Thursday, October 11, 2018

The Book of Rannells: The New Normal: Season 1, Episode 5 – “Nanagasm” (2012)


Here’s another episode I like (does it tend to go every other?  Is that a thing?  We’ll see as write-ups go on.)  Andrew Rannells does some great work in this episode, and Jane isn’t even horrible for most of it!  Not that it’s perfect, which I’ll get to, but overall, I put this one in the win column.

Bryan is on edge when David’s mother comes into town.  She’s never been a fan of Bryan, and David’s attempts to play peacemaker feel more to Bryan like just making excuses for his mom.  Mindful of their baby on the way, David encourages Bryan to talk with her about their differences.  Meanwhile, Jane hooks up with Piper’s brother from Orange is the New Black (I love going back to shows and discovering guest stars I didn’t get to know until later) and is a little startled by her own potential for sexual pleasure.

I’ll start with Jane first, just so I can move on to the meat of the episode.  This might be one of her best storylines in the whole series, if only because she doesn’t spend most of it going out of her way to offend people.  While the message about older people still being sexually vital is maybe hammered home a bit too hard, Ellen Barkin plays it very well, and her frustration at not being able to consult Dr. Oz on her “petit mal seizure” (a.k.a. orgasm) is fun.

But I really love the A-plot with Bryan, David, and David’s mother.  I like that they go with her mostly being cold to Bryan, acting generally dismissive of him and occasionally making little digs that could mostly be explained away as “jokes.”  It’s more believable than open hostility would be (a la Ruby and Bow on Black-ish,) and in some ways, it probably makes it even harder for Bryan to deal with, because it’s so easy for others to downplay.  And yet, when you bring David into it, it’s not as simple as him being on his mom’s “side.”  Throughout the episode, it’s clear that he cares about both very much and typically goes to bat more for whoever’s at a disadvantage at the moment, albeit fairly subtly.  So, when they’re out for dinner with his mom, he talks Bryan up, and when Bryan later tries to address the issue with him in private, David tries to soften Bryan’s take on his mother’s behavior.  Again, this makes for a better story than David being 100% Team Mom.

The episode has tons to offer when it comes to Rannells being awesome.  I love when, in the aforementioned out-for-dinner scene, Bryan grabs the waiter and flatly informs him, “I’m going to be needing dessert for dinner” – it’s an utterly-relatable line, and it perfectly expresses what sort of torment Bryan is in.  His reaction shots in that whole scene are excellent, and when he and David’s mom do have that talk, he’s wonderful.  Bryan spends much of the episode on the defensive, and I like how we see him taking some of his go-to traits, like his cavalier bon mots or his wild self-absorbed claims, and employing them as protective measures against this woman who he feels really mistreats him.

So, lots of defensiveness – muttered comebacks, huge swigs of wine for courage, steeling himself against stings by preparing a witty reposte – but we get more open vulnerability too, when Bryan is alone with David.  This is something I really like about Bryan.  While he can be glib, shallow, and over-dramatic, he can also have a surprising amount of emotional maturity, and when there’s an issue between him and David, he’s often the one to bring it up first and be really honest about his feelings.  To be sure, there are times when David thinks Bryan is being too insensitive, is over-reacting, etc., but it’s to Bryan’s credit that he generally doesn’t brush things away or pretend he’s fine when he’s not; communication is an important part of the guys’ relationship, and Bryan does a lot to keep those lines open.

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