Grid Effect

Two good episodes in a row? That literally hasn’t happened in a calendar year with this series, and we’re ecstatic here at Grid Effect. For once, we can’t tell you how this plot is going to conclude. Between the unpredictability and the derivative humor (which was top notch last night), this show is once again something worth anticipating.

There really wasn’t anything about this episode that I disliked. Walsh was a little less animated (which was necessary), Piven was spot on in exuding his frustration about the lack of an efficient personal assistant (also liked the call back with the shy mail room kid) and his elation over the deal he made with Dana Gordon’s unnamed studio, to his defense of Vince to his complaints against Eric for not putting his differences with Walsh aside, just an Emmy worthy performance, really. At this rate, Eric is eventually going to kill someone if he keeps getting walked on like this.

The professional ambiguity is something I don’t recall seeing in any series before. There really is no indication if Eric or Vince is right about “Medellin” and Walsh in general. It is quite possible Walsh won’t be able to handle a film with a large budget (since he was losing his mind on the set of “Medellin”) and Eric will be proved right, but for the sake of variety and character depth they need Vince, Walsh and the rest of the film world be in the right on this one. Eric, who has a legitimate complaint about being verbally abused all the time, was as mature about the situation as possible (loved the crack about Ari still getting him $2 million of producer money), has to have higher ambitions. It does require a suspension of disbelief that I might just be incapable of to actually believe Eric really doesn’t want to produce, especially if he’s only going to have one client. Maybe he’ll use the opportunity to expand so he isn’t so reliant on one person.

Even the Turtle-Drama storyline was decent, as it brought a cameo from the same guy who played Big Pussy’s FBI confidante in season two of The Sopranos. The riffing on the abnormal bond fathers and sons have when it pertains to professional athletes was a humorous angle to play off of, much better than bantering about rim jobs (why do I continuously remind myself of that?).

Then there was Lloyd, a crowd favorite whom finally got some noteworthy face time. Of course Piven stole the screen each time, but the varying story threads are a welcomed change and Lloyd has been woefully under-utilized.

Hopefull these two episodes aren’t anomalies and this is a return to a quality half-hour of appointment television, instead of just something we watch because it leads into Flight of The Conchords.