The Book of Rannells: The New Normal: Season 1, Episode 7 – “The Godparent Trap” (2012)

Another mixed bag, although I do like it a lot.  Despite having a definite “this episode is brought to you by the letter R” feel, it has some really wonderful scenes in it and explores some nice ideas.

A happenstance conversation sends Bryan and David into an urgent quest to find godparents for their child, a task which has both of them (particularly Bryan) examinging the role of religion in their lives.  Elsewhere, Goldie starts to feel insecure about whether or not she and Shania will maintain their relationship with David and Bryan after the baby comes.

I’ll start quick with Goldie’s plot.  I like how it plays out, with Goldie framing her worries more on Shania’s behalf even though the anxieties are hers.  Given how much Bryan and David have been a big part of the huge change in Goldie’s life, it’s understandable that she’d be worried about what’s going to happen when the baby’s born and they don’t “need” her anymore.  (Note:  this plot also has a little side thing involving Shania and a class pet that, while very sitcom-tropey, winds up connecting decently to the main story.)

It’s another big “theme” episode, with the guys becoming laser-focused on a particular topic – in this case, religion/spirituality, with very little preamble.  As such, it hammers everything home pretty hard and can feel didactic.  On the other hand, it’s a storyline that resolves nicely, and as I said, some of the scenes here are just excellent.

I often enjoy plots about characters examinging their relationship with religion, and we get a lot of that here with Bryan, who was raised Catholic but moved away from the church in adulthood.  Obviously, his ambivalence about a religion that condemns him for his sexuality is a major factor, and he has an extended conversation about it with a priest that, while interesting, does present some arguments that I’m uncomfortable with.  Particularly, there’s the priest’s assertion that it’s LGBTQ people’s responsibility to “fight for their souls” (i.e. acceptance within the church) the same way they’ve fought for marriage equality, open military service, and other rights.  Shouldn’t your religion be a place where you don’t have to fight for a right to be there?  Doesn’t really jibe with “all are welcome to the table.”

Still, even if not all the ideas work for me, Bryan’s journey does, and Andrew Rannells is great in this episode.  He strikes a balance between witty deflection, making light of things before anyone can condemn him, and genuine openness about his desire not to be shut out.  There’s a really terrific scene toward the end, looking less at organized religion and more at the personal side, that he shares with David – it’s funny, sweet, and thoughtful, a winner all around.