Grid Effect

Great, great episode of IASIP this week. We needed some more zaniness with fewer caricatures like we got last week, and really, the overall tone of this episode seemed less harsh than usual, even though Dee beat up a chronically masturbating homeless man, and Dennis extorted money from non-expecting pedestrians while posing as a cop, that is small potatoes compared to previous episodes.

First off, because it was the first thing I noticed about this episode, the “What are you looking at Dicknose?” t-shirt that Mac was wearing before throwing on the Guardian Angels garb, was ripped straight from Teen Wolf. Stiles is wearing it when he and Scott Howard (let it be known that I originally thought Michael J Fox’s character’s name was “Marty”, before verifying with IMDB) are looking for his misplaced bag of marijuana in his parents garage. Jesus, just when I think this show couldn’t come up with anymore obscure references, they throw in a “What are you looking at dicknose?” t-shirt.

Mac and Dennis’s physical comedy was great this episode. This series, more than anything else we’ve ever watched relies heavily on non-verbal comedic approaches, and that was accentuated this episode. Mac working the Guardian Angels suit and Dennis impersonating the hard ass cop had me in stitches. Charlie doing Serpico (in the rerun afterwards, he began doing an “Attica” chant) and everyone’s contemptuous reaction to it was a notch below, but the outfit was so reminiscent of the classic Pacino film that I couldn’t help but laugh at it.

The vintage cop car looked real, and amidst all the great scenes packed into this one episode, the initial one at the hot dog stand stood out. Particularly when they told the vendor that Charlie was a pedophile and he threw him a nasty look, and it was a quick glance, but Charlie had a look of befuddlement like, “why is this guy staring at me like that?” Frank throwing the cop lingo around with such familiarity was probably the funniest thing Danny DeVito has done on this series. Also, I’m pretty sure I’m going as a Guardian Angel for Halloween next year, that or Omar Little. Gotta wear the beret.

Special Agent Jack Bauer was a little odd, but since Dennis is the closest thing on the series to a sociopath, or on any comedy for that matter, it makes sense he develops an attachment to a junkyard cat that was born in a pool of gasoline. It’s the first time we’ve ever seen Dennis sacrifice his own best interests for something he values sentimentally. Hopefully they don’t make a habit of writing his character like this, at least the cat ran away.

FNL recap later.