"Better a fallen rocket than never a burst of light."
~ Tom Stoppard, The Invention of Love

Thursday, April 25, 2019

The Book of Rannells: The New Normal: Season 1, Episode 21 – “Finding Name-o” (2013)


I like this one, but it is kind of uneven.  There are places where it leans in too hard and undermines itself.  By the same token, though, it also has some really excellent scenes and is a nice showcase for Andrew Rannells.

With their wedding and the birth of their son both fast approaching, Bryan and David are struggling to agree on various wedding decisions, as well as their baby’s name.  This becomes especially difficult when, at David’s urging, Bryan invites his quasi-estranged mom into town before the wedding and she starts in on the, “Tsk, tsk, you boys just can’t agree on anything, can you?”  And because it’s this show and we can’t have only one name-related conflict going on at once, Shania decides to change her name after hearing the less-than-inspiring story of how her parents chose it and Goldie’s ex is upset to hear Goldie is planning on going back to her maiden name.

Not much to stay about the Goldie-Shania plots, although I like the early-2000s jokes surrounding the story of Shania’s name:  “A few minutes later, and your name would’ve been Chumbawumba!”  I also enjoy Shania’s foray into longing for the anonymity of normality, wishing she could be any of the five Sarahs in her class.

But of course, the main attraction here is the stuff with Bryan’s mom.  Like his difficulties in an earlier episode with David’s mom (the point is that Bryan just can’t win with moms,) the show is almost surprisingly-effective at how it shows her getting under Bryan’s skin.  Mary Kay Place is the queen of friendly-and-passive-aggressive, and she does a great job of cheerfully throwing in these constant little digs at Bryan’s clothes, his career, his choices (re:  the wedding and the baby name,) and pretty much everything else.  When they ultimately get to their big confrontation and she defends herself with, “Do you know how hard I tried with you, Bryan?” – that implication that she should get full credit because he was just “so difficult” to deal with – my heart breaks for Bryan.  While I do think the confrontation does pull its punches a little, that moment is 100% effective.

What works less in this plotline is how it exaggerates the more comic elements.  The whole “wedding decisions” thing starts out well, with both guys having strong opinions but Bryan being his usual bossy self, and they tentatively begin to find ways to compromise until Bryan’s mom shows up and forces the issue, pushing Bryan into a near-meltdown – all that works for me.  It loses me, though, when David’s choices become increasingly ridiculous.  Bryan is both shallow and particular enough that anyone else’s ideas are almost sure to appall him, but about halfway through the episode, David’s picks morph into ideas that would appall anyone, and that’s not necessary for the story.  It’s certainly not funny enough to be worth the suggestion that David would actually want such a tacky, absurd wedding.

While that’s a fairly big mark against the episode, it still makes it into the win category overall, with a sweet resolution and, like I said, great work from Rannells.  He’s funny in the scenes with the wedding planner, Bryan doing Bryan, and as soon as the subject of his mom comes up – long before she actually gets there – you can see him go on edge.  He’s bristling the entire time, always on guard for the next cheery little insult or criticism.  At first, he’s in full-on damage-control mode, insisting to David that they present a united front, but it’s not long before he’s snapping off sharp comebacks and getting increasingly agitated, trying to pretend he’s holding it together but heading for a detonation.  And Rannells is just wonderful in the confrontation; he’s really good at playing someone trying to keep from crying, and as Bryan’s mom talks, you can see his face just dissolve.  I know I’ve said it before, but thanks so much to creators like Ryan Murphy or Lena Dunham who recognize all that Rannells can do and give him material he can shine with.

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