Season 2, Episode 19
Some weeks, I feel like I have very little to say about Happy Endings, and considering the light, disposable, 3-gags-a-minute kind of show that it is, that's perfectly all right with me. Especially when the show can be as funny as this one was.
Taking a break from the “higher concept” episodes that the show has done over the past few weeks (“higher” of course being extremely relative here) to give us one of the most straightforward half-hours that the show has ever done. Hell, there wasn't even anything all that weird about this one.
And yet I laughed. A lot. Whether it was the return of Derek, Max's super flamboyant acquaintance, Max's extremely potent fascination with bad boys, seeing Eliza Coupe play against her type and do so beautifully as Jane suddenly began to sleep on things, or Elisha Cuthbert giving her best performance yet as she began to channel her inner bully, I was in. The show executed a lot of simple jokes tonight, but when it was something like Jane eating a fistful of nachos, it worked when the show and characters just went for it, milking the joke for all it's comedic power.
The real secret here was how the show managed to use Cuthbert, who was attached to the Dave storyline for a little while before she was called over to help the Jane story reach a conclusion in the most hilarious way possible. (Seriously, if this show comes back – and it really, really should, the writers are going to have to find more ways to get Alex to channel her inner bully.) It speaks to the show's writing ability that it's not afraid to let a few of the characters sort of freely float between any given pair of storylines, and it gives the world a better feeling of roundness, as if these tow otherwise disparate plots are actually taking place in the same world. Now if only the episode could have done the same for Penny, and have her help Dave out somehow.
Speaking of which, if there was a weak spot here (and it was a relatively minor one) was Dave's storyline, for two reasons. One, a bully plotline is a fairly straightforward kind of thing, and there's only so much you can do with it, and I appreciate that the show made the bully gay, mostly because you don't see that sort of thing all that often. Two, and this is the much more looming issue, is that Dave isn't all that funny on his own. Sure, he's got a particular Ted Mosby-type douchiness that's always good for some laughs, but it works best when he can react to someone, or someone can react to him, and Dave leading a storyline doesn't really allow for a whole lot of that. Antagonism is just not a good dynamic for the character to work in. This plotline was greatly helped out by the presence of both Max and Derek, but it should also be a warning to the writers about how much Dave they can get away with.
But other than that, that was a pretty great episode, and one that definitely should have been switched around to a night when there was going to be more of an audience, and Happy Endings was stranded all by its lonesome on ABC's Wednesday night schedule.
Quotes and Other Thoughts:
And yet I laughed. A lot. Whether it was the return of Derek, Max's super flamboyant acquaintance, Max's extremely potent fascination with bad boys, seeing Eliza Coupe play against her type and do so beautifully as Jane suddenly began to sleep on things, or Elisha Cuthbert giving her best performance yet as she began to channel her inner bully, I was in. The show executed a lot of simple jokes tonight, but when it was something like Jane eating a fistful of nachos, it worked when the show and characters just went for it, milking the joke for all it's comedic power.
The real secret here was how the show managed to use Cuthbert, who was attached to the Dave storyline for a little while before she was called over to help the Jane story reach a conclusion in the most hilarious way possible. (Seriously, if this show comes back – and it really, really should, the writers are going to have to find more ways to get Alex to channel her inner bully.) It speaks to the show's writing ability that it's not afraid to let a few of the characters sort of freely float between any given pair of storylines, and it gives the world a better feeling of roundness, as if these tow otherwise disparate plots are actually taking place in the same world. Now if only the episode could have done the same for Penny, and have her help Dave out somehow.
Speaking of which, if there was a weak spot here (and it was a relatively minor one) was Dave's storyline, for two reasons. One, a bully plotline is a fairly straightforward kind of thing, and there's only so much you can do with it, and I appreciate that the show made the bully gay, mostly because you don't see that sort of thing all that often. Two, and this is the much more looming issue, is that Dave isn't all that funny on his own. Sure, he's got a particular Ted Mosby-type douchiness that's always good for some laughs, but it works best when he can react to someone, or someone can react to him, and Dave leading a storyline doesn't really allow for a whole lot of that. Antagonism is just not a good dynamic for the character to work in. This plotline was greatly helped out by the presence of both Max and Derek, but it should also be a warning to the writers about how much Dave they can get away with.
But other than that, that was a pretty great episode, and one that definitely should have been switched around to a night when there was going to be more of an audience, and Happy Endings was stranded all by its lonesome on ABC's Wednesday night schedule.
Quotes and Other Thoughts:
I have to give it up for tonight's director, Jay Chandrasekhar, of Broken Lizard fame. I've never been a big fan of any of his movies, but he's directed a lot of my favorite episodes of a lot of my favorite comedies, and I believe it was thanks to his deft hand at comedy that a lot of the jokes worked tonight.
In two consecutive scenes tonight, the monikers “Rocksteady” and “Bebop” were thrown about, confirming my suspicion that Happy Endings is a show targeted squarely at my generation. Which of course explains why it can't hold on to a lot of Modern Family's audience, which attracts a much wider age range.
Last we, we had a scene set to Run DMC's “King of Rock.” This week, the episode closed with Ice Cube's “It Was a Good Day.”
“Also pretty great? Gym shoes.”
“I think you just said the definition of facism.”
“Max, why are you dressed like Josh Brolin from The Goonies?” “You noticed!”
“Seriously, how do I get him to pay me? I'm low on rent. It's like real drama.”
“You know, it just takes one person inhaling poop dust, and in one week we have a full more Hanta outbreak.”
“The next day I bought that bird a clementine. Which he choked on. Problem solved.”
“What? I like my bad boys with vaginas.”
“When why this photo taken, and why are you making a Koby Bryant intensity face?”
“What if Cory sees you and yells at you and then he's too sexy and he and I fall in love?”
“If I were still a bully, which I'm not because I've worked through out, I'd throw a free weight in his face, and then do 50 push-ups to celebrate.”
“You do not want to get into a patient-wait-off with this guy.”
“Did he just slam my door in his face?”
“You always make all of my hair appointment, Jane. Look at all this hair. I look like Gene Wilder. I'm a monster!”
“Did I eat nachos?”
“A lot of the forefathers were gay. You should watch the Gay History Channel.” “Is that a thing?” “Yeah, it's called Bravo.”
THANK YOU for writing this! I thought it was so weird when the bully called Dave "Rocksteady". But when Penny saying "Bebopping" I had to pause it. Thanks for the confirmation!!
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