This was a strange episode of 30 Rock. There was plenty of good, and, unfortunately, some bad, to make for a mixed bag of an episode. I wanted to both give it an 8 in over-35 East-Coast-Excluding Miami in the right light, but I also wanted to throw tossed salad and scrambled eggs at it.
Let's start with Tracy. For me, he fluctuates the most often from good stories to bad stories, and this was typical of him, but still not a good one. I think where they went wrong with Tracy is simply the length of each commercial take. Sure, it made a good Boys and Girls Club commercial once it went through, but it wasn't so much fun watching Tracy botch up each long take. He also wasn't giving us his best Tracy-isms, instead just looking like a jackass with ADD. This just wasn't Tracy's best moment.
This was a great pairing in Kenneth and Jenna, however, when we got to see them scam an ice cream shop, not to mention a great appearance by Kelsey Grammar. Even though Kenneth is a good boy, and he does ultimately stop the con and go back to his good ways (after a Best Friends Gang beatdown, of course), part of me does think that most of Kenneth's good nature is borne not of a wholesome mindset, but just from the fact that he has never seen any sort of positive to it. He stole cable, with Jack's help, and loved it, and this time he robbed an ice cream shop for his pigs' medical expenses.
Jenna got to shine too, between the spoon dance and her fast-talking run down of the scam. Throw in an overly excitable Grammar ("If anyone falls behind, we leave them behind to die. Now, who are you and what are we doing?") and you've got a solid story.
Jack and Liz's story teetered between good and bad. The good was Jack's "Reaganing" streak ("She's into that?""No, but she appreciates it when it's done right.") and someone finally getting Liz to address her aversion to sex and love. Not so fun? Liz's flashback.
Sure, anyone in a Pete Rose/Dorothy Hammil cut on rollerskates is funny, but it just felt...off. I want to blame it on the fact that we have seen a young Liz Lemon not played by Tina Fey before, but we can write that off on the fact that this was a sexual-repression story. Maybe cutting it off before we saw Liz writhing underneath Tom Jones' poster? I'm not sure, but I can just say it didn't work for me.
Another odd moment (not necessarily bad, but odd) was the flashbacks to Liz's comments on sex from previous episodes. They were good quotes ("Then at summer camp I once kissed a girl on a dare, but then she drowned!") and it was effective to see her sexual hangups in relation to her almost cutting it off with Carol, but if they meant to do less shooting, after their live show last week, then it seemed odd that they cut only 3 minutes, tops, to clips from old episodes.
The saving grace was Jack complimenting Liz, then threatening her, and his invaluable Tracy Jordan imitation. If Alec Baldwin could make a conversation with a peacock interesting last year, it was no wonder he saved the two odder storylines this week.
Fun Moments:
-I swear to god that the only serious hint I have ever picked up on for a Liz/Jack romantic relationship is Jonathan's irrational hatred of Liz Lemon. But hey, we learned on the Oprah episode how he got the job in the first place.
-I did like that they not only used the same director as they did for Garfield 3, but that they addressed the fact too. "I had to move back in with my parents!"
-"Liz, you are the sexual equivalent of a million Hindenburgs"
-Liz is right, Patricia Heaton and Doris Roberts are whores!
-I did like that Liz's mom was paranoid enough to take away Kermit the Frog
-Jenna and Kelsey really should open that medical supply store in Florida.
-"You're pretty uptight for hanging out under a bridge."
GRADE: B-
Tracy flopped and Liz lizzed, bring down the episode's vibe, but at least Jack was the level head for both of them. They should spend more time with their cake-eating sketches. I do like that if 30 Rock is gonna throw in celebrities, at least they do it in a good way. Kudos, Kelsey, for brightening a pretty blah episode.
MVP Kelsey Grammar. Less than 5 minutes of screen time, and he rocks the boat.
Runner-up Kenneth, for letting his dark side through just a little bit.
No comments:
Post a Comment