What I’m Watching: There’s Johnny

There’s Johnny: Season 1, Episode 4 “Take Me To Church” (B+)

It’s good to see this show trying to navigate drama in addition to its comedy, continuing to weave a compelling narrative that’s getting more and more interesting as it goes on. This episode even featured Andy interacting directly with Johnny but in a perfectly impersonal way. He was supposed to star in the Charlton Heston speech holding the spear – a marvelous moment of fame that he was excited to tell his parents about – but he ended up getting on air when he tripped while handing a pile of paper to Johnny, after which he acknowledged and thanked him by name. I didn’t imagine Andy as the churchgoing type, but I guess it makes sense given his humble suburban Nebraska upbringing. Standing up to ask everyone at church to keep his brother in the military in mind seemed innocent enough, and it’s hard to believe that such a passive comment could be so incendiary given the degenerate nature of political viciousness these days. At least he didn’t submit that dollar bill, but Freddie did still have to pay a lot of money for the uproar that was caused. Andy was so excited to tell his mom about what ended up happening with the show that the audience couldn’t have been prepared for the tragic development that was revealed on the other side of the phone, which will surely put Andy in an understandable rut for a while. Joy not wanting to get something off the registry and being judged by her therapist, played by David Paymer, seemed entertaining enough, but her realization that she was a terrible person for sleeping with the groom the day after his wedding has clearly had severe effects on her sense of self-worth.