy has a lot of problems and going to that spa would have been a temporary fix. It turns out what she really needed was to talk to someone about what's going on in her life and let all that pain out. It's not going to fix her problems either but it eases the burden a bit.
-Kudos to the writers for having Amy talk to Glenn at the end instead of Jonah. If she had gone to Jonah, it would've felt forced. They're good friends but she's not ready to trust him with that part of her life, especially with her confused feelings. Glenn and Amy have a nice dynamic of mutual respect that doesn't get highlighted that often and hopefully their scene at the end will lead to more Glenn/Amy scenes in the future.
-Trick for doing a serious scene with no verbal jokes in a comedy where you're still mainly going for laughs: put one of the characters in a ridiculous costume. Glenn's outfit in the last scene was hysterical and provided a good visual to latch onto comedy-wise as the episode dove into more serious matters.
-Once you saw the new break room you knew it wasn't going to last. The only question was what would happen to it. I figured Amy would shut it down but the show twisted expectations by actually having her enjoy the new break room once Tate got out of her damn chair. Sandra improbably tracking down the owner of the 906 dollars and him being a nice guy who works with at-risk youth was a much funnier turn of events.
-Dina and Garrett both decide their sleeping together was a onetime scene but Garrett is clearly thrown off by the whole thing more than Dina is and her constant assertions that he's acting weird only make it worse. Garrett is at his best when he has no control over a situation and his eventual public meltdown was a great capper to that story, even if the whole thing felt kind of familiar. I'm excited to see where this not-romance goes.
-The Lost and Found lottery was a great piece of world building and a fun setpiece to kick things off with.
-906 is a beautifully specific number.
-I desperately want "Sometimes you get the giraffe and sometimes you get to wig" to become a recurring expression throughout the season. It makes total sense when you know the context but it's just wonderfully strange without it.
-I'm starting to get a bit worried about how the show is treating Sandra. She's the sad sack character who nothing ever works out for and that's funny right now, but the show should be careful that it doesn't cross the line over to "totally mean-spirited". Dina picking on Sandra for no good reason is one thing. The rest of the employees picking on her for no good reason is another. Their anger was somewhat justified tonight and funny, so I'm not super worried but it is something I'm looking out for. On The Office, the terrible treatment of Toby was funny when it was just Michael being disproportionately angry towards him but it became less funny in later years when no one wanted to be around or spend time with Toby. Of course Superstore's treatment of Sandra is more in line with Jerry from Parks and Rec than Toby but the writers of Parks and Rec were sure to give Jerry an excellent home and personal life to balance it out, which Sandra doesn't have yet.
-Best Interstitial: As funny as the kid casually breaking dishes because no one has tried to stop him is, I'm giving this one to the person who picked up bleach instead of Parmesan (Both next to each other with similar packaging because of course), then puts back the bleach directly with the Parmesan when they realize their mistake. It's something that gets funnier the more I think about it.
-"This letter clears parent company of responsibility in case of employee suicide". Aww, corporate cares.
-"They say laughter is the best medicine." "The best medicine is Penicillin. At least it used to be. With all these superbugs now we might all be dead in 10 years, so I guess laughter's as good as anything". Oh, Tate. What a guy.
-Welcome back Superstore. I've missed you.
Thursday, 5 January 2017
The Good Place Has Some Decisions To Make In Chidi's Choice
It's a new year and I'm tinkering around with the format of my blogs to increase output (maybe) and hopefully quality. So I'm going to be using my I Got Thoughts point-form style of recap as the standard going forward for my episodic recaps. So if this review looks different from past ones, that's why.
-After going into the break (At the beginning of November! Thanks NBC.) with a ton of story momentum, The Good Place kicks off the first of the last 4 episodes of the season with a breather of a set-up episode. It's not filler by any means. We get some valuable insight into Chidi that should pay off at some point, clarify the dynamic between various characters in the wake of recent events and there's even a wedding, but it feels a bit minor compared to the past few episodes. That's totally fine though. Set-up episodes are necessary for shows like this and even if it wasn't the most exciting episode, it was certainly a funny one.
-With Real Eleanor back, Fake Eleanor (Our Eleanor) starting to realize in recent weeks how much her friendship with Chidi means to her, Michael deciding to help Our Eleanor, Tahani still being upset at Our Eleanor, Jason's growing bond with Janet and Tahani's discovery of Jason's true identity, all the relationships on The Good Place are in flux. It's kind of a mess and it gets complicated more tonight when Real Eleanor convinces Our Eleanor that she's in love with Chidi as Tahani comes to that same revelation but Chidi's Choice wades into that mess admirably and manages to sort everything out somewhat by the end.
-As the title suggests, we spend a lot of time with Chidi who has a choice to make. Well a bunch of them actually. It turns out Chidi is terrible at making decisions under any kind of pressure to the point where he literally died because he couldn't make a decision in time to step out of the path of a falling air conditioner. Chidi being indecisive is something that I'm not sure entirely vibes with his actions the past nine episodes (Though the show does kind of point it out) but it fits in perfectly with what's been established about his character. Of course the Chidi who always tries to do the right thing, can't tell a simple lie without being wracked with guilt for years, and made his life's work an impenetrable mess due to his constant revising is bad at making decisions. It just makes sense.
-William Jackson-Harper has been the stealth MVP of The Good Place since episode one and he gets a well-earned spotlight tonight with plenty of opportunity to showcase Chidi's two best comedic modes: crippling nervousness and stunned bewilderment. His series of confused "What?"'s that close out the episode are a comedic masterstroke.
-Ted Danson gets a lighter workload this week but he plays Michael's growing frustration with Chidi's indecisiveness perfectly. Michael and Chidi is probably my favourite pairing on the show. They have a really odd dynamic that I just can't get enough of. The scene where Michael gets drawn into Chidi's overthinking when he begins considering the idea that the soulmate system might have been totally thrown off while Chidi just melts down is a highlight.
-Tiya Sircar continues to make complete and utter perfection both compelling and kind of funny and Real Eleanor continues to be a beam of pure goodness. When she realizes that Our Eleanor cares for Chidi, she acknowledges that it's an awkward situation and you can tell she feels weird about it, but she also encourages Eleanor to go talk to Chidi and get it all sorted out rather than be jealous or catty. It's nice.
-Also nice? Eleanor and Tahani genuinely bonding and being friends even when they realize they both think they love Chidi. The Good Place could've used the reveal of Jason's deception to further the wedge between the two but while Tahani is justifiably angry, Eleanor is able to win her over. It's an excellent example of how far Eleanor has come. Her willingly trying to make amends with Tahani and salvage their friendship would have been unthinkable at the beginning of the series but it seems perfectly in character now.
-So Chidi and Tahani bonding a few episodes back did come up again. I was starting to think the show was just going to forget about that. Of course now it seems like that story existed so they could throw Tahani into the love triangle with Chidi and the Eleanor's for an episode and have it make sense but that's fine. It doesn't weaken the previous story, though Tahani suddenly deciding she doesn't love Chidi weakens this one. Why even have her in the mix? Oh well.
-Eleanor suddenly deciding that maybe her soulmate is actually Jason came a little too out of left field for me to work but it does make an odd amount of sense. We still don't know how Jason got into The Good Place. Maybe he was supposed to be Eleanor's soulmate. But Eleanor has grown a lot since the start of the show and Jason has not. There's no way Eleanor would seriously consider Jason as her soulmate now. It seems like a contrivance designed to make the end where she tells Chidi she doesn't love him in a romantic way seem more feasible (Also come on. She totally loves him in a romantic way). Yeah it doesn't take long for Eleanor to realize she doesn't love Jason but it's just weird.
-Jason and Janet getting married also comes out of left field but unlike Eleanor deciding that she loves Jason it makes perfect sense. Jason has been attracted to Janet from the start and him being kind to her during her rebooting phase is justification enough to have a fully restored Janet decide to marry him.
-The wedding sequence at the end with Jason's sleeveless tux, Eleanor and Tahani both objecting before deciding to just roll with it, and Jason's attempt to feed Janet cake was definitely the funniest part of the episode. I wonder if Jason's new marital status is going to play into how he winds up staying in the good place when he's inevitably discovered (I'll be shocked if Michael still doesn't know by the end of next episode).
-Poor Chidi. Even when he's finally ready to make a decision, he doesn't get to make a decision.
-So again, this wasn't the best episode of Good Place but it was still a quite good one. I'm very glad the show is back in my life for a couple more weeks.
-Seriously though. Chidi's closing "What?" to the sight of newlyweds Jason and Janet dancing? Incredible.
-After going into the break (At the beginning of November! Thanks NBC.) with a ton of story momentum, The Good Place kicks off the first of the last 4 episodes of the season with a breather of a set-up episode. It's not filler by any means. We get some valuable insight into Chidi that should pay off at some point, clarify the dynamic between various characters in the wake of recent events and there's even a wedding, but it feels a bit minor compared to the past few episodes. That's totally fine though. Set-up episodes are necessary for shows like this and even if it wasn't the most exciting episode, it was certainly a funny one.
-With Real Eleanor back, Fake Eleanor (Our Eleanor) starting to realize in recent weeks how much her friendship with Chidi means to her, Michael deciding to help Our Eleanor, Tahani still being upset at Our Eleanor, Jason's growing bond with Janet and Tahani's discovery of Jason's true identity, all the relationships on The Good Place are in flux. It's kind of a mess and it gets complicated more tonight when Real Eleanor convinces Our Eleanor that she's in love with Chidi as Tahani comes to that same revelation but Chidi's Choice wades into that mess admirably and manages to sort everything out somewhat by the end.
-As the title suggests, we spend a lot of time with Chidi who has a choice to make. Well a bunch of them actually. It turns out Chidi is terrible at making decisions under any kind of pressure to the point where he literally died because he couldn't make a decision in time to step out of the path of a falling air conditioner. Chidi being indecisive is something that I'm not sure entirely vibes with his actions the past nine episodes (Though the show does kind of point it out) but it fits in perfectly with what's been established about his character. Of course the Chidi who always tries to do the right thing, can't tell a simple lie without being wracked with guilt for years, and made his life's work an impenetrable mess due to his constant revising is bad at making decisions. It just makes sense.
-William Jackson-Harper has been the stealth MVP of The Good Place since episode one and he gets a well-earned spotlight tonight with plenty of opportunity to showcase Chidi's two best comedic modes: crippling nervousness and stunned bewilderment. His series of confused "What?"'s that close out the episode are a comedic masterstroke.
-Ted Danson gets a lighter workload this week but he plays Michael's growing frustration with Chidi's indecisiveness perfectly. Michael and Chidi is probably my favourite pairing on the show. They have a really odd dynamic that I just can't get enough of. The scene where Michael gets drawn into Chidi's overthinking when he begins considering the idea that the soulmate system might have been totally thrown off while Chidi just melts down is a highlight.
-Tiya Sircar continues to make complete and utter perfection both compelling and kind of funny and Real Eleanor continues to be a beam of pure goodness. When she realizes that Our Eleanor cares for Chidi, she acknowledges that it's an awkward situation and you can tell she feels weird about it, but she also encourages Eleanor to go talk to Chidi and get it all sorted out rather than be jealous or catty. It's nice.
-Also nice? Eleanor and Tahani genuinely bonding and being friends even when they realize they both think they love Chidi. The Good Place could've used the reveal of Jason's deception to further the wedge between the two but while Tahani is justifiably angry, Eleanor is able to win her over. It's an excellent example of how far Eleanor has come. Her willingly trying to make amends with Tahani and salvage their friendship would have been unthinkable at the beginning of the series but it seems perfectly in character now.
-So Chidi and Tahani bonding a few episodes back did come up again. I was starting to think the show was just going to forget about that. Of course now it seems like that story existed so they could throw Tahani into the love triangle with Chidi and the Eleanor's for an episode and have it make sense but that's fine. It doesn't weaken the previous story, though Tahani suddenly deciding she doesn't love Chidi weakens this one. Why even have her in the mix? Oh well.
-Eleanor suddenly deciding that maybe her soulmate is actually Jason came a little too out of left field for me to work but it does make an odd amount of sense. We still don't know how Jason got into The Good Place. Maybe he was supposed to be Eleanor's soulmate. But Eleanor has grown a lot since the start of the show and Jason has not. There's no way Eleanor would seriously consider Jason as her soulmate now. It seems like a contrivance designed to make the end where she tells Chidi she doesn't love him in a romantic way seem more feasible (Also come on. She totally loves him in a romantic way). Yeah it doesn't take long for Eleanor to realize she doesn't love Jason but it's just weird.
-Jason and Janet getting married also comes out of left field but unlike Eleanor deciding that she loves Jason it makes perfect sense. Jason has been attracted to Janet from the start and him being kind to her during her rebooting phase is justification enough to have a fully restored Janet decide to marry him.
-The wedding sequence at the end with Jason's sleeveless tux, Eleanor and Tahani both objecting before deciding to just roll with it, and Jason's attempt to feed Janet cake was definitely the funniest part of the episode. I wonder if Jason's new marital status is going to play into how he winds up staying in the good place when he's inevitably discovered (I'll be shocked if Michael still doesn't know by the end of next episode).
-Poor Chidi. Even when he's finally ready to make a decision, he doesn't get to make a decision.
-So again, this wasn't the best episode of Good Place but it was still a quite good one. I'm very glad the show is back in my life for a couple more weeks.
-Seriously though. Chidi's closing "What?" to the sight of newlyweds Jason and Janet dancing? Incredible.
Man Seeking Woman Fulfills It's Premise In Futon
It's a new year which means I'm tinkering around with my formats in hopes of increasing my writing output. What this means for regular readers is I'm making my "I Got Thoughts" point-form format the standard on all my recaps because that's the direction things were heading in anyways so why not embrace that? I'm hoping that shift will allow me to get in more recaps of more shows (though regular coverage of more than the five or so shows I currently cover regularly seems unlikely) and also allow focus on more non-recap blogs. For non-regular readers, this is probably all nonsense so let's get down to business.
-Throughout it's first two seasons, Man Seeking Woman was largely confined to the perspective of it's main protagonist, Jay Baruchel's Josh Greenberg. Sure a couple times of year we might focus on Josh's sister Liz (Britt Lower) or best friend Mike (Eric Andre), but as the titular Man, Josh had our focus most of the time as he navigated his way through the nebulous world of dating in your late-20's. This meant that the majority of the women Josh dated throughout the show were more one-dimensional plot device for whatever aspect of dating Baruchel and company wanted to ridiculously exaggerate that week than actual character with a perspective of their own (The two major exceptions being Josh's ex Maggie in season 1 and love interest Rosa in season 2). This was mostly fine when Josh was jumping from relationship to relationship, but with season 3 changing focus to Josh being in a long-term relationship, keeping things to his perspective would've gotten very problematic very fast. Thankfully the writers recognized this and give the majority of the episode to newcomer Lucy (Katie Findlay), immediately establishing her as Josh's equal in this crazy world and someone worth rooting for.
-My primary experience with Findlay so far was from How To Get Away With Murder in which I spent the majority her time on the show annoyed with her character so I was a little apprehensive when I heard she was joining the cast of Man Seeking Woman as essentially the co-lead. My doubts were immediately squashed in the first sequence though as we follow Lucy through a horrible day that becomes a pretty good one after her first date with Josh. Findlay is instantly endearing, playing Lucy as the same kind of down-to-earth neurotic goofball Josh is. By the time she's silently threatening the friend she tried to kill to keep quiet (which sounds less endearing and goofy than it was) I was thrilled that she'd be around for the entirety of the season.
-Findlay and Baruchel also have terrific chemistry, which is a must if they're going to focus the season around them. We don't hear anything that happens on her first date with Josh, but what we see is instantly appealing and you can see how this date would make a day that included being set on fire and attacked by a puma a good one.
-The idea of a boyfriend who overstays his welcome in a shared apartment as a metaphor for illegal immigration is a clever one, but it's also an analogy that falls apart once you actually start thinking about how ridiculous the comparison is so the "Apartment Illegals" sequence fell kind of flat by the time border security has been erected around Lucy's apartment. It's a good stab at being topical certainly but there isn't really a strong point to ground the sequence in so it feels empty. The bit about Josh not speaking the language (of The Bachelor) was pretty great though, and the great chemistry and natural bond between Josh and Lucy really sold the moment when she decides to move in with him despite her roommates protests (It's dangerous, there's drugs there and they really haven't been dating that long, the other great joke of the sequence).
-The rest of the episode which shows how Josh's apartment becomes Lucy's apartment before finally becoming Josh and Lucy's apartment fares much better. The sequence of Lucy turning into Walter White and dropping all of Josh's belongings into Sulfuric Acid is a good bit that grows funnier and more absurd as it escalates. Like all the great Man Seeking Woman sequences it takes a relatable emotional truth (Lucy wants to her impress her judgmental former roommates but she also wants to feel more at home in the apartment she moved to on a whim at the expense of Josh's identity) and amplifies it to ridiculous extremes until Lucy is trying to actively kill her sweet former roommate who accidentally walked in while they were dismembering Josh's old futon. Findlay's casual callous delivery of "If the currents don't get her, the sharks will" as Robin jumps into the river to avoid being shot (again) is a thing of beauty.
-One of the advantages of having two leads this season is we understand both sides of the Josh and Lucy conflict. If Lucy was a one-off character, we'd be on Josh's side as his home is invaded and changed beyond recognition and less importantly, he becomes an unwitting accomplice to attempted murder. Because we see these events from Lucy's point of view though, the situation becomes a much more emotionally scenario about the difficulty of co-habitation and the episode becomes richer as a result.
-How did it take them until season 3 to make Mike a cult leader? The moment Liz started warning Lucy about how dangerous and charismatic Mike can be, I realized how obvious and brilliant that move was. Also, whoever decided that Mike's cult compound should be in Guy-ana deserves a massive raise.
-After being in a relationship of his own last season and having that not work out so well, Mike is back to his old "Bros before Hos" ways. There are really only so many variations that Man Seeking Woman can do on the "Mike gets in the way of Josh's relationship" story but they still can pack a punch. The key is that Mike always really wants what he thinks is the best thing for Josh, but what he thinks is the best thing tends to be the opposite even if it is very alluring.
-There aren't a ton of huge laughs in the cult section of the episode but Eric Andre throws himself into Mike-as-cult-leader with a furor that single-handedly make the segment succeed. The "drink the vodka-spiked Kool-aid shots" bit at the end once the compound is "infiltrated" by Lucy is also terrific, as is Mike showing up later back to normal and gravely admitting that things went bad at Guyana with no details or explanation.
-Man Seeking Woman doesn't go for heart-warming very often but the ending shot (minus the tag) of the two vanity plates with Josh and Lucy's name marking their apartment as we hear the two happily showing off their new futon was a well-earned moment. Dating is hard but being in a relationship is much harder. The two are probably going to have bigger obstacles to face than a messy apartment, but as long as they can keep finding ways to compromise and come together, the end result will be worth it.
-Also Mike not believing something like a futon could exist was my favourite small joke of the episode.
-I doubt I'll write about Man Seeking Woman every week but my TV schedule is still pretty light so I'm happy I was able to do it here. This is a great show and while this episode wasn't perfect, it made me very excited for the season ahead.
-Throughout it's first two seasons, Man Seeking Woman was largely confined to the perspective of it's main protagonist, Jay Baruchel's Josh Greenberg. Sure a couple times of year we might focus on Josh's sister Liz (Britt Lower) or best friend Mike (Eric Andre), but as the titular Man, Josh had our focus most of the time as he navigated his way through the nebulous world of dating in your late-20's. This meant that the majority of the women Josh dated throughout the show were more one-dimensional plot device for whatever aspect of dating Baruchel and company wanted to ridiculously exaggerate that week than actual character with a perspective of their own (The two major exceptions being Josh's ex Maggie in season 1 and love interest Rosa in season 2). This was mostly fine when Josh was jumping from relationship to relationship, but with season 3 changing focus to Josh being in a long-term relationship, keeping things to his perspective would've gotten very problematic very fast. Thankfully the writers recognized this and give the majority of the episode to newcomer Lucy (Katie Findlay), immediately establishing her as Josh's equal in this crazy world and someone worth rooting for.
-My primary experience with Findlay so far was from How To Get Away With Murder in which I spent the majority her time on the show annoyed with her character so I was a little apprehensive when I heard she was joining the cast of Man Seeking Woman as essentially the co-lead. My doubts were immediately squashed in the first sequence though as we follow Lucy through a horrible day that becomes a pretty good one after her first date with Josh. Findlay is instantly endearing, playing Lucy as the same kind of down-to-earth neurotic goofball Josh is. By the time she's silently threatening the friend she tried to kill to keep quiet (which sounds less endearing and goofy than it was) I was thrilled that she'd be around for the entirety of the season.
-Findlay and Baruchel also have terrific chemistry, which is a must if they're going to focus the season around them. We don't hear anything that happens on her first date with Josh, but what we see is instantly appealing and you can see how this date would make a day that included being set on fire and attacked by a puma a good one.
-The idea of a boyfriend who overstays his welcome in a shared apartment as a metaphor for illegal immigration is a clever one, but it's also an analogy that falls apart once you actually start thinking about how ridiculous the comparison is so the "Apartment Illegals" sequence fell kind of flat by the time border security has been erected around Lucy's apartment. It's a good stab at being topical certainly but there isn't really a strong point to ground the sequence in so it feels empty. The bit about Josh not speaking the language (of The Bachelor) was pretty great though, and the great chemistry and natural bond between Josh and Lucy really sold the moment when she decides to move in with him despite her roommates protests (It's dangerous, there's drugs there and they really haven't been dating that long, the other great joke of the sequence).
-The rest of the episode which shows how Josh's apartment becomes Lucy's apartment before finally becoming Josh and Lucy's apartment fares much better. The sequence of Lucy turning into Walter White and dropping all of Josh's belongings into Sulfuric Acid is a good bit that grows funnier and more absurd as it escalates. Like all the great Man Seeking Woman sequences it takes a relatable emotional truth (Lucy wants to her impress her judgmental former roommates but she also wants to feel more at home in the apartment she moved to on a whim at the expense of Josh's identity) and amplifies it to ridiculous extremes until Lucy is trying to actively kill her sweet former roommate who accidentally walked in while they were dismembering Josh's old futon. Findlay's casual callous delivery of "If the currents don't get her, the sharks will" as Robin jumps into the river to avoid being shot (again) is a thing of beauty.
-One of the advantages of having two leads this season is we understand both sides of the Josh and Lucy conflict. If Lucy was a one-off character, we'd be on Josh's side as his home is invaded and changed beyond recognition and less importantly, he becomes an unwitting accomplice to attempted murder. Because we see these events from Lucy's point of view though, the situation becomes a much more emotionally scenario about the difficulty of co-habitation and the episode becomes richer as a result.
-How did it take them until season 3 to make Mike a cult leader? The moment Liz started warning Lucy about how dangerous and charismatic Mike can be, I realized how obvious and brilliant that move was. Also, whoever decided that Mike's cult compound should be in Guy-ana deserves a massive raise.
-After being in a relationship of his own last season and having that not work out so well, Mike is back to his old "Bros before Hos" ways. There are really only so many variations that Man Seeking Woman can do on the "Mike gets in the way of Josh's relationship" story but they still can pack a punch. The key is that Mike always really wants what he thinks is the best thing for Josh, but what he thinks is the best thing tends to be the opposite even if it is very alluring.
-There aren't a ton of huge laughs in the cult section of the episode but Eric Andre throws himself into Mike-as-cult-leader with a furor that single-handedly make the segment succeed. The "drink the vodka-spiked Kool-aid shots" bit at the end once the compound is "infiltrated" by Lucy is also terrific, as is Mike showing up later back to normal and gravely admitting that things went bad at Guyana with no details or explanation.
-Man Seeking Woman doesn't go for heart-warming very often but the ending shot (minus the tag) of the two vanity plates with Josh and Lucy's name marking their apartment as we hear the two happily showing off their new futon was a well-earned moment. Dating is hard but being in a relationship is much harder. The two are probably going to have bigger obstacles to face than a messy apartment, but as long as they can keep finding ways to compromise and come together, the end result will be worth it.
-Also Mike not believing something like a futon could exist was my favourite small joke of the episode.
-I doubt I'll write about Man Seeking Woman every week but my TV schedule is still pretty light so I'm happy I was able to do it here. This is a great show and while this episode wasn't perfect, it made me very excited for the season ahead.
Sunday, 1 January 2017
Import Gems: Borderline is The Office Meets Border Security
One of the cool things about Netflix is that it has quite the collection of terrific foreign shows that you've never heard of just waiting to be discovered. Import Gems is a new feature where I'll be highlighting some of these shows, all of which are available on Netflix (Or at least Netflix Canada) for your viewing pleasure. For the first installment, we'll be looking at Borderline, a British retroscripted mockumentary created by Chris Gau and Michael Orten-Toliver
When I fired up the first episode of Borderline on a whim the other night, I groaned a little when I realized it was a mockumentary show. Now I don't mind the mockumentary format- where everything is filmed "fly on the wall" documentary style with camera confessionals for the characters to express their thoughts- but it's pretty well-trodden territory at this point and it's hard to do something new with it. Add in that Borderline was a workplace comedy about people making the best at a mundane job (Here, airport border security at the fictitious Northend Regional Airport) with a boss no one respects and by midway through the first episode, I was ready to write the show off as a clone of "The Office", though I did think it was a fairly clever and funny clone. I kept watching though and quickly realized I wasn't giving Borderline enough credit. The elements (The format, the mundane job, the awkward boss, the wacky co-workers, the charming "normal" leads with the slow-burning flirtation, the slice-of-life plots) were nothing new but they kept developing and playing out in ways that I didn't expect, finding new life, nuance, and humour in old standbys. By the end of the second episode I was hooked, and when the 6-episode season ended I no longer thought of Borderline as just an Office clone. It was a lot more than that.
A lot of the charm of Borderline comes from how it's scripted. The show uses a technique called retroscripting, which is a form of improv where actors are given scene descriptions and make up their own dialogue as they move the story along. That gives the dialogue and most of the jokes a loose, natural feel that makes it seem like a genuine border security reality show, albeit a ridiculous one. It also allows the punchlines to genuinely sneak up on you. I was surprised by how often I was caught off-guard by a joke, even in scenes where I knew a joke was coming. The real impressive thing about the retroscripted approach though is that you would never know how much of it was improvised if you didn't look that up. Where a lesser comedy can be driven off the rails without a real script to serve as a backbone, Borderline feels controlled and focused throughout. Occasionally a joke won't mesh with the established narrative but the lines are so funny it's barely even noticeable.
Another benefit of the retroscripting approach is that without a full script to rely on, the actors have to look inward to create distinct characters full of depth and surprises. Chief Inspector Proctor (Jackie Clune) and Agents Tariq Mansoor (David Avery), Andy Church (Liz Kingsman), Clive Hassler (David Elms), and Grant Brodie (Jamie Michie) could feel like stock character types but they seem like real people with feelings and inner lives. Proctor is a boss that makes her employees feel uncomfortable and brings her personal problems to work, but Clune also gives her a lot of frustration and resentment about her life that deepens the character. Tariq and Andy are the Jim Halperts of the show, putting up with the insanity around them but Tariq is also an aspiring DJ who is constantly shocked by how much he doesn't hate his borderline job and Andy puts up with and partakes in the silliness but she's also an adult woman who knows exactly what she does and doesn't want, which pays off dividends throughout the season. Grant is introduced as the bigot of the team (He's unaware of what profiling is until he's informed he does it every day) but is shown trying to be aware of his prejudice and shows himself to be the heart of the group by the end of the season, and nervous, awkward Clive steals every scene he's in with his desperation to be part of the group. The improvised dialogue helps build a natural chemistry and sense of camaraderie within the ensemble that really resonates as the season goes on.
The strong character work and the loose feel of Borderline also work well with the storytelling of Borderline, which gets a lot of mileage out of it's podunk airport setting. From the first episode, which details the team getting a directive from head office to keep an eye for anything "Out Of the Ordinary" which seems an awful lot like racial profiling, the show isn't afraid to dive into every aspect of border security with sharp wit and a bit of insight. The show quickly establishes Northend as one of the smallest, least busy airports in the U.K., which helps keeps the stakes low, justifies a lot of the goofing off we see, and adds a sudden dramatic heft to a late-season episode where the airport gets it's first ever asylum seeker. Even when the plots are broad and sitcommy, like an episode where no one remembers Clive's birthday, Borderline is able to put a nice twist on it (Clive's birthday is partially forgotten because a beloved airport employee Tariq and Andy have no memory of has died, which gives the episode two stock plots that intertwine and pay off in interesting ways). The episodes all standalone but there is a nice subtle bit of serialization throughout the season which pays off nicely in the last couple episodes. Even the inevitable Will They/Won't They between Tariq and Andy is nicely handled. Their bond is played as less of an epic love story and more of a slowly growing flirtation that culminates in a way I wasn't expecting and was very pleased by.
Ultimately though the real secret weapon of Borderline is the very thing that made me apprehensive when I first started watching it: the mockumentary format, specifically the use of narration. Each episode of Borderline is held together by ongoing narration by Ralf Little setting up what we're about to watch or summarising the scene, adding authenticity to the faux-reality show we're watching. Initially I wasn't paying much attention to the narration, figuring it was superfluous until I began to realise there was often a significant disconnect between what was actually happening on screen and how the narration was contextualising it. The characters might be acting ridiculous but the narration frames their actions as totally normal and sometimes even commendable with little judgement on how they're acting (Which makes the times when it does judge comic highlights). In the second episode for example Grant detains an attractive woman for a bit so he can get to know her personally while the narration keeps praising him for how dedicated he is and what a thorough job he's doing with his interview (It does note when he gets her phone number at the end that. It's the classic mockumentary trope of a character's words being contradicted by their actions taken to new heights. Even when the narration is accurately describing the situation, it's done in a way that only heightens the absurdity, like when Mark Addy is detained for being what the narration calls "suspected of being on Game of Thrones". It's an ingenious way of ringing every possible drop of comedy from the scene and it breathes new life into the mockumentary format.
So yeah, on the surface Borderline is the kind of show you've seen many times before and there's nothing terribly new or innovative about it. If you stick with it though and pay attention to the remarkable acting and storytelling on display, you'll find yourself constantly delighted and surprised time and time again by how it makes use of it's familiar parts. Its simpleness is really a deception and it's a lot deeper and funnier than you might expect. It's a show that can be finished in a couple of hours but those couple of hours will stick with you long after you finish watching. It probably won't ever reach the popularity of The Office (both British and American) versions but if it did, it'd certainly be deserving of it.
When I fired up the first episode of Borderline on a whim the other night, I groaned a little when I realized it was a mockumentary show. Now I don't mind the mockumentary format- where everything is filmed "fly on the wall" documentary style with camera confessionals for the characters to express their thoughts- but it's pretty well-trodden territory at this point and it's hard to do something new with it. Add in that Borderline was a workplace comedy about people making the best at a mundane job (Here, airport border security at the fictitious Northend Regional Airport) with a boss no one respects and by midway through the first episode, I was ready to write the show off as a clone of "The Office", though I did think it was a fairly clever and funny clone. I kept watching though and quickly realized I wasn't giving Borderline enough credit. The elements (The format, the mundane job, the awkward boss, the wacky co-workers, the charming "normal" leads with the slow-burning flirtation, the slice-of-life plots) were nothing new but they kept developing and playing out in ways that I didn't expect, finding new life, nuance, and humour in old standbys. By the end of the second episode I was hooked, and when the 6-episode season ended I no longer thought of Borderline as just an Office clone. It was a lot more than that.
A lot of the charm of Borderline comes from how it's scripted. The show uses a technique called retroscripting, which is a form of improv where actors are given scene descriptions and make up their own dialogue as they move the story along. That gives the dialogue and most of the jokes a loose, natural feel that makes it seem like a genuine border security reality show, albeit a ridiculous one. It also allows the punchlines to genuinely sneak up on you. I was surprised by how often I was caught off-guard by a joke, even in scenes where I knew a joke was coming. The real impressive thing about the retroscripted approach though is that you would never know how much of it was improvised if you didn't look that up. Where a lesser comedy can be driven off the rails without a real script to serve as a backbone, Borderline feels controlled and focused throughout. Occasionally a joke won't mesh with the established narrative but the lines are so funny it's barely even noticeable.
Another benefit of the retroscripting approach is that without a full script to rely on, the actors have to look inward to create distinct characters full of depth and surprises. Chief Inspector Proctor (Jackie Clune) and Agents Tariq Mansoor (David Avery), Andy Church (Liz Kingsman), Clive Hassler (David Elms), and Grant Brodie (Jamie Michie) could feel like stock character types but they seem like real people with feelings and inner lives. Proctor is a boss that makes her employees feel uncomfortable and brings her personal problems to work, but Clune also gives her a lot of frustration and resentment about her life that deepens the character. Tariq and Andy are the Jim Halperts of the show, putting up with the insanity around them but Tariq is also an aspiring DJ who is constantly shocked by how much he doesn't hate his borderline job and Andy puts up with and partakes in the silliness but she's also an adult woman who knows exactly what she does and doesn't want, which pays off dividends throughout the season. Grant is introduced as the bigot of the team (He's unaware of what profiling is until he's informed he does it every day) but is shown trying to be aware of his prejudice and shows himself to be the heart of the group by the end of the season, and nervous, awkward Clive steals every scene he's in with his desperation to be part of the group. The improvised dialogue helps build a natural chemistry and sense of camaraderie within the ensemble that really resonates as the season goes on.
The strong character work and the loose feel of Borderline also work well with the storytelling of Borderline, which gets a lot of mileage out of it's podunk airport setting. From the first episode, which details the team getting a directive from head office to keep an eye for anything "Out Of the Ordinary" which seems an awful lot like racial profiling, the show isn't afraid to dive into every aspect of border security with sharp wit and a bit of insight. The show quickly establishes Northend as one of the smallest, least busy airports in the U.K., which helps keeps the stakes low, justifies a lot of the goofing off we see, and adds a sudden dramatic heft to a late-season episode where the airport gets it's first ever asylum seeker. Even when the plots are broad and sitcommy, like an episode where no one remembers Clive's birthday, Borderline is able to put a nice twist on it (Clive's birthday is partially forgotten because a beloved airport employee Tariq and Andy have no memory of has died, which gives the episode two stock plots that intertwine and pay off in interesting ways). The episodes all standalone but there is a nice subtle bit of serialization throughout the season which pays off nicely in the last couple episodes. Even the inevitable Will They/Won't They between Tariq and Andy is nicely handled. Their bond is played as less of an epic love story and more of a slowly growing flirtation that culminates in a way I wasn't expecting and was very pleased by.
Ultimately though the real secret weapon of Borderline is the very thing that made me apprehensive when I first started watching it: the mockumentary format, specifically the use of narration. Each episode of Borderline is held together by ongoing narration by Ralf Little setting up what we're about to watch or summarising the scene, adding authenticity to the faux-reality show we're watching. Initially I wasn't paying much attention to the narration, figuring it was superfluous until I began to realise there was often a significant disconnect between what was actually happening on screen and how the narration was contextualising it. The characters might be acting ridiculous but the narration frames their actions as totally normal and sometimes even commendable with little judgement on how they're acting (Which makes the times when it does judge comic highlights). In the second episode for example Grant detains an attractive woman for a bit so he can get to know her personally while the narration keeps praising him for how dedicated he is and what a thorough job he's doing with his interview (It does note when he gets her phone number at the end that. It's the classic mockumentary trope of a character's words being contradicted by their actions taken to new heights. Even when the narration is accurately describing the situation, it's done in a way that only heightens the absurdity, like when Mark Addy is detained for being what the narration calls "suspected of being on Game of Thrones". It's an ingenious way of ringing every possible drop of comedy from the scene and it breathes new life into the mockumentary format.
So yeah, on the surface Borderline is the kind of show you've seen many times before and there's nothing terribly new or innovative about it. If you stick with it though and pay attention to the remarkable acting and storytelling on display, you'll find yourself constantly delighted and surprised time and time again by how it makes use of it's familiar parts. Its simpleness is really a deception and it's a lot deeper and funnier than you might expect. It's a show that can be finished in a couple of hours but those couple of hours will stick with you long after you finish watching. It probably won't ever reach the popularity of The Office (both British and American) versions but if it did, it'd certainly be deserving of it.
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