A Toilet, A Pothole, And A Road Trip

Parks and Recreation, S05E03

Leslie tried to get a bill passed by doing things her own way, but saw that sometimes she has to do things the "easier" way.  Ron and Andy went to fix a lady's pothole after being unable to solve the woman's problem over the phone.  April and Ben tried to drive to Pawnee to see their loved ones, but got stopped in the parking lot for several reason until it was too late for them.

I think the best thing about the Leslie story is that all she had to do to get her bill to pass was to pacify her fellow councilman by giving her his office, which he only wanted so he could have his own toilet.  To think that decisions are made over something as simple as a toilet is pretty funny.  But I like that Leslie resisted giving into Jamm's demands, until the very end after winning over Milton had failed.  I can't be mad at her for making some concessions when it came to her own policies, especially when it made a bunch of kids happy.  Plus, she got to shove Jamm into a pool before he told everyone how she got the bill passed.  So all, in all, a victory for her.

There were also some good lines in that story.  My favorite was when Milton was offering Leslie and Tom the salad and Tom didn't want to eat it because Milton had already said some offensive things to him:

[Leslie] Tom, eat some.
[Tom] I’m not eating racist salad.
[Leslie] The more we eat, the faster we talk.
[Tom] You can really taste the ignorance.
[Milton] It’s pronounced “anchovies.”

I'm really glad that Tom is by Leslie's side not just for the support, but for the much needed laughs.

I also thought April and Ben's story was really good just because it involved the "Odd Couple" stranded together in a car.  It's too bad that we didn't get to see more because I think the tension would have been crazy funny.  I especially liked how April made fun of his choice in music and gave him a look when she heard what he had on his "summer jam" CD.  Ben is such a dork, which makes him the best person to showcase April's coolness.  They could make a spin-off of them working in D.C., for real.

What I liked best about the Ron story was, of course, that Ron began to like a woman named Diane, who was played by Lucy Lawless.  That seems like a great match!  It was really sweet how Andy made sure that Diane came to see him by writing a note for her on the fixed pothole.  Otherwise, I think Ron would have been too embarrassed to ever show his face again.  It will be nice to see Ron dating someone who can match him on his powerful level, yet not be crazy like all of his evil ex-wives.

Also, at the beginning of that story when Chris was explaining about starting therapy, I loved how he wouldn't let Jerry share anything about his own therapy, suggesting that it was too much.  But I think I liked best when Chris was sort of talking to himself in an attempt to thank himself and admitted that he sounded insane.  I knew that him starting therapy would make him more insane!  I'm glad that Chris just doesn't disappoint.  And if he has any other crazy ideas like the 311 line, I can continue to be pleased by his new path for mental health.

Great episode.  It could only be better if April and Ben's story were extended, but we simply didn't have enough time.  I'm pretty excited to see how Diane and Ron's relationship goes, especially since it seems like Diane is about his equal.  Looking forward to seeing more of Lucy Lawless next time!

Sometimes It Takes A Punch In The Nose

The Mindy Project, S01E02

Mindy, after being frustrated by their incompetent nurse at their practice, asked for Beverly to be fired and to be given the responsibility of finding her replacement.  Although, Dr. Shulman granted her that right, Danny couldn't trust her and made sure that he was part of the hiring process as well.  The two had completely different ideas of who would be a good employee.

Again, I feel like there was a lot of funny things in the episode, but it didn't make me exactly laugh out loud.  For example, I liked how Mindy was narrating her life on the train as if she was in a movie and then later was interested in a scenario Danny had come up with about stepping off a train and being sent into the past.  It's funny that she sort of lives in a fantasy and can look at the world in terms of it leading to her next big romance.  But again, it was exactly laughable, just entertaining at the moment.

Another interesting thing is the amount of guest starts from sketch comedies that appear on this show.  This episode marks the second appearance of an SNL member (this time Seth Meyers) and former MADtv member Ike Barinholtz.  I like this trend and wouldn't mind seeing more people like that.  The appearance of Barinholtz seems to be a possible reoccurring character, as his character Morgan got hired in this episode.

Morgan is about as crazy as the woman they fired, Beverly, so it's kind of dumb that he ended up being her replacement.  However, if he can supply some extra comedy, I'm all for him.  He was pretty funny during his interview, especially when his name "Ransom Tookers" was questioned:

You wouldn’t ask a black woman named "Destiny" if that was really her name. This feels racial.

I also liked when he fixed Mindy's nose and kissed her on the forehead.  He may be a potential loose cannon, but at least he can seem to reset a broken nose.  At that point, I was glad that Mindy hired him just because I felt like maybe the guy just needed to be given a chance and at least Mindy had some heart to give him one.  Plus, I feel like Mindy could have a little power over him, unlike Beverly who seemed to act like her own boss.

Speaking of when her nose got broken, I was really surprised by that.  I figured that Beverly might do something crazy, but I never thought it would be that violent.  Mindy has the worst luck.  But I think I like that the pattern of this show seems to be things going from bad to worse before they end things with slightly better than she started off.

The  last thing that I thought was amusing in this episode was when Mindy was on the train with Danny again and she pretended like he was her husband and was the one responsible for her injured nose.  It was kind of wrong of her to imply that he had hit her, but I liked it because Danny is a jerk and needs to be taught a lesson.

I'm still not a 100 percent on board with this show, but I feel like I'm getting there.  However, I might stop writing about this show and switch to Ben and Kate, which I've also been watching, but hadn't anticipated it being funny as well.  So we'll see which of them ends up being more my favorite, and rather than writing about both, I'll just do one of them.  I'm still rooting for Mindy, though, because there's just something about her that I really like.

Is the Killer Sugar? Or April?

Parks and Recreation, S05E02

Leslie was on the fence about how to vote on a sugar tax after she found out that she might cause some businesses to lay off some employees if it were passed.  Chris and Tom helped Andy train so that he could meet the running requirements to be a cop.  Ben struggled to get the interns at his office in line with little help from April.

There were quite a few good things about Leslie's story.  The first would be the size of the cups, which were ridiculous.  The small was 64 ounces, while the regular size was 128!  They managed to top that with a child size of 512 ounces, which was sized for what a child might weigh if liquified.  I love it because it does echo the insane size of drinks (and pretty much most things) in American fast food.  I also thought the concept of "zero water," was funny because it had 300 calories and the "zero" only referred to the fact there was absolutely no water in it.  I'm pretty sure something like that wouldn't fly in America, but when you think about what is allowed to be sold maybe it could be a real item.  I mean, we do drink and eat a lot of sugar and are the fattest country in the world.  It's nice to see the writers poke at that with humor, but also remind you that it isn't really a joke if you stop and think about it.

Another part of that story that was great was when Leslie was at the forum.  One guy stood up and had a really funny comment:

I think we should tax all bad things.  Like racism and women's vaginas.

I think I really love when she takes an issue to a public forum.  That's when all of the crazies come out to say whatever thing they damn well please.  It's a complete circus.  But unfortunately for Leslie, it made her doubt that she would be doing the right thing by favoring to let the tax pass.  But fortunately for us, it led her to seek counsel from Ron, which is always a recipe for comedy.

No surprise that Ron had tried on numerous occasions to get Leslie fired.  I really liked that he said that one of the reason was because she was bubbly.  Leslie tried to defend herself against Ron's complaints about her going over his head and such:

[Leslie] I was a dedicated public servant.[Ron] Right.  That was the worst thing you were.

You can always depend on Ron to show his dislike of working hard in a government position.  Despite that he was annoyed by her, he respected her conviction and grew to accept her.  Aww.  But something just as funny was when Leslie was talking about how her decision on the sugar tax might have created enemies that could potentially become friends.  Ron's door was open and he shouted:

Let's keep down out there!

before he used a remote to have his door automatically close.  Ron is so freaking cool!  That's on my list of things I would want if I had my own office.  And I would probably be saying the same thing before I shut my door too.

The Chris and Andy story was more sad than it was funny.  I just felt bad for Chris realizing he didn't have what Andy had at all--someone to love him.  But it was great that Tom suggested therapy for him (although, I think Tom could use some too).  Chris, although upbeat and fit, needs to get that mind in check.  Him falling to pieces over something like a fear of dying alone is a serious problem.  I hope that a therapist will actually help him and not make him even crazier than he already is.

The Ben and April story was painful to watch at most times because Ben kept trying to buddy up to all of his young interns.  From the beginning, I wondered why April would help him a little, but she basically had to humiliate him with caricature drawings before she realized what she needed to do.  I like that she tried to negotiate the percentage of effort she would give when 15 was more than a fair amount to ask.  But the best April part was not until the very end when she finally got on Team Ben and told one of the interns what the deal was:

The light kiss and the slap to the face were my favorite part!  Why did they wait until the very end before we got to see April kick a little ass??  But this is a great start to the saga of April working for Ben.  I'm am looking forward to move scenes like this.  April has well established herself as the one in charge there.  Haha.

In the next episode, I wonder if we will see all those lost jobs from the sugar tax.  I can't imagine it just being just an empty threat.  Things don't work out that easily for Leslie.  I'd like to see the results of Chris' first therapy session, as well as April torturing more interns at her job.  However, I don't want to see Ben trying to act like a college student again and quoting decades-old SNL skits.  That's just way to sad to see.

Greendale Gang Goes Gaming

Community, S03E20

Just when I thought this show couldn't amaze and blow me away, they had an episode where the gang was turned into video bit versions of themselves and had to complete a mission in a classic RPG fashion.  I absolutely love classic bit designed games (sometimes I feel like the excessive realness of games is distracting) and RPGs, so this was an absolute pleasure to watch.  Pierce's father had designed the game so that the person who defeated him would get his inheritance, but they had no idea that Gilbert, the late Hawthorne's secretary, would fight against them as an incredibly skilled opponent.  They were angry at Gilbert for using such underhanded techniques to keep Pierce from his inheiritence until they learned that he was Hawthorne's secret child whose father had wanted to keep under the rug even after his death.  Pierce and the rest decided to just let Gilbert win, and Pierce embraced having a brother.

Who knew that a story revolving around Pierce (my least favorite character) would be so good?  As soon as they all morphed into their game characters of themselves (with a cool bit version of the theme), I was overjoyed.  I basically liked the episode throughout, even with Gilbert kicking their butts, but I'll try to focus on my three favorite aspects.  It's hard to pick when even Pierce was hilarious in his old man-esq lack of skill where he was stuck in corners and unintentionally digging himself underground.  You put these character who already funny in human form into game form, and you pretty much double their hilarity.

One of the best things was the racial and intolerant tones of the games, which was reflected in almost all areas of the game.  It was no more apparent than the names of most of the towns in the game world.  These included "Village of Laziness," "Gay Island," and "Black Cave."  These were all meant to portray stereotypes about Latinos, homosexuals, and blacks.  We didn't get to see what was in the first two towns, but in the last there were afro-headed "jive turkeys" attacking the gang.  It was so ridiculous, you had to laugh.  The late Hawthorne really did just hate just about everyone, despite that he had an affair with a non-white woman.  It's funny how people can spend so much energy on prejudice (and screwing over their own children) to the point that it just comes off as too comical to be taken seriously.  Each time he took a stab at hippies or the disabled ("Free Ride Ferry"--really?), it just made me wonder with amusement how else he could make himself look like a foolish old man with his intolerance.

Another of the great moments was when Annie and Shirley went to the weapons shops.  I know none of them (except Abed who is that kind of genius) had no real idea how to play the game (it seemed like it had a lot more player capabilities than your usual RPGs), but I never expected that Annie would set the blacksmith on fire, beat him to death, and try to hide his body!  It was so funny!  Usually in the games you can't grab torches and throw them at townspeople.  I loved it!  Then to add to that great scene, Shirley burned the blacksmith's wife and beat her to death too, claiming they would have no witnesses to their crimes.  Never would have guessed those two would be acting like murderers.  Plus, thy burned down the house just to be sure!  Wow!  If only you could do that in some games.  That would be so awesome!  It was so great the sort of things they could get away with in the game.  One of my main annoyances about role-playing is that you are limited to certain things, but not in their game.  It was simply wonderful.

The absolute best thing about the Hawthorne game was Abed's romance with Hilda and the ease in which he began to change the game to suit his own purposes.  I loved how taken he was with Hilda once he found out she had all kinds of information he could learn about.  Some of my favorite topics were:

• cinnamon island
• raccoon clothes
• unstable bath
• unkillable bears
• island of annoying voices
• collect all blue coins
• boring regular old fire
• fun murder quests

Hilda had an incredible list of topics that I'm sure that Abed listened to in their entirety.  I was amazed that he decided to stay by her side when her parents died and stayed in the village with her.  Wow.  He was really in love.  He continued to amaze me with the transformation he did in the city, with a huge, golden building where a mold of his head sat at the top.  I thought it might end there, but then Hilda suddenly made a baby for him!  A little Abed baby saying "cool, cool, cool."  But even better was that was the conversation Abed and Troy had during then:

[Abed] She can make me babies.

[Troy] Oh, and I can't? ...I can't.

How I love the bond between Troy and Abed.  Only with those two would that conversation not raise an eyebrow, but just make you laugh.  He was jealous of basically a computer program.  But with Abed's peculiarity, something electronic or digital is more likely to steal Abed's attention away from Troy than any flesh woman is.

But I felt a little uneasy that even within the fantasy of a game that Abed was using his children as slaves, mostly in those mines (it was funnier when the babies were used as ammo).  He made so much progress (in a conquering way) that I wouldn't have been surprised with more time left to himself that he would have been able to replace the old man as the end boss (and changed all the racist lands into Abed-themed towns).  It's interesting that Abed has these dictator qualities that he sometimes gives off.  I'm really glad that he does have Troy by his side.  As seen in a later episode Abed stands on edge when it comes to dancing on the dark side.  But luckily he has friends who give him a better purpose, like using his new establishment in the game to provide the gang with weapons to weaken Hawthorne.  Good thing Abed is part of the gang and not working for Gilbert.

Can't praise this episode enough.  If I could make one complaint it would be that it didn't encompass the whole 3 blocks of Community time we had this Thursday.  Not to say the others were crap, but this one was so good, it should have been much longer.  But I guess that the non-geeks of this show would get too bored with that.  Well, whether long or short, this still ranks as one of my favorite episodes of not just this show, but also one of the best of all TV I seen.

Bobby Sees His Racist Side

Cougar Town, S03E10

Jules wanted Andy to run for Mayor so that he could get her a permit to have her wedding on the beach, which wasn't allowed.  Ellie despised the idea of her husband being in public officer since it would force her to interact with people more.  After making a comment to an Asian man, Bobby worried that he was racist, and Laurie put together a panel to help him.  Travis made out with Holly, and he and Grayson tried to teach Jules a lesson about cutting Holly a bit of slack.

Even though Jules suggested Andy run for Mayor for her own selfish reasons, I think she was right that he would be a good candidate (as least out of the people she knows).  I would be interested in seeing him win that position, although I doubt it will be very easy for him.  I'd condemn Jules further for making Ellie unhappy with her plan to get Andy to be mayor, but Ellie's reasons against it were too funny.  She really is a woman after my own heart.  I would be annoyed too by the idea of having to deal with more people than the few I can tolerate.  The best thing about her opposition of Andy running for mayor was when she told Andy in the car about her opinion on the matter.  Andy said he wouldn't be mad, but he purposely ran over a speed bump quickly so that her coffee would splash in her face.  It's great seeing Ellie on the receiving end of a joke at her expense.  I almost wish that she hadn't come to her senses and realized how selfish she was being to her husband.  I would have preferred to see how she could have gotten him back, though.

Bobby's realization of his racist nature was probably the funniest thing in this episode.  I just can't believe how stupid he was to tell that guy he would probably love a giant camera around his neck.  But you knew that he had no malice behind his words--only ignorance.  So when the guy got upset and Laurie looked at him with horror, it was really funny.  He also thought that all black guys could dunk and asked a man if he could in a later scene.  Bobby's too much of a bonehead for anyone to take his racist remarks seriously.  Plus, like Andy said, the fact that he was so bothered by the racial implications of his words and thoughts, made Bobby a decent guy with the potential to one day to realize when he was using stereotypes to make judgments about people.

It was also nice to see that in Laurie's panel she had included her boyfriend, Wade.  I wasn't sure if he would ever be mentioned again.  According to their routine of getting naked for each other on Skype calls, I would say that their relationship is still going on strong.  That means it's still possible he would visit Laurie once he's done with his service in Iraq.  I'm sure that would make for some really entertaining scenes, knowing how hyper Laurie is.

I never pictured Holly getting together with Travis, but when he later explained that he was just taking advantage of a woman, that made a lot of sense.  The only way Travis could go from small talk at a coffee shop to heavy making out had to be due to him being with a vulnerable woman.  Travis is a bit of a loser with no swagger to speak of, so a girl like Holly is probably his best bet.  I'll admit it's a little weird since she has had a baby with his future stepdad, though.  More than the baby, I would think that he would be a little disturbed by locking lips with someone that Grayson had once done the same.  I wouldn't even eat a piece of bread that he had eaten from.  Eww.  But I'm not sure if Travis really has any feelings for Holly or if he was just messing with Jules to make a point.  Someone as self-centered as Jules needed such an extreme measure to teach her to stop judging people.

I liked the Bobby story enough that I think this was a good episode overall.  I definitely laughed more times than I have compared to other episodes.  I hope that next time we get to see some of Andy's campaign ideas.  I could see the possibility of that being funny, especially if Bobby was his manager.  Almost anything that will take away the focus from Jules' wedding is welcome to me.  I already know that it's not going to be the dream wedding she wants, even if she does get to have it on the beach.

Spaghetti and Murder Ball

 Archer, S03E05

This week's Archer was a murder mystery.  There was little spy action this time, but it was still a good story.  Mallory has a dead Italian prime minister in her apartment and calls Archer and Lana to help.

Although the circumstances of the dead body in the room are bizarre and freaky (in a sexual way), I think it's interesting that Archer can't concentrate on anything but the sexual oddity of it all.  He can't seem to get the idea of the guy having a dildo up his ass out of his mind.  Frankly, if he didn't talk about it so much, they all might have forgotten about it (us too, since we couldn't see that).  Archer has some real psychological problem concerning his mother and sex.  Not that anyone really wants to think about their parents having sex, but they all have or obviously we wouldn't be here.  You'd think after all the endless trysts that Mallory has been involved in over the years that Archer would be a little numb to it.  At least he didn't throw up this time.

Things take an unexpected turn when Archer has the hankering for spaghetti and meatballs (his racism never ceases to amaze me).  They all go into the kitchen and start cooking up some, very casual about the dead man in the "zentai" (must be Japanese from "zen" meaning "entire" and "tai" for "the body").  Mallory also shows us that Archer's racism is probably genetic with her dislike of the Irish.  Last Christmas she refused to give the super a bonus and slammed the door in his face.  I liked this because it was such a Christmas Carol moment.  This was reinforced by the super's son hobbling next to him on crutches and saying,

[Son] Will I get the operation now, Da?
[Super] No, Son.  You're gonna die.

Damn.  She is cold-hearted.  She continues to express her prejudice against the Irish when Archer asks her if she has a potato and she remarks that it isn't Christmas (which is what she gave the Super).  The detective who shows up later of Irish-decent receives her instant repulsion.  What exactly did the Irish ever do to her??

Archer and Lana don't buy her story, but she asks them to cut up and dispose of the body.  They both refuse.  It's good that they have some kind of standards, despite that they do some crazy stuff sometime.  Instead, after Mallory sobs (who cares, but I guess they do), they get Krieger to come.  Not only does he seem to have a handle on the problem, he is actually excited about doing it (in a way that Archer suggests is slightly sexual in nature--eww).  The others at ISIS show up after Kreiger tricks them into thinking they will be attending a surprise party.  Uh...how dumb are these people? 

The best is when the cops show up, and everyone jumps into character as her dinner guests, enjoying spaghetti and dressed in Mallory's clothes.  I find it offensive that Lana has to be the maid, and it's the whore-iest maid outfit ever!  We have no idea why Mallory has that; there's no way that it looks as good on Lana as it does on her.  Eww...  Concerning the ISIS crew playing the part as dinner guests, they barely get by as not suspicious.  Carol, however, risks them being discovered with her horrible, over-the-top acting.  You'd think a bitch from a rich family would know how to imitate them a little more naturally.  Before this scene is over, Cyril complains about being dragged into yet another unsavory situation:

[Cyril] I hate you all so much.
[Ray] No one cares, Figgis.  You're only invited to round out the numbers.

I liked Ray with his accent and cigarette holder.  He should keep those while he remains in his wheelchair.  However, I'm about ready for him to be out of it.  Cyril is such a whiney, little bitch.  At least with Ray he's got attitude, but can actually perform like a decent spy.

Krieger successfully divides up the body and prepares it for all the others to transport out of the house before the detective can find out what happened.  However, Lana smartly realizes that it makes sense that Mallory intentionally had everyone come over and called the cops so that she would have a cover for the murder.  We're not entirely sure, but it looks like Mallory killed the prime minister to get revenge for someone who might have been Archer's father!  Huh.  I wonder if this will ever come up again.  The mystery of Archer's father is something I'm pretty interested in.  I wonder if he was an asshole like his son or if Archer is just a product of a fatherless life and a screwed-up mother.

If I could have asked for anything else in this episode, it might have been for that fake dinner party to have a little more screen time.  However, that is not much of a complaint to me.  It was good that in the end Mallory seemed to be a bigger mastermind than any of them gave her credit for.  She may be kind of a whore, but she's a smart whore.