Take Three: Me, Myself, and I

Me, Myself, and I: Season 1, Episode 3 “The Card” (B+)

I thought that this episode worked very well, tying together the three periods of Alex’s life with one unforgettable gift that played very much into Alex’s experience of his birthday. I think that this show’s sweetest relationship might actually be the one between Alex and his stepdad Ron, who was so excited to see how happy it made Alex to get the signed Michael Jordan card and then understood completely why he sold it to get that same feeling from his daughter. I think it’s their warm chats that enhance the show’s weakest time period, which in this episode found Alex agreeing to take his daughter glamping since he thought that they just didn’t know how to say camping and weren’t going to go on an unnecessarily expensive luxury outing to the woods. Bobby Moynihan does do a good job of keeping adult Alex moderately serious. Young Alex is still my favorite, and giving the card to Nori because she knew what it was hardly proved to be the best idea, but fortunately Justin was there to help and agree immediately to forge another signature and steal the card. It was funny that they forgot which one was real, but apparently it all worked out since he sold the one they kept for a good chunk of change later in life. After Alex nearly spent his birthday alone at age 65, it was sweet to see Abby show up with the repurchased card, and I couldn’t be more thrilled about the casting of Ed Begley Jr., a great and often hilarious actor, as the adult version of Justin who has somehow become the governor.