I didn't post yesterday. When I hopped online during a break at work and saw the banner "Mob Storms the Capitol. Congress Evacuated," the rest of my day was pretty much 1) finish work, 2) follow the news, and 3) occasionally consume food. I had a post on deck and ready to go, but I didn't feel like putting it up.
I don't have much to say about yesterday that hasn't already been said. I'll only note a couple things that went through my mind at various points as I read about and watched what was going on.
When the President recorded a video appearance, ostensibly to convince his followers to stop trying to occupy the U.S. Capitol building, and spent half of it doubling down on how the election was stolen from him: "He would see this country burn if he could be king of the ashes." (Lord Varys, Game of Thrones)
Thinking of all the people who've enabled the President because they insist he doesn't mean the things he says and won't really do the things he then goes on to do: "When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time." (Maya Angelou)
And now, taking a very hard right, here's the next Book of Rannells post I had queued up.
Not one of my favorites. It heavily features Coach Steve and Rick, the ancient Hormone Monster he shares with Nick, both of whom are best in small doses, in my opinion. The story is so-so, but it still features some fun jokes.
Coach Steve, who’s recently become friends with Jay, is surprised when Jay’s mom comes onto him and considers the prospect of finally “doing sex to a lady.” Nick has been trying to get over his crush on Gina, and when Devin hits him on the rebound, he goes for it, roping Andrew into going out with Lola to make it a double date. Meanwhile, Jessi experiments further with acting out over her parents’ impending divorce.
The Coach Steve stuff, on the whole, is too much for me. His naivete here goes from comically dumb to stupidly dumb, and it’s just too outrageous to be all that funny. Pair it with the gross and incompetent Rick, and it’s too much too-muchness all at once. The only parts of this plot I really like are the scenes with Jay. He’s also a character that can be a lot to take, but I still like him quite a bit.
The other main plots are pretty boilerplate: middle-school double dates, complete with middle-school mind games, trying to prove you’ve moved on with your crush, stuck on a date with a girl you don’t like, testing the waters with small acts of rebellion because you’re upset about what’s going on at home. It’s all very standard, but there are some funny bits in here. There’s a gossipy pharmacist who’s up in everybody’s business, a great running gag about the rumors that Devin’s ex Devon is secretly an old man, and the terrible advice, “She likes you, Nick! Slap her in the tit!”
The episode also features the other main addition to the cast this season: the Shame Wizard, voiced by David Thewlis a.k.a. Professor Lupin. While the kids’ Hormone Monsters can aggravate them by encouraging their basest impulses when they’re trying to get a grip on themselves, the Shame Wizard comes at them after they’ve done something horrible or experienced any kind of deep humiliation. It’s an effective way of showing how much they lash out at themselves internally.
Another criminally-light-on-Matthew episode. He only appears on his morning-announcements show, reporting on “National Pantsing Week” (instituted by President Trump for what, as you can imagine, are stupid and gross reasons, and Matthew makes his feelings on that apparent.) He’s funny, of course, but of Andrew Rannells’s three episodes so far this season, he hasn’t appeared for more than a minute in any of them. Obviously, I’m a Rannells fan, so I’m always gonna prefer more Matthew, but I also just think he’s a funny character with consistently-great lines. I hope we see a little more from him soon, because a few lines an episode just doesn’t cut it for me.
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