Grid Effect

It looks like this is going to be a regular theme in these episodes, a perceived slight of one band member who momentarily leaves the band before they reconcile at the end of the episode. Twice a woman has come between them (though there was never any talk of breaking up in the pilot), once a job and once a mugging. If this trend continues it could run its course sooner rather than later. But, this episode was hilarious, so onward and upward, young Kiwis.

I wonder if the title reference is commonplace with bands nowadays. Having not played an instrument since the third grade, I really have no idea. But it seems like an obvious reference if there is a divisive long-term female companion with one of the band members. It’s also considerably delusional to even begin to compare ones self to The Beatles in any capacity, even one as unrelated to actual music production as this.

Coco is the Yoko in question, played by Sutton Foster, who’s mostly known for her work in musical theater. If you recall I believe she is the sign girl from episode two, but I suppose things have heated up in the past week, leaving Jermaine feeling left out when Bret asks him to no longer accompany him and Coco on their dates after Jermaine made a pass at her. Thus leading to friction within the band.

If nothing else, this will be remembered as the first episode that didn’t involve Bret or Jermaine, with Maggie having her fan club meeting with Murray. It held its ground and then some, as Murray seemingly has an infatuation with Mel, who is too preoccupied with Bret and Jermaine (in that order) to notice (not to mention she is married). Come to think of it, that’s probably why Murray mentioned Bret has a boyfriend, to see how visceral her reaction would be.

In fact, all of the best scenes this week took place in Murray’s office. In addition to the one just mentioned, the scene where Coco joins the band meeting was priceless. Its rare someone gets hit in the face with a sandwich then screams, “A sandwich hit my face!”. Usually the response is something along the lines of, (rhetorically) “how dare you?” or (literally) “I’m going to beat your face in”. But Jermaine is horrified that he was struck by bread and deli meat. Between that, Jermaine’s poster, Murray’s awful moderation, the use of the word “dickhead” and the guilt trip over the band shells; my only complaint is that Dave wasn’t involved.

They played two songs again this week, which is looking to be a staple amount. The first was a love song to Coco, “If Your Into It”, and was a great follow up to the visual comedy of Brit’s original version that exceeded two hours in length. The second was a satirical “ode to love” with a metaphor comparing the effect tape has on assorted office supplies. Both were improvements from the past two weeks and I hope to see more of it. But the second song seemed like a finale moment, I was sort of under the impression this episode was going to end their pilot season with all the characters coming together to finish the episode…

…But we were privy to some previews, in which the storylines with Sally and Coco converge next week. This will probably be their magnus opus (at least as far as this show is concerned), which is saying something, given what we’ve already seen.

Rescue Me recap coming tomorrow.