Four Yawns And An Eyebrow Raise

Happy Endings, S02E21

It's already the season finale of this show!  What?  It really feels like it flew by.  I have to say that I wasn't too impressed by the second season, especially when the first one was so funny.  Anyway, this time the gang went to Derrick and Eric's wedding.  Penny tried to hook up with a guy via Skype after looking forward to having a real date at a wedding for the first time that didn't pan out.  Brad lost his job and hesitated telling Jane while she was covering Eric's ass for not having enough money to cover the reception.  Max was reluctant to join his old Madonna cover band because he was worried about how much he had changed physically since his singing heyday.  Penny wondered if she had unrealized feelings for Dave, which led to a possible return of Dave and Alex's relationship somehow.

For someone as interesting as Derrick, his wedding was sure boring.  I did like the wedding party's matching suits (even if Jane looked awkward in her yellow one), but beyond that, I was disappointed the six weren't involved in an event that would let loose all of their crazy and funny tendencies.  I would say that everyone behaved well, and there wasn't much drama (insert Derrick's voice) at all.  Even Max was just sitting around feeling sorry for himself.  What a shame.  If there wasn't a shortage of food at the reception, I would have liked to see him stuffing his face in a ridiculous way at least once (I only got to see him licking a cake wrapper or something).  What a waste.

Does anyone really care about Penny dating someone?  I don't think even her friends do since they were betting how long it would take her to mention the new guy she had met.  Speaking of the beginning of the episode, the pace of their conversation led me to believe that it would just get funnier from there.  Major let down.  Instead of finding Penny's seat at the Skype table and her later dance with a laptop to be amusing, I just felt pity for her.  She's really sad.

Jane wasn't even that aggressive when she tried to get into the wedding party.  Basically, all she had to do was "poison" the person who matched her height, and she was in.  I would have enjoyed her trying slip in there after many failed, underhanded attempts.  Disappointing.  And when she was a part of it all and had to get creative with the food, her innovations (such as the napkin as the brie) weren't that great.  I at least wanted to see someone catching onto what she was doing, and Jane running in to remedy that in some outlandish way.  Things just went smoothly for the most part.

I don't know why Penny was exploring the possibility of liking Dave.  I can't imagine a worse couple.  Even though she has suggested she might have something for him, it hasn't crossed my mind since then.  What do they have in common?  And there's no attraction between them.  There was such a connection once between Alex and Dave (it feels so long since they were almost walking down the aisle together), but even with them having slept together a few episodes ago, I have no desire to see them rekindle that flame.  But since they had a few suggestive moments and were seen holding hands, I guess next season they will be back to old tricks.  Ugh.  Good thing I won't have to see that headache for a good while.

If I had to pick my favorite thing in the story (and I have to really scrap the bottom of the bowl here), I would say that I liked when Max was performing on stage and suddenly Brad was there dancing next to him.  That was a little cute and random.  I could see Brad a part of that band too (maybe he wouldn't be as "pitchy" as Pete).  Brad and Max scenes are great.  Wish they had more this season.

I don't know if I'll want to watch this show as much next season.  The first season was so good, I couldn't wait for it to start again, but the stories certainly haven't been as consistently on point as they used to be.  I definitely will want to watch so I can see what Max's up to, but if they don't do a little better next time, I don't know if even he can continue to carry the show for me.  Let's step it up a notch in the fall (providing they are picked up again)!

Never Go To Max's Gym And Never Let Jane Sleep On It

Happy Endings, S02E19

I'm not sure which story I liked better this time.  On the one hand, Dave went to Max's gym and met a bully he was ill-fit to fight against.  On the other hand, Jane became super relaxed after she listened to Penny's advice (oh, you should never do that) and took the time to think about her decisions rather than acting immediately.  We also learned that Alex was a former bully herself, but that really isn't so surprising when you remember that she comes from a family of apparently strong women (I wonder what her mother is like).

I was no different than Max's friends with their dubious faces when he announced that he goes to a gym.  It's less because I think that Max is horribly out of shape (he's all right), but mostly because I've seen him imitate a bear for several days, and he doesn't seem to commit himself to anything that might take a lot of physical energy.  Also, when Jane was questioning what activities he participated at said gym, Max plainly kept avoiding answering her question.  At the actual gym, Max was seen lying on a workout bench just reading.  So that's his workout.  Love it.

I was hoping we would see more of Max's non-workout, but instead Bobby Moynihan guest-starred to torture Dave at his new gym.  No surprise that Dave and his hippie-like pacifism prompted him to avoid direct confrontation with his bully Corey and to speak to the manager.  Really?  A man of his age is going to tell on him as if they are in grade school?  I wouldn't have blamed Corey for popping Dave one then and there.  Instead, he just waits until Dave shows up at the gym again after he clearly threatened Dave not to come back.  The best thing about Dave and Corey was that Max found Corey's aggressive actions toward his friend to be sexy.  Oh, Max.  I'm glad that Corey was too busy making all the other gym members miserable to spare a glance at Max because that would have been messed up if Max went out with him. 

I was ready to change my opinion about Dave being a weak, sorry-excuse-for-a-man when he challenged Corey to a fight.  However, I assumed that Dave would be on the ground within a few seconds of it.  It was also weird that there were a group of random people witnessing the event.  Were those Corey's friends?  Or were they people from the gym?  Anyway, Dave didn't get a chance to redeem himself as a man because Derrick jumped out of the crowd and knocked Corey the hell out.  Well, I guess that's one way to end a story.

Speaking of Derrick's return to this show (I assume he hasn't been around for a while because I had to look up when he had first appeared), he was pretty hilarious.  I liked when Dave asked him whether he was actually paying Max to train him.  After saying that he wasn't he had some pretty good lines:

[Derrick] Actually, he owes me 900 dollars.  Drama! Seriously, how do I get him to pay me?  I'm behind on rent.  It's like real drama.[Dave] Probably not going to see that money, buddy.

Later, he, Max, and Dave had a funny discussion about the difference between Corey's brand of fat and Max's kind of fat:

[Derrick] Well, you know, you're both fat.

[Dave] Yeah, he's kind of a strong fat.

[Max] Yeah--right.  I'm strong, he's fat.

[Dave] He's strong, you're fat.

[Derrick] Fat is fat.

I happen to think that Max does look like he would be strong, though.  Maybe Corey is a little more muscular, but I think that if Max had to fight someone, he would have some powerful moves.  He at least wouldn't be like Dave and passive-aggressively fight someone.

Jane's story also had an interesting guest star.  John Ross Bowie (Kripke! from Big Bang Theory) played Michael, who was utterly humiliated by Jane for suggesting they plant berries in the community garden.  I love how Jane can cut down someone and analyze something so thoroughly that even an innocent idea like berries can eventually cause everyone unforeseen disaster.  As much of a controlling "fascist" that Jane is, she is perfect the way she is.  The only part of relaxed Jane that I liked was her first moment of revelation in the middle of the night, and she encourages Brad to try sleeping on a matter too.  He isn't impressed at first and responds:

Bitch, it's 5:30!

 But Brad was enjoying the benefits of a looser leash around his house, able to eat nachos on their couch.  When Jane nearly grabbed all of them and shoved them into her mouth, I really wanted to have some so badly.  But once there wasn't anything like nachos or any kind of food in the house and Brad's outfits started to look bi-polar, he had to get the girls' help to make Jane snap out of it.  I thought Alex might use funnier examples to upset Jane enough that she could no longer relax, but the issues weren't that great.  What was great was when Brad was still pro-Chill Jane and the neighbor who gives them hams comes to complain about several things since Jane had become lax, including someone starting a math tutoring business from their home (is that really such an obscene matter??).  Losing his free hams (I wonder how long they have been getting those?  And where is this man getting them from?) was another nail in the coffin for him.

I mention the hams thing mostly because it ties into one of my favorite TV endings.  Definitely this week's ending was my favorite so far in this show.  They played Ice Cube's Today Was A Good Day while Jane and Brad enter their condo as if they are the president and the "first gentleman."  While they are doing this hilarious slow-motion walk of triumph, the old neighbor hands Brad his ham.  And all is right with the world.  It's so good, I have to post it here:

Now that we have seen Max take interest in someone else, I wonder if he's going to get serious any time soon.  I just love his relationship because he's such an unusual guy. I'm trying to predict who will be the center of the next episode, and I think it might be Penny and/or Alex because they didn't have a large role in this one.  However, Penny did just have a birthday episode and before that Alex was running away from Dave.  Perhaps it's time for a Brad-centered episode.  One of my favorite ones of his was when he lied to Max about needing time to hang with the "brothas."  If they could make a different story about him that is just as funny, I would be quite the happy viewer.