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

Thursday, May 28, 2020

The Book of Rannells: Welcome to the Wayne: Season 1, Episode 5 – “Some Kind of Tap-Dancing, Bee-Keeping Whaler” (2017)


While Andrew Rannell’s character Andrei first appears in the episode I reviewed last time, this is his proper introduction to the show.  Welcome to the Wayne is already a fun, entertaining series, and Andrei himself adds to the fun.

Ansi has discovered a mysterious new neighbor (Andrei) with no recollection of who he is.  Saraline and Olly are quickly recruited to help out, and together, the kids and Andrei try to puzzle out the mystery of his origins, particularly once it becomes clear that Andrei’s amnesia is covering up more secrets than the average person has.

I’m getting a good feel for the series, its characters, and its humor.  All the kids are true to form here – Ansi is apprehensive, Olly is cheerily gung ho, and Saraline is curious if annoyed.  The supernatural goings-on story is different this time around, since it isn’t about the kids tracking/fighting some sort of beastie – rather, it’s about them helping a guy who seems to have some kind of supernatural something going on with him.  I like that, that it’s not just a straight “monster of the week” situation.

And of course, it’s all very weird and funny.  While I like all three of the kids, I’m coming to find that Olly has most of the best lines, both in writing and delivery (showrunner Billy Lopez also voices Olly – coincidence?)  Here, his enthusiastic reactions to Andrei’s oddness really crack me up.  When Andrei worries whether it’s wise for them to being around Andrei, I love Olly’s, “Are you kidding?  He’s thrown, like, three harpoons since we met him!”  And later, shortly after they’ve discovered that Andrei’s skin starts on fire when exposed to direct sunlight, Olly brightly declares Andrei “the coolest, most flammable weirdo I’ve ever hung out with!”  That kid just makes me happy.

Andrei himself is a good addition to the proceedings.  While the mystery around him drops enough hints that you can very quickly figure out what his deal is (which I won’t spoil here,) the process of him and the kids figuring it out is still fun, and I’m intrigued by the crumbs suggesting a deeper mystery at work connecting him to other characters.  Even better, I just enjoy Andrei’s response to the whole thing.  He’s a little embarrassed not to know who he is, kind of freaked out by the things he’s learning about himself, but also amusingly-deadpan about it.  There’s an early scene of him and the kids looking around his apartment for clues as who/what he might be, and it’s peppered with him doing crazy things (like the aforementioned harpoon-throwing) and making sort of blasé acknowledgements of them, very, “Okay, so this is happening now.”  I especially love when they realize that he glows in the dark; after asking, “What – do your bodies not do this?”, he just sort of sheepishly comments, “Bodies – am I right?”

It’s very endearing, a mix of over-the-top and understated that blends together surprisingly well.  Rannells’s voice work is a huge part of that – he has a lot of great line readings, and the vibe he brings to the character just fits in very well with the show.  Plus, he gets to sing (very briefly) near the end of the episode, and that’s always a good thing.

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