What I’m Watching: Wet Hot American Summer (Season Finale)

Wet Hot American Summer: Season 1, Episode 8 “Day is Done” (C+)

I don’t know if I was expecting any sort of logical closure at the end of this season, but that certainly didn’t come. Instead, we got a reinforcement of the same ridiculousness that has dictated this entire season, which brought it to a close in its own way. Falcon and Gene sparring at the start of the episode was an amusing moment, and then, after Gene revealed that he had in fact switched out the cans so that the real Mitch was still there, there was another wholly unnecessary twist that the Falcon was actually a double agent the whole time. I think that it was designed fully as a parody of twists that make no sense, as underlined repeatedly by Beth pointing out that Falcon actually killed two people and then Coop summarizing it all and mentioning that it didn’t track. Neil and Shari getting a happy ending was nice since most of the show devolved into absurdity, and at least they got to come out of a hurtful nose game and end up a shining example of a great couple. The military showing up with Reagan in the tank to destroy the camp just as the rival camp was about to destroy them and Eric stood up to use music to save the day was too preposterous to describe, so I won’t even try. This show as fun but hardly anything to write home about. If there was a second season, I think I’d watch, but I wouldn’t be too upset if it didn’t get renewed.

Season grade: B-
Season MVP: Paul Rudd as Andy?