Best Episodes of the 2011-2012 Season | Jmunney's Blog

Best Episode of the Season: The Simpsons Season 23

June 25, 2012

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Season Analysis: It’s a post-post-post-Simpsons world, and the show’s best moments sneak in when nobody is paying attention.

“The Book Job”

Parodies of heist movies (as well as heist movies themselves) have been done plenty of times, satires of the publishing industry – not so much. That’s probably because satirizing the book world doesn’t sound like that much fun, whereas heists are all about fun. But, fun or no, there is plenty worth targeting in the literary realm, so the idea of combining a publishing industry satire with a heist parody was an ingenious move by The Simpsons writing team. The relentlessness of the double crosses in the last act as well as the flashback reveals that the heist had actually worked when it seemed otherwise is the sort of thing that would ruin most heist movies or heist parodies, but it worked because all these elements also served as a satirical knife cutting into the teen fantasy literary genre: the book executives want to replace the trolls in the story with more easily marketable vampires, Lisa just wants her name on a best-seller, ghost written or not, and Neil Gaiman ultimately heists his way to the best-seller list “once again.” Also, the book titles revealed in the establishing shot at Bookaccino’s were a boon to freeze-frame inclined TV viewers (highlights included Percy Sledge and the Olympians, Are you there Glycon? It’s Me Alan Moore, Chat Roulette with the Vampire, The Girl with the ‘How to Train Your Dragon’ Tattoo, Cocktail Party Make-You-Thinks by Malcolm Gladwell, and of course, Death to Freezeframers).

Best Episode of the Season: The Cleveland Show Season 3

June 25, 2012

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Season Analysis: Has there ever been a show more satisfied with being slightly better than mediocre than The Cleveland Show?

“There Goes El Neighborhood”

There weren’t really any episodes of The Cleveland Show this season that would really qualify as particularly great examples of the television medium. Thus, my criterion for picking “El Neighborhood” as this year’s best was more or less that I remembered laughing at it more than any other episode this year. It did show some ambition, in that it continued the storyline from the previous episode (Cleveland, Jr. marrying a Latina girl to get her a green card) on a show that otherwise lacks serialization. But if forced to pinpoint what really made this episode work, I would have to say, “I doñ’t know,” i.e., when Cleveland is confronted by his new Latina neighbor Choni (voiced by the intensely Latina Rosie Perez) regarding his insensitivity to Latino culture, he starts pronouncing all his n’s as if they had tildes over them, and overcorrection regarding pronunciation is always funny.

Best Episode of the Season: Saturday Night Live Season 37

June 25, 2012

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Season Analysis: My full SNL Season 37 recap is coming soon.

“716 – Zooey Deschanel/Karmin”

I love Zooey Deschanel, and … well, I’ve already talked about that in my New Girl coverage. When I heard that Zooey was going to be hosting SNL, naturally I was excited. And when she ended up being her naturally adorable self over the course of the night, naturally I loved the episode and wanted to give her a hug. But I contend that even for those who do not like Zooey, there were some things – a lot, actually – to love about this episode. First off, even though Zooey was a great host, there were plenty of great moments that did not feature her. Nicolas Cage showed up to square off against Andy Samberg as Nicolas Cage in quite possibly the best example in SNL history of a cast member meeting the object of his impressionism (and in this guest star-heavy season, Jean Dujardin also stopped by for a round of the delightfully light and absurd “Les Jeunes de Paris”). Then there were Bill Hader’s triumphant appearances as Clint Eastwood in a flipping mad parody of his Chrysler Super Bowl commercial. Honestly, there were maybe two sketches that traded in on Zooey’s sort-of controversial persona, and one of those – the “Bein’ Quirky with Zooey Deschanel” talk show – was a knowing wink at the excesses of her eccentricities. In summation, the Zooey Deschanel episode of SNL was for everyone, Zooey lovers and haters alike.

Best Episode of the Season: Community Season 3

June 22, 2012

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(Thanks to fishsticktheatre for the “Regional Holiday Music,” “Virtual Systems Analysis,” and “Pillows & Blankets” screencaps.)

Season Analysis: It has gotten to the point that the “special” episodes of Community are so frequent and so consistently satisfactory that I do not realize just how special they are until several days after viewing.

“Remedial Chaos Theory”

People who have not been won over by Community generally seem to be put off, or scared, or confused by the show’s decided eccentricity. But perhaps these people would give the best show on television another chance if they knew that the eccentric side of an episode like “Remedial Chaos Theory” is not just eccentric for eccentricity’s sake and that it actually has a purpose, and a profound one at that. That is not to say that the other “special” or “theme” episodes of Community do not also have a purpose (most – if not all – of them do), but the purpose of the multiple timeline format of “Chaos” is worth giving unique weight to because of how fundamentally it relates to the makeup of the series: the purpose, to spell it out, is to ask the question, “What insight does the multiple timeline conceit give us into what role each character plays in the study group?” Anyone who has ever had any circle of friends can relate, because, for most – if not all – of us, there have been moments when our entire group has been together, moments when only half the group has been there, moments when one person has been missing, etc. But we never experience the same moments more than once with a different group makeup each time – maybe we experience something similar, maybe the same type of event, but not the exact same moment. And so, the metaphysically inclined are left to wonder, “How would this situation have been different if I went downstairs to grab the pizza instead of you, or him, or her?” This is the sort of question that typically belongs in the domain of science fiction, and the geekiest variety at that. But Community makes it more universally relatable by utilizing it in the most mundane fashion imaginable and still manages to turn it into one of the most satisfyingly ambitious half hours of television ever.

You didn’t think I was going to just honor one episode of Community this season, did you? For a show that airs episodes worthy of being most shows’ best of the season on a regular basis, it is practically mandatory to include some Runners-Up:

“Regional Holiday Music”
How appropriate that in the same year that Glee aired one of the worst Christmas episodes in television history, Community made one of the best Christmas episodes out of a Glee parody. Also, my reaction to Annie’s “Teach Me How to Understand Christmas” routine: “Did that really just happen?!”

“Documentary Filmmaking: Redux”
An Apocalypse Now/Hearts of Darkness homage turns into a bizarre love letter to the equally bizarre Greendale (with a Luis Guzman cameo to boot).

“Virtual Systems Analysis”
An episode that amazed with its ability to spin several plates at once – with some plates spinning on top of other plates – without any of them breaking: Everybody plays their usual characters, and … Danny Pudi plays Abed playing Annie, Jeff, Britta, Troy, Pierce, Shirley, and Annie playing Abed; Alison Brie plays Abed playing Annie; Joel McHale plays Abed playing Jeff; Gillian Jacobs plays Abed playing Britta; Donald Glover plays Abed playing Troy; Chevy Chase plays Abed playing Pierce; and Yvette Nicole Brown plays Abed playing Shirley. Is your brain still working? Good, then you’ll be happy to watch even more Community.

“Pillows and Blankets”
I was so amused just by the idea that Community would model an episode after a Ken Burns documentary that I was laughing non-stop all the way until the first commercial break.

Best Episode of the Season: 30 Rock Season 6

June 22, 2012

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Season Analysis: 30 Rock is starting to repeat itself, but it is also making funny out of the fact that it is repeating itself, which is kind of a good thing.

“Leap Day”

“Real life is for March.”

30 Rock was particularly enamored of holidays in Season 6. Certainly, holiday-themed episodes are nothing out of the ordinary when it comes to television, with most shows having Christmas-themed episodes and many often covering Thanksgiving and Halloween as well. But 30 Rock did not premiere until January, so it could not cover those perennial favorites, but it was able to take on the classic Valentine’s Day as well as the not-quite classic St. Patrick’s Day, and it even managed to spruce up one episode with a fake movie trailer for Martin Luther King Day, a Valentine’s Day/New Year’s Eve-esque ensemble rom-com. But the best holiday cheer was saved for a day that only comes around every four years: Leap Day, a magical extra day when you can do things you would not do on any other day. Unless my childhood was just as deprived as Liz Lemon’s, I am pretty sure that February 29 is not actually celebrated by wearing blue and yellow (and poking in the eye people who don’t), dressing up as Leap Day Williams (who spends all other days besides Leap Day in the Marianas Trench), and trading candy for children’s tears. If all those traditions were real, then that fake Jim Carrey movie would probably be a real Jim Carrey movie. But much like Festivus emerging as a real thing thanks to Seinfeld, do not be surprised if come 2016, you suddenly feel the urge to put real life off until March and take a leap into something you otherwise never would have done.

Best Episode of the Season: Suburgatory Season 1

June 22, 2012

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Season Analysis: Suburgatory is much, much weirder than it appears to be at first glance (or perhaps just as weird as it appears to be if all you have seen is one random, particularly weird moment), and it has taken that weirdness all the way to being the best new sitcom of the season.

“Down Time”

All of the main characters of Suburgatory had moments to shine in “Down Time,” and the most fascinating moments came courtesy of none other than Dalia Royce. Dalia is unlike any other seemingly vapid teenage girl in the history of high school movies and TV shows: her superficiality is expressed in truly bizarre fashion, and she is actually occasionally quite clever. And as “Down Time” proved, she is also capable of legitimate emotions, but in Suburgatory’s patently weird fashion, that emotion was introduced in a therapy session (with James Lipton playing the therapist, natch) in which Dalia confronted her nemesis – Yakult … the dog, whom she blamed for her parents’ divorce. But it is not like Suburgatory cannot express its emotions in a more normal way as well, as Cheryl Hines went for broke as Dallas Royce by way of breaking down while mattress shopping over the realization that her marriage truly was over.
“Down Time” also found some happy moments, as Lisa announced that she had finally taken Malik as a lover. Lisa’s moments with her mother upon the news coming out were a precious comic delight from Allie Grant and Ana Gasteyer, with Sheila reminding her daughter that Arthur Fonzarelli is fictional and lamenting the fact that she does not fully understand her since she is a “tweenager.” This storyline also allowed Suburgatory to show off its strangely hip side regarding gender and race, with Lisa reassuring Tessa that the two of them will remain like “Thelma and that other ho” and Sheila commenting Malik by telling him that he is like a list of random black people, for which Malik is happy to play along to, saying that he “gets that a lot” in regards to Montel Jordan.

Best Episode of the Season: Gossip Girl Season 5

June 21, 2012

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Season Analysis: Though it was saddled with some deadweight from its lesser seasons, Season 5 was the best since Season 2: Blair was as good as always (even with occasionally insulting material), Dan was the best he’s ever been, the writers finally figured out how to write for a well-behaved Chuck, Nate was mostly boring but at least he’s a good guy, and Serena … well, I guess I can accept that the writers are not perfect. But then it was all ruined with a season finale in which all the major characters became the worst possible versions of themselves. Dear Gossip Girl writers: the “it was all a dream” reveal is generally an unwelcome cop-out, but you will need to do something like it to make up for the mess you made with that finale.

“Memoirs of an Invisible Dan”

Gossip Girl’s best bet for success is to have as many characters as possible crashing into each other at once. “Memoirs of an Invisible Dan” provided a doozy of a way for this to happen – a way that the entire series had been building to (whether it realized it or not): the announcement of Dan as the previously anonymous author of Inside, the novel chronicling life on the Upper East Side, featuring characters very similar to those on Gossip Girl. This episode actually managed to have it both ways: its style matched that of the way The CW often promotes the show (a series of frothy OMG moments that ought to be followed by a wah-wah sound effect) and the actual style of a typical episode (in which the emotional beats are just as dramatic, but more realistically drawn out, and actually allowing for a chance of resolution). The offense that Dan’s friends took at their portrayals in Inside were unnecessarily harsh, considering that they were fictionalized versions and the book’s narrator, Dylan Hunter, had a consistently and unrelentingly cynical view of his world, even more so than that of Dan Humphrey. But, these characters were based on real aspects of the pasts and personalities of the people in Dan’s life, and thus they had the capacity to really cut to the heart. Ed Westwick showed off some of his finest work in many an episode, as Chuck Bass alternated acknowledged just how right Dan had gotten him, but this acknowledgement also led him to ponder over his life’s severe emptiness.

Best Episode of the Season: How I Met Your Mother Season 7

June 20, 2012

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Season Analysis: Inspired by the death of Marshall’s father, HIMYM plumbed some of its deepest emotional depths in the first half of the season, with Jason Segel doing his best work of the entire series. Then in the second half, there was a little of this, a little of that, and by the end, we still hadn’t quite made it to the wedding that was teased in the season premiere.

“Trilogy Time”

As part of a triennial tradition, Ted, Marshall, and Barney gather to watch the original Star Wars trilogy back-to-back-to-back. I would have been happy if this episode had just been the three of them reacting to the movies, but what this episode actually turned out to be was good, too. It turns out that every year of this tradition, they have imagined what their lives will be like three years into the future. This structure of potential flash-forwards within flashbacks was mostly silly, in that it was already known that these possible futures – at points now in the past – would not come to be. But it was also clever in a way that HIMYM often is, displaying a strong awareness of continuity, as Lily and Marshall’s relationship troubles and Barney and Robin’s secret affair are referenced at the appropriate points. There was also a plethora of blink-and-you-miss-’em gags, particularly the presidents mentioned in the newspaper headlines (Al Gore in ’03, Howard Dean in ’06, Dennis Kucinich in ’09, and George W. Bush for a third term in 2015). Gratifyingly, something resembling a self-appointed endgame was established, with an actual flash-forward to the next trilogy time in 2015 revealing that Ted would be breaking the tradition by bringing a girl along – with that girl being his infant daughter.

Best Episode of the Season: Desperate Housewives Season (Final Season!)

June 20, 2012

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Season Analysis: The final season of Desperate Housewives suffered from a setup in which the four main ladies acted in a way that I just never bought.

“Always in Control”

Though he did reprise the role of Orson for a few episodes, Kyle MacLachlan was not the best Twin Peaks alum on Desperate Housewives’ final season. That honor goes to Miguel Ferrer as Andre Zeller, Susan’s grumpy, exacting art teacher, and it was his presence that served to make some of the best moments of the season as good as they were, and he is a major reason for my pick of “Always in Control” as the best episode of the season. Individual episodes of Desperate typically just continue the storylines from the previous episodes, with the characters from separate storylines maybe – or maybe not – bumping into each other, so it is rare – or at least it has been rare the past few seasons – for an entire episode to distinguish itself. “Always in Control” gets my vote, then, not because the whole episode was great, but because it climaxed in a moment for which I had been holding out hope for several weeks: Susan finding it in herself to actually produce a good painting, prompted by her discovery that the other girls had been hiding the news that Alejandro’s body had been dug up. Andre’s response to her good work was the same as mine: “Finally.”

Best Episode of the Season: American Dad! Season 8

June 19, 2012

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Season Analysis: For a few years now, American Dad! has been the best of Fox’s animated Sunday block (although Bob’s Burgers appears to be taking over in that area); any subpar efforts are at least interesting, and rarely annoying.

“Virtual In-Stanity”

Worried that he has not been a big enough part of Steve’s life, Stan uses the CIA’s avatar program to create a busty blond bombshell avatar (voiced by Sarah Michelle Gellar) as a way of bonding with Steve … and then when a love triangle forms, things get a little too close for comfort. So, basically, there was no way “Virtual In-Stanity” was going to win American Dad! any new fans. But for the fans already there, it was Dad’s patented wrong humor done just right. It was also a geeks’ delight, as there were, in addition to Avatar, references to Aliens (Francine fights Stan’s avatar while in a power lift mecha suit) and Buffy the Vampire Slayer (the real girl who Steve actually wanted to take to the dance was voiced by Alyson Hannigan). And the main plot was not even the most disturbing part of the episode. The B-plot was American Dad! at its most nihilistic, with Roger hunting down a group of frat brothers who did a “drive and dash” after using Roger’s limo service (a service he began upon stealing a limo). It ultimately comes to Roger blowing up a plane that the last surviving bro was on (and also killing a stewardess who had managed to escape on a parachute). Dad! was actually demonstrating some restraint by not making that the A-plot.

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