Randall, The Roommate Worth Killing Over

Ugly Americans, S02E15

Thanks to a new trend of "going zombie," the DOI was overrun with new zombies to integrate into the city.  One of such, named Carl, was under Mark's care, and they quickly become the best of friends to Randall's dismay.  However, Carl wasn't interested in Mark at all (or even a zombie) and just wanted to get Mark out of the way so he could claim his rightful place as Randall's roommate.  Before Mark could meet a watery grave, he figured out Carl's intentions and Grimes (after gaining his senses from proper medical care for his head wound)e had him arrested.  

It was strange seeing Randall as a human again.  It's been a while since we've seen what he used to look like.  He wasn't that different from how is now, but he did seem to have more purpose.  It reminded me that I have no clue what Randall actually does to pay rent or contribute anything in their apartment.  It was also a mystery why Randall would agree to make Mark his roommate, especially when Mark had such a respectable job that Randall couldn't possibly care about.  I was glad to see that there wasn't a random speck of decency in him--he just thought Mark worked in some sex club.  That cleared up a lot about the oddness of them living together.

Mark's choice in movies makes him a bigger dork than I thought was possible.  John Cusack isn't a bad actor, but for him to love him to that extent is borderline creepy (especially with that little figure of him with the boombox).  To make his taste in movies worst, he admires the style of Tyler Perry movies.  Yeah, he has some good ones, but the way Mark described him, you'd think he was a genius.  I have to say that he's more of a one-trick pony.  The characters and the situation may change slightly, but he basically tells the same kind of story every time.  Like, fawning over Cusack is fine in a over-zealous fan kind of way, but I draw the line when you bring Perry into the mix.

Besides cringing at Mark's dorkiness, I had some really good laughs.  One was when Mark and Carl went to the zombie body shop to look at arms for Carl.  Mark found them to be pricey:

[Mark] These arms cost both an arm and a leg.

[Shop Worker] Get out.

Just love how the guy would not tolerate Mark's lame jokes for a second more.  He's my kind of guy.

Another gag that I liked was the landlord of Carl's apartment in Zombie Town.  He gave Carl a set of rules that were not allowed in the apartment and after he left and Carl was laughing about his evil plan, he added another that there was to be no maniacal laughter.  I loved that that rule applied even when his landlord was somehow fishing at the same time Carl and Mark were in a later scene.  He interrupted Carl's laugh again, warning him, "What did I say about the maniacal laughter?"  I like how this show has random things that make me laugh, not necessarily things that I would anticipate.  I get caught up in the gag factor so much that sometimes I forget that it's just silly and fun.

 It was interesting to see someone obsessed with Randall who had no idea how much of an asshole (and a curse, really) he is, especially if one is living with him.  I almost felt bad for Carl, but at least he didn't have to continue being Randall's roommate at the end.  Even though Grimes demanded there be no more flashbacks, I enjoyed them all (and his and Randall's dislike of the excess of them).  For a story that focused on Mark's and Randall's relationship it was a lot less irritating and funnier than I expected.  I guess that was because for once Randall wasn't the one stirring up the most trouble.  It's nice that once in a while Randall can be somewhat innocent in it all.

Stop The Lies. Cuz It Ain't Funny

Happy Endings, S02E20

Penny began a web of lies to avoid an old friend named Daphne, that leads to a fake baby shower and tangles all of her friends within it.  You would think someone who owns a "lieble" would know how to lie a little better, but Penny was simply awful at it (not that her friends were any better).  It was almost like a contest to see who could make the lies worse than the last person (I might have to hand the prize to Alex, whose lies seemed the most unnecessary of all).  Usually I like when one of them takes a problem that could be handled easily and makes it into a monstrously complicated issue, but this time I just wanted Penny to hurry up and tell the truth because it wasn't doing her friends any good, nor doing any good for me humor-wise.

As pushy as Daphne seemed to be, I liked that she kept cornering everyone until they felt so pressured they had no choice but to lie.  I mean, she was all up in their faces and making them feel like bad people (they were right to worry if they would look like mean people because they are).  I liked seeing everyone being on the spot, and Daphne's dead-serious concern about all the excuses they created.

Another nuisance who made an appearance in the episode was Max and Dave's landlord who was trying to cock-block (and evict) the two based on little more than jealousy.  I didn't care for his iron fist attitude toward subletters, but when he questioned them about a purse and Max said it was his, that was a really funny scene.  Max tried to act all stereotypically gay so that the landlord wouldn't know it was Alex's purse, and the guy was so adamant that Max better be as homosexual as he claimed to be.  I don't know what that was about (he was pointing at Max as if they would be hell to pay otherwise) but it made me laugh.  Maybe he just didn't want another Dave living in his building who would be bringing home more beautiful women that he couldn't date himself.

But the best example of comedy in this episode was Max's invention of the trash oven.  It could cook a brisket in 18 hours and emitted such deadly fumes that Dave was certain it would kill them while they slept.  I thought that his homemade infomercial for his oven was so ghetto, but hilarious.  He even came up with a catch phrase:

Set it and forget it.  (Don't forget it.  You gotta keep an eye on it or it will burn your house down.)

If that wasn't enough to make you pick up the phone and buy Max's product, there was a disclaimer that "hand burns are unrelated" when Max finally showed us his hands were bandaged heavily.  Oh, man.  At least with his hands injured we can be sure he won't be building anything else that might burn or suffocate someone to death.

I find myself unable to really enjoy stories that have Penny at the heart of them and maybe it's because she's more of a heavy stone around the others' necks than any one else.  I mean, there was really no reason that the gang all had to start lying (and they did so on their free will), but if Penny hadn't initiated it and made Daphne seem like the black plague, maybe the truth would have come out quicker.  I kinda wish that Daphne had gotten a bit more upset and really made Penny learn a lesson.  But I'll forgive the six of them for not being so funny when they were so cute about the lake house Jane and Brad were thinking of getting.  All of them are such loveable dorks.