Grid Effect

Well, that was an offbeat episode. And for this show I thought it would take people walking on their hands and eating with their feet for me to classify any one episode as “offbeat”. Not to say it wasn’t amusing but it was flummoxing, and if this was anyone’s first time watching the series, then they probably didn’t quite “get it”.

For the most part, the concept of Americans despising New Zealanders is funny in and of itself. Dave’s explanation of “prejudism” was really misinforming, particularly since, as the show so often illustrates, most Americans are not aware that New Zealand and Austrailia are two separate, distinct cultures. So the notion that they are actively discriminated against is counter-intuitive to the running theme of obsoleteness they are usually so insecure about.

There was a bevy of humor extracted from this story, the disinfecting of apples, the vendor counting to ten in his head, and Dave teaching Bret and Jermaine how to flip the bird, all paid off nicely. The ending was a nice touch as well, how the three reconciled after the vendor mistook the two protagonists for Austrailians, and they transferred their hatred onto the Aussies and took their collective bird over to their embassy in the credits. A decent plot line with plenty of derivative humor, but the delivery and quirkiness was probably a little too absurd for a first-timer, if you fall into this camp I’d try to catch the pilot or any of the earlier episodes before making any judgements.

Lots of Dave this week, which I have been advocating for, but Murray with his own song (Hiiii!) was the surprise of the week. It through all my expectations into a tailspin and I was questioning my sense of reality. Not that the song was particularly funny or anything, but I really didn’t anticipate any musical numbers by anyone else. Can we expect the same from Dave or Mel?

Anyhow, every scene in Murray’s office was brilliant. The ripping out the cord, the constant harassing of “tech support”, whom he fell in love with a few days before actually learning the woman’s name, I also enjoyed the quelling of Bret and Jermaine’s non-argument. If Murray and Dave ever interact without the two leads around, I could almost guarantee a top-tier scene would be the result of it.

The music this week was great, if only because it had a clay-mation interpretation of “Albi, The Racist Dragon”. Nothing like a mock-folktale to steer an episode in the right direction. The only downside was the delivery, as Jermaine’s quasi-paternal inflections weren’t as noticeable. I already mentioned Murray’s song, “Leggy Blonde”, and it was alright. The visual effects and Murray’s deadpan sold it more than any of the writing. The third song was another rap parody, and much like their other rap parodies, I found myself simply waiting for it to end. The entire “white guy trying to act black” thing never really amused me, and while these two do it better than most, its just the gimmick that is tireseome.

Never the less, another strong outing. Star-Ledger TV critic Alan Sepinwall, after mixing with several HBO figureheads, has instilled some confidence that this series will get a second season if it wants one. If they can make somethig this eccentric and it still produces sound comedy, I see no reason they couldn’t maintain the same standard for two full seasons.