The Book of Rannells: The New Normal: Season 1, Episode 16 – “Dog Children” (2013)

While I remember initially finding this to be another so-so episode, it’s improved each time I’ve watched it and I now like it quite a bit.  A sweet story put together well, with some nice dramatic acting from multiple cast members and some terrifically-funny bits.

The start of the episode backs up a little to the pre-Goldie-and-Shania part of the guys’ lives, when they got their puppy as “training wheels” before having a baby (I’ve haven’t mentioned the puppy or the older dog before, but even though they get very little attention on the show, the series does do a decent job of keeping them present – they’re not the type of family-sitcom dogs who disappear for months on end and only pop up when they’re needed.)  In the present day, however, the puppy is sick, and a trip to the vet leads to Bryan and David both being worried and disagreeing over the best course of action to take.  Meanwhile, Goldie’s ex-husband helps her through a tough situation.

The health scare with the puppy is a smart plot, because it opens the door for exploring some good themes, particularly 1) how David and Bryan react differently during a crisis and 2) the way they relate the situation to their unborn child and think about the possibility of an emergency with their kid.  It gets into hypotheticals about the future in what would obviously be a billion times worse/scarier, but that comparison doesn’t take away from what they’re feeling in the present, either.  Andrew Rannells, Justin Bartha, and Georgia King (who plays Goldie) all have nice chances to show off their dramatic acting.

But despite some definitely serious things happening, this is also a really funny episode.  First, there’s just the fact that Harvey Milkbone is an objectively-amazing name for a dog.  And between Shania’s Maggie Smith obsession and brief Taylor Swift impression (less accurate than some of her others, but still funny “…Ignoring that I’m the common denominator in all my failed relationships!”), Bryan getting his Terms of Endearment on at the vet, and some amusing fellow pet owners in the waiting room, there’s a lot more to enjoy as well.  Also, it’s less strictly funny, but I additionally enjoy the small note of Goldie’s sex drive being cranked up due to her pregnancy hormones for much of the episode – it’s nice to get some focus on a woman’s sexual pleasure during a time (pregnancy) when society generally doesn’t think of her as a sexual being.

Andrew Rannells is great here.  In addition to the aforementioned strong drama and Terms of Endearment bit, I also like how much fun Bryan is adorably cuddling his puppy at the vet while ridiculously telling him to stay away from a depressed labradoodle during his stay.  Plus, there’s his wonderful deadpan line to David, “I can tell by your tone that [911 for dogs isn’t] a real thing,” and, apropos of nothing but delightful, a snippet of his anecdote about the time Sir Ian McKellen totally came onto him at a 7-Eleven.