Monday, February 13, 2012

What I’m Watching: 30 Rock


30 Rock: Season 6, Episodes 6 & 7 “Hey, Baby, What’s Wrong, Parts 1 & 2” (B-)

This double dose of Valentine’s Day wackiness is somewhat entertaining, but why did it have to preempt the infinitely superior “Parks & Recreation”? As tends to be the case more and more frequently these days, this show emphasizes its ridiculous, offbeat nature and ends up producing installments that are funny but so wacky that they’re usually unfulfilling. As someone that has never been to Ikea (not sure how!), that humor was a bit lost on me, but the most important takeway is that Criss doesn’t care about the fact that they’re going to get into stupid fights that Liz will end up reading too much into, but that also means that he’s an extremely oblivious guy, as evidenced by his sweet but unsustainable makeshift table. Kristen Schaal’s page Hazel is not having an easy time at TGS, though Kenneth is well on his way to making her understand what a page’s responsibilities really are. Ultimately, she proved to be extremely creepy by envying Liz’s life and talking about cutting off her lips. Jenna’s inability to sing under pressure turned out to be quite silly as it was fixed by an arrow piercing her, thanks to Pete’s surprising long-dormant skill. Frank and Tracy teaching Lutz how to pick up desperate women for the entirety of Valentine’s Day was mildly amusing. The best plotline, by far, was Jack’s near-romance with his mother-in-law, played to perfection by Mary Steenburgen, who ended up being just like him in many ways. Among their best moments together was ruining “Friends” for the Transylvanian ambassador.

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