The Book of Rannells: The New Normal: Season 1, Episode 6 – “Bryanzilla” (2012)

This episode is kind of a mixed bag for me.  It’s definitely too much in places, but other parts are entertaining and I love the ending.  I think it’s improved somewhat on rewatch, though it still stays mostly in the middle of the pack as far as The New Normal goes.

After Shania announces her “pretend engagement,” to one of her fellow 4^th graders, Bryan gets far too into it, appointing himself Shania’s fake wedding planner and pulling out all the stops.  Jane, on the other hand, is vehemently against it, fearing that a pretend wedding will teach Shania to undermine “the sanctity of marriage” – she does all she can to put a stop to it.

First things first:  Bryan throws himself into this fake wedding to a ridiculous degree, and it’s not even fun-ridiculous, just crazy-ridiculous.  I get what they’re trying to do with it – Bryan using it to sublimate his frustrations at not being able to get married himself (2012 feels so long ago) – but it’s too much.  Fortunately, a lot of that seems to be in the planning stage.  The actual fake wedding, while still ludicrously over-the-top, is at least more kid-focused, with a whimsical homemade dress for Shania and an emphasis on desserts, so that’s a plus.

Also over-the-top is the depths of Jane’s objections to the fake wedding, although the fact that she would object is at least well-founded.  Heading a family of three generations of “babies raising babies,” she’s already expressed her desire for Shania to break that cycle, and less sympathetically, she finds numerous ways to equate a child’s pretend wedding with marriage equality in a slippery-slope sort of way.  (Side note:  I know they like Goldie and Shania, but why do the guys continue to let Jane into their home?  Her comments about them “playing house” are vile, and given that we already had an episode about the importance of standing up to hate, it doesn’t make sense that they continue to grit their teeth and power through it whenever she waltzes in to insult them.)

For the positives, I like how the pretend wedding does dovetail into Bryan and David’s respective feelings about marriage, with Bryan dreaming of getting married and David actually using the legal barriers as a low-key way for him to avoid that level of commitment.  As I said, the ending of the episode is absolutely lovely – it’s unfortunate that it’s attached to some of the absurd things that come before it, but I’m still grateful for that scene itself.

As for Andrew Rannells, I’m impressed with his ability to commit to the ridiculous storyline – I may not like how far Bryan goes over the deep end with this fake wedding, but I very much believe that he does it, and Rannells’s line readings are still funny.  He gets more to work with on the sweeter side of the plot, but even the fake wedding gives him a few strong moments.  I love the shot of him tearing up, jut a little, during the “ceremony.”  I like it because it’s a very knowing moment; he’s completely aware that it’s silly to be getting emotional at what he’s seeing, but he’s okay with it.  While I enjoy the majority of Bryan’s overdramatic tendencies, I like them best when they’re tinged with self-awareness, and this shot hits that sweet spot.