What I’m Watching: Better Off Ted (Season Finale)

Better Off Ted: Season 1, Episode 13 “Secrets and Lives” (C)

I was going to review both episodes of “Better Off Ted” together since they aired back-to-back, but I figured that the drastic difference in quality called for separate pieces. Where “Jabberwocky” excels, “Secrets and Lives” fails. It’s not quite terrible, but the premise is so thin and forced that the episode just doesn’t work very well. Veronica has always been the stiffest character on the show, but for good reason. That’s what her personality is, work-centric and lacking in people skills. Sure, of course she has some venue where she relaxes, but as a magician’s assistant? It feels like someone just pulled that one out of a hat. It doesn’t fit with anything we know about Veronica, and therefore it falls very, very flat. The attempt to make it seem more suited to her by having the entire act be sexually suggestive and inappropriate doesn’t really work too well, especially because the show is on network television, so they can’t really show anything but only imply that it’s something weird. Linda setting Ted up with her friend also doesn’t work as a storyline; it’s a funny concept for a second, but quickly becomes dumb once it’s made clear that no one, including Linda, Ted, Rebecca, and Rose, actually wants this relationship to happen. The return of Maz Jobrani as Dr. Bhamba was fun, but didn’t he get fired by the company and take the blame for all those drugs?

“Better Off Ted” isn’t slated to return until mid-season. Until then, be happy that we got some extra “Ted” during the summer and remember the “Jabberwocky” episode, the better-than-average pilot, and any other installments you really liked fondly and forget about this one.

Season grade: B
Season MVP: Portia de Rossi