One Down, Two To Go

How I Met Your Mother, S08E02

Barney, pressured by a coworker, decided to draw up a prenup and have Quinn sign it.  However, his ridiculous terms for their future marriage not only had Quinn questioning their relationship in general, but also the ones of the previously happy couples of Ted and Victoria, Lily and Marshall, and Robin and Nick.

This episode was very much a girls versus boys story where both sides thought the other was being unreasonable when they were both pretty much at fault.  It wasn't much of a surprise that it turned out this way since all the couples (minus Lily and Marshall who have just been together too long not to have something to squabble about) are pretty much doomed.  I was expecting that Robin and Nick would be the first doomed couple to fall because they had the least amount of time together, but it ended up being Barney and Quinn.  That wasn't too unreasonable since the prenup spinning out of control was a wonderful sign that they weren't meant to be.  I'm just glad their breakup didn't end up having to do with Robin.  And I'm just glad that we don't have to see Barney sinking any deeper into a relationship that he isn't entirely into.

Besides, finally seeing one of the 3 stupid couples fall, I was glad to see that Thomas Lennon was back on the show as Klaus.  I've liked him since I watched Reno 911!, and he's just a man of multiple comedic talents.  Particularly, as we saw in the episode, he is really good at just making people feel awkward in a funny way.  The best example was when he was walking around naked with nothing to censor himself but a bowl of popcorn.  It's crazy that Ted, wanting to show off that he can be generous (what a moron), offered to let Klaus stay and then instantly regretted it.  However, at least Klaus will be able to speed up the clock before the Victora and Ted breakup time bomb goes off.  So I'll be happy to see more of him for as long as it takes for the end of those two to happen.

I suppose I did like this episode because it showed that things were going to get moving a little bit, as far as not stringing along these frivolous relationships on until the end of the season.  It would be nice if one of the other couples fell as well (since October was the month of breakups), and we could finally get to see how Barney and Robin got back together.  Hopefully after this big run around with failed relationships, that story is going to be interesting enough to really get me invested in this show again.

All About Blade

Community, S03E12

Greta locked herself in the safety of Abed, Troy, and Annie's place to prevent herself from running back to her old carnie boyfriend, Blade.  Annie tried to stop Greta's obssessive behavior toward Blade by pretending to be him via texts, but it only made her cling to him harder.  The madness only stopped after both Troy sent her a nice text and Jeff revealed that Blade's irresistibility resulted from a former head injury that shut of his sense of shame.  The dean also was ordered by the vice dean to lure Troy into the air conditioning program and was mysteriously hanging around Abed and Troy's apartment all night.

I felt like I didn't exactly see how bad Blade could be for Greta, beyond her own testimony.  She claimed that he was the reason that she didn't believe in love and other negative things, but I just wasn't buying that he was the scum of the earth.  Or at least that him passing into town was cause for an emergency situation.  I wish that Annie wasn't so damn nice (or wanting Greta to be better friends with her) that she easily agreed to watch over her.  I almost felt like Abed and Troy who wanted nothing to do with the Greta situation and were only interested in watching Blade.  The more Greta tried to trick Annie into giving her phone and texted "Blade," the more I was reminded of what an airhead she is.  Her friends were right to laugh at her about her ex-boyfriend because Greta's love life is a train wreck.  I'm really curious to know what it was that Troy wrote to her that was so sweet that she thought Blade was a loser.  Greta deserves someone like her ex that won't respect her if she's going to be such a moron.

Jeff, too, was a moron in the way he was equally obsessing over Blade, just in a different way.  He dropped over 300 dollars just so he could pick Blade's brain, thinking he would discover some kind of great trick on how to snare women.  It was just as painful to watch him simultaneously bragging to Blade, while questioning his life with the hopes he'd figure him out, as it was to watch Greta texting "him."  Jeff is always going to one end of the spectrum:  either he's too disinterested or super-focused on some insignificant matter.  The funny thing was that I thought that Blade seemed like a very collected person in the face of Jeff freaking over what it was that women loved about the carnie.  I never thought Jeff would get an answer from him, nor did I think the answer would be that Blade lacked the mental capacity to feel shame.  The only good thing about Jeff understanding this was that he was able to set Greta straight.  No matter how stupid (and mostly likely instigated by his ego) it was that he was stalking Blade, at least it had a purpose.

What's up with the dean showing up at Abed and Troy's?  I was really confused by that, and he refused to answer that no matter how many times he was asked.  I was going to just write it off as another weird thing that you can't explain about the dean until I remembered that the vice dean had told him to figure out a way to get to Troy.  Of course, the dean didn't do anything but sit around like the unwelcomed guest he was, but if he wasn't there to spy or wait for an opportunity to steer Troy into the vice dean's arms, I couldn't imagine what would possess him to show up at his students' place in his pajamas.  He's not that wacky.  I wonder if the dean is going to continue to show up in the group's activities from now on without explaining his reason for being there.

Oh, and another weird thing was Pierce and Chang becoming best friends for a second.  Once upon a time, Chang was gunning to become a permanent member of the study group, so him latching himself to the first person who asked him to be his friend was easy to believe.  As crazy as the two of them are, though, they didn't make much of a good pair. They were funny and fancy-free in their frolick through the carnival, but I knew it wouldn't last very long.  I have no idea why Chang exploded and ended it; if someone was going to screw things up, I would have bet on Pierce.  I guess Chang is too much of a psycho to have a real friend for more than an hour or two.  I really wish that Chang had more of a significant role in the show.  He's so hilarious, but lately he rarely shows up for more than a few minutes or two.  I'd like the writers to "chang" that soon.

Good episode that seems to be building up to something.  Annie may be starting to get over her secret longing for Jeff, and the dean may be working in the shadows to bring Troy to the "dark side."  Also, Jeff's actions toward Blade made it seem like he may still have some feelings for Greta.  Those two have always had this thing between them, but they never really got together (for a significant amount of time).  I think Jeff might be better suited for Annie, who could possibly steer him toward a better version of himself, so if they go down that road, I'll hope that Annie hasn't given up on him just yet.  After all, Greta's track record with men is terrible.  She'd be no different if she was with Jeff.

Maybe It's Racist, But It's Funny

Cougar Town, S03E04

 I'm trying to remember why I was laughing more than usual at this episode.  I don't think I found the battle for king between Jules and Andy to be that hilarious.  We all knew that in the end Jules would show that she has the most power, but as she loves to make people happy, she'll toss Andy a bone so that he thinks his role in the neighborhood is greater than it is.

What I did like so much that I want to mention it right away is Laurie's love of black people:

[Laurie] I wonder what he looks like. I hope if hes black, he's super black.   Dark black is hot.  Is that racist?

[Grayson and Ellie shortly confer with each other]

[Grayson] No. But it makes us uncomfortable.

That was probably the funniest thing said this season so far.  Laurie is so wonderfully ridiculous sometimes.  I kinda like that it turned out that she and Wade really did have a real relationship.  Maybe he will show up one day.  They certainly could use a black guy on that show.  I don't think Andy brings enough diversity to the show (not to say every show must have an ethnically diverse cast, but it would be nice to represent more minorities on TV).

Another relationship that I'm surprised that I favor is the possible one between Bobby and Travis' professor.  I never thought about him dating again, so it was nice he fell in love in a way that wasn't so predictable.  Also, the lady of interest played a major role on Scrubs and also a reoccurring role on How I Met Your Mother.   I won't say that I love this actress, but she might work well as Bobby's girlfriend if she sticks around, so I'd be interested to see their chemistry.

Lastly, I liked that they turned Tom's fountain into a wine fountain.  I did not see that coming.  They are really creative with new ways to enjoy their alcohol.  I'm not sure how it really fixes the problem of hearing water running all the time and forcing them all to have to pee.  I'd also worry about the freshness of that wine after a while, but with this gang, even a wine fountain wouldn't be enough for them.

I usually don't anticipate this show, but I do want to see what happens with Bobby and the professor.  Baby Stan had a very small role in the episode (which was adorable), and I'd like to see him used more regularly.  And I'll ask for more Ellie lines too, even though Laurie did a pretty good job picking up the slack this time.