Best Episodes of the Season | Jmunney's Blog

Best Episode of the Season: Key & Peele Season 2

May 17, 2013

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Season Analysis: Key & Peele betrayed a little bit of exhaustion in its second batch of episodes – it’s hard to continually pull off the unexpected in comedy. But it was never really bad, and the best of Season 2 reached even greater heights than that of Season 1.

“Episode Two”
Most episodes of Key & Peele do not have an overarching theme (at least not one that is much different than the overall theme of the series), so one excellent sketch can make the difference in an episode being the best of the season. This was the case with Episode 2 of Season 2, which featured the already iconic “East/West Bowl” sketch. I’ll get to my explanation of that bit’s greatness in my Best Sketch of the Season post, but for now I’ll mention Keegan and Jordan’s stand-up segment that immediately followed. Keegan’s physical reaction to D’Brickashaw Ferguson’s mother’s explanation that “D’Brickashaw” is a family name was a thing of beauty. Although the sketch seemed surreal, the actual people they mentioned with names like “L–a” underscored just how much it was in actuality too real.

Best Episode of the Season: Childrens Hospital Season 4

May 17, 2013

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Season Analysis: There were 14 episodes of Childrens Hospital in Season 4. I liked all of them. A few of them I really liked. I wish there had been more Malin Åkerman. I also wish there had been more David Wain in front of the camera (but of course that always goes without saying).

“The Boy with the Pancakes Tattoo”
Childrens Hospital exists to parody the tropes of over-the-top hospital dramas like Grey’s Anatomy, but it can get exhausting to constantly laugh at the same sort of medical ridiculousness. Luckily, this show occasionally branches out into other genre parodies, such as this episode’s take on an amnesia suspense thriller. Interestingly enough, considering all the intense circumstances that can befall a hospital drama, this bout of mass amnesia at Childrens does not feel out of place. The fact that the amnesia was caused by a criminal act by Sy is a perfectly logical explanation, and the fact that the conclusion of the whole thing essentially makes no sense is also perfectly acceptable, considering that this is Childrens Hospital.

Best Episode of the Season: Animal Practice Season 1*

May 14, 2013

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(*-First and Only Season!)

Season Analysis: Animal Practice was never as stupid as it looked. It was a perfectly pleasant, middle-of-the-road comedy that was actually surprisingly light on the wackiness. And, yes, the monkey was the best part. (Get Tyler Labine a show that lasts!)

“Wingmen”
“Wingmen” – one of three Animal Practice episodes that were posted online after the show was cancelled – presented a version of the show that could have worked if it had survived. It was finally starting to get a handle on all of its characters, most notably its two most problematic ones – Joanna García-Swisher’s Dorothy Crane and Bobby Lee’s Dr. Yamamoto – in a storyline in which the two start hanging out more and Dr. Yamamoto starts to think that they might be more than friends. Dorothy had been too humorless in most episodes – she was supposed to be that way to an extent, but it got to be a tad unbearable. The circumstances of this episode allowed her to show off a different side of her personality. Meanwhile, Yamamoto was Animal Practice’s most unfortunately ridiculous character (oddly enough, that was a problem for this show). This episode afforded him the best chance to be more grounded and act like an actual human being. But the highlight of this episode was the team-up of the two best characters – Betsy Sodaro’s Nurse Angela and Crystal the Monkey’s Dr. Rizzo. Their plot was typical sitcom hijinks: they call the cable guy to work on their TV, Angela falls for the cable guy, and then they pretend that there is still a problem so that they cable guy will keep showing up. But it is okay to have typical sitcom hijinks when they are performed by the inimitable Betsy Sodaro and Crystal the capuchin monkey.

Best Episode of the Season: Louie Season 3

May 11, 2013

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Season Analysis: Season 3 was my first taste of Louie. It did not quite hit the individual highs that I heard Season 2 hit, but it remains true that each individual episode is its own fascinating experiment, straight from the mind of its creator at the height of his career.

“Miami”
More and more people are hating on the word “bromance.” I do not think that is so much because of what a bromance is as much as how it is presented. It is a word that should not have to exist. But as much of the comedy of Louis C.K. and this particular episode of his show demonstrate, two straight men striking up a friendship can be a painfully awkward situation. The end scene in which Louie attempts to explain to Ramon why he stayed a few extra days is indeed painfully awkward, but also poignant. How do you explain yourself in a situation like that? Maybe there are some people who are gifted enough to explain themselves, but Louis C.K. is definitely not one of those people. The scene with Louie telling his ex-wife he is staying a few more days was a nice touch. It was sweet of her to wish him well, despite making an incorrect assumption. This episode is also about the desire to make vacations permament, which sounds like a nice idea, but often ends up being as awkward as Louie’s attempt to do so.

Best Episode of the Season: Awkward. Season 2

May 9, 2013

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Season Analysis: It always sounds a little suspicious when high school movies and TV shows are described as perfectly capturing the high school experience, because everyone’s high school experience is different. Having said that, Awkward.’s characters really do seem like real people, and similarly, it is a show that is delightfully confident enough to be its own self and move at its own pace (Season premiere taking place on New Year’s Eve airing in summer? Why not?!).

“Once Upon a Blog”
I may be a sucker for a show messing with its normal format, or “Once Upon a Blog” really was a truly unabashedly fun episode of Awkward. The thing is, most Awkward. episodes are, well, a bit awkward. So, it was a delightful change of pace to go through what-if scenarios and genre flips. If the entire series were like this, it would all be a bit too lightweight. But as a one-off, it encapsulated all that the show is and could have been.

Best Episode of the Season: Futurama Season 7-A

May 9, 2013

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Season Analysis: It’s not like the 2012 output of Futurama was bad or anything, it’s just that there wasn’t anything about it that really excited me.

“Decision 3012”
One of Futurama’s major strengths has been its ability to take social and political issues of the day and demonstrate how they could continue to crop up 1,000 years from now, such as the endlessness of political debates (the 3012 debate is the 3,012^th debate of the 3012 election) and mathematically unsound economic policy (candidates are asked point blank if they believe they can lower taxes and fix the deficit). The biggest target of this episode is the birther movement, in which the Earth citizenship of Senator Chris Zaxxar Travers (running against the head of President Nixon for President of Earth) is called into question. Futurama adds its sci-fi bent to the social commentary, as it turns out that Senator Travers cannot produce his “Earth certificate” because he is a time traveler who has not been born on Earth yet. Eventually, in true Futurama fashion, what started as a takeoff of the political issues of the 21^st century became its own thing, with time travel paradoxes and erasure from existence.

Bunk: Season 1* Analysis and MVP

May 1, 2013

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(*-1st and only season)

Season Analysis: Bunk was sort of like Whose Line is it Anyway? with stand-up comedians, except that the points did matter, insofar as a winner was chosen based on the score actually being tallied. Actually it was like Whose Line but with too many staged parts, and the improvised bits were a bit spotty. But the comedians were some funny people, so it was good for some moments.

MVP: Ethan T. Berlin
Ethan T. Berlin is to Bunk what Colin Mochrie is to Whose Line is it Anyway?: interpreting the improv prompts in a way that nobody else would ever consider. Assigned the task of singing about a grandmother’s secret, he reveals that she has never known what a Cobb salad is. He also offered some fascinating moments of self-deprecation, such as creating a road sign with the meaning “Warning: A Lady’s Gonna Blame You” – with a facial expression indicating that plenty of ladies have blamed him.

Best Episode of the Season: Comedy Bang! Bang! Season 1

April 24, 2013

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Season Analysis: Scott Aukerman has a great rapport with Reggie Watts, and a great rapport with all of his funny friends. There are several funny segments that I assume were brought over from the podcast. But sometimes it all gets a bit silly.

“Elizabeth Banks Wears A Red Dress”
The most important part of comedy is the element of surprise. So for a show as ironic and absurd as Comedy Bang! Bang!, it’s hard to continually produce good comedy when surprise is always expected. So it was nice to have a guest like Elizabeth Banks, who more or less acted as herself instead of trying to match Scott Aukerman as he played “Scott Aukerman.” But the real reason this wins as best episode is David Wain, who appears as television critic Gordon “The Hatchet” Thatchet.” Wain operates on a different comedy plane than everyone else in the room (always a formula for success), as he constantly assigns star ratings to every moment of the show and tells Scott, “You’re no Johnny Carson, honey.”

Best Episode of the Season: Girls Season 1

July 16, 2012

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Season Analysis: Girls may be the voice of its generation, or at least a voice of a generation. But really, whether Lena Dunham realizes it or not, what Girls gets is that everyone is lost in their twenties, and this particular show is honest about the experience of a particular group of lot people in their twenties.

“Vagina Panic”

“You couldn’t pay me enough to be 24 again.”
“Well, they’re not paying me at all.”

(Full disclosure: I am currently 24. They are currently paying me. But I guess it’s not for being 24.) Abortion may be the most polarizing subject in the country. It is not so controversial as to be completely off-limits for television, though. I have seen abortion covered on plenty of shows, but never before as it was covered on Girls. I never would have conceived it being dealt with the way that Girls did, and I am a bit surprised it didn’t lead to something of an uproar. Jessa’s decision to have the abortion never seemed like it was that big a deal for her, or for Hannah, Marnie, or Shoshanna. It wasn’t that it was treated like nothing, just that it was nowhere near the biggest decision Jessa could ever make. Her friends were there for her, but they weren’t really there. Hannah saw it as an opportunity to get checked for STD’s, Marnie was ultimately most concerned about Jessa being late for her own abortion, and Shoshanna didn’t how to deal with the situation and ended up kind of turning it into a party. 24-year-olds have a lot going on, and that seems all the more true for acutely self-conscious 24-year-olds. A baby scare for yourself or your friend is not going to make everything else go away. Hannah Horvath and her friends are just about the pinnacle of self-consciousness, which can make them petty at times, enough so that they turned the most polarizing topic in the country into something petty.

Best Episode of the Season: Awake Season 1 (First and Only Season!)

July 3, 2012

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Season Analysis: Seemingly burdened by a concept that looked like it would work better as a movie or at most a miniseries, Awake did a more than passable job of stretching it out to a full season and looked like it was ready to make it work over multiple seasons if given the chance.

“That’s Not My Penguin”

Most of Awake’s episodes followed the tried-and-true cop show formula to an almost painful degree, but they were always saved (at least somewhat) by the twist that the lead detective was working two separate cases concurrently in two different worlds that tied into each other obliquely. “That’s Not My Penguin” thankfully mixed up the formula by having Detective Britten held hostage by mental hospital patient Gabriel. A hostage situation is not an unusual one for a stunt episode, but it did work strongly in Awake’s favor, allowing it to really take advantage of its premise in astute and truly weird fashion. Gabriel’s mental construction of an alternate reality obviously paralleled Britten’s situation, suggesting that Britten might be crazy enough for institutionalization but also presenting a contrast that showed that even if he is crazy, he has found a way to make it work (for now). Britten’s hallucination of Dr. Lee in the hospital actually served to demonstrate his ingenuity in solving this crisis, and it added to the whole show another layer to chew over by showing that hallucinations could possibly be appearing within Britten’s hallucination/dream. Combine that with the penguin hallucination in the other reality, and it seemed to be that Britten’s mind could be going in any number of directions at any time no matter what the location. More than any other episode of Awake, “That’s Not My Penguin” pressed the rhetorical question, “What’s so crazy about being crazy if you know how to make it work?”

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