Here’s
the season-finale-turned-series-finale.
The show was smart to close the season as it did – while it would’ve of
course been nice to see more of Bryan and David’s adventures into parenthood,
this is a nice resolution that leaves room for more to come without going out
on a cliffhanger or something, as too many canceled shows have done. And besides, if The New Normal had continued, we’d have gotten less Elijah on Girls, and with a full-season
network-sitcom schedule, Rannels might’ve been able to do even less Broadway
than he did with a ten-episode-season cable-dramedy schedule (one rather
obvious spoiler.)
The day
of the wedding has arrived, and despite David and Bryan’s mantra of “our day,
our way,” people (particularly the guys’ mothers) keep foisting different
“please, for me” stuff on them. It wouldn’t be a sitcom wedding without
things spiraling out of control, right?
And since it’s also a sitcom wedding involving one very heavily-pregnant
attendee, you can guess what happens.
Bryan and
David’s hijacked wedding reminds me a lot of Lily and Marshall’s on How I Met Your Mother – it even resolves
in a similar fashion, albeit after a different, much more welcome interruption
– although I’m sure there are plenty of other examples. There’s no especially new ground trod here,
although it is interesting that some of the traditions their moms insist on are
very heteronormative. It does seem weird
to me that so many of these things would be sprung on the guys right before the wedding, but that might
be more realistic than I assume.
Luckily, I have no experience on that subject and so cannot verify.
Also very
well-worn is Goldie going into labor during the ceremony, but even though it’s
blindingly predictable, the delivery montage that follows is just
wonderful. All set to “Beautiful Boy,” it
really reflects how all these characters have come together over the course of
the season and the different, overlapping families they’ve formed.
Rannells
is of course as funny as always – I get a kick out of his reaction to seeing
David in the family tux he’s talked into wearing, as well as blaming his own
unwanted concession seconds before walking down the aisle on the death of his
dad (which happened years before) – but I especially love him here in the more
tender scenes, the delivery and the closing scene. He radiates warmth throughout, which some
might say is uncharacteristic for Bryan, but even though Bryan can be vain and
shallow, he also has a huge heart that reveals itself numerous times throughout
the season. Besides, in Rannells’s
hands, there’s no doubt that the birth of his son is transformative for Bryan;
the look on his face as he holds his baby is perfect.
So,
that’s The New Normal! Not always as good as I wanted it to be, but to
me, still a special moment in television.
Recommend?
In
General
– I think so. Go in knowing that the
episodes can be really inconsistent, and I think you’ll still be able to
appreciate its good qualities.
Andrew
Rannells
– Definitely. Whatever the show’s
faults, Rannells is fabulous here, funny and moving in equal measure.
Warnings
Language
(including racist and homophobic insults,) sexual content, a little violence
here and there, drinking/a few drug references, and thematic elements.
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