*A couple spoilers from episode 7.*
Another mark in favor of last week’s “Four Stories about Hand Stuff” is that, rather than being self-contained, most of the vignettes included plot developments that are relevant to the show at large, so we see them continue here. This is a strong follow-up, with major movement for several characters.
The one time Andrew didn’t use his obsessively-ritualistic pre-jerk-off method, he immediately heard the news that his grandpa died, and since then, he’s been unable to jerk off at all – not the condition with which he wants to face his grandpa’s funeral. Jessi is back in town for the funeral, terrified that all her friends are flourishing without her and that they’ll find out how she’s been floundering in the city. Elsewhere, Matthew fears that his mom is starting to pull away from him because she suspects that he’s gay.
This is a tight episode. The funeral plot neatly furthers ongoing plots for Andrew, Jessi, and Nick, featuring the show’s usual blend of puberty-themed pathos and outrageous humor. The Anxiety Mosquitoes have been well-used all season, and that’s especially true here. Each character’s individual reaction to anxiety is effective and feels organic, from Jessi’s spiraling sense of defeat to Andrew’s ramped-up obsessiveness. And as for the humor, we have the ongoing sight gag of Maury getting his hair “pubed,” the revelation that yarmulkes are just “condoms for your head,” and Connie getting high and wondering whatever happened to Dido: “Did Dido do that?” Also, there are a bunch of fun continuity references, including pop-up appearances of a few characters from past seasons.
At the end of Mathew’s vignette in episode 7, his mom happens upon some dirty texts between him and Aiden, so that’s the springboard for Matthew’s story today. Even though coming-out drama and fears about parental disapproval can be tropey LGBTQ storylines, I think the specific way the show goes about it avoids feeling too stale. It reminds me a little of season 2’s “Dark Side of the Boob,” in which the show didn’t go the more obvious route of Matthew getting bullied for being gay and instead showed the subtler ways that he’s just excluded by the boys and tokenized by the girls. Here, Matthew is hurt when his mom breaks with their longstanding tradition of competing in the church “cake-off” together, enlisting his younger sister to help instead. A big part of Matthew’s worries and insecurities are of course over whether or not she would accept him being gay, but it’s also just about the close relationship he’s always had with her and fearing they won’t be able to have that anymore.
Andrew Rannells does well with the more dramatic storyline, although he still brings his golden comedic delivery to some throwaway lines (I love his, “What the fuck happened to your hair?” to Maury, and well as his excited, “Let’s bake a fucking cake together!” – neither of these are inherently funny, but when he says them, they are.) There’s a sensitivity to this storyline that’s reminiscent of Natalie explaining her transition back in episode 1, and I appreciate that. It doesn’t have as much of the raucous humor that’s so often present in the show, even in more serious storylines, but it’s very heartfelt.
Also? Matthew gets a whole song too himself. It’s sappy in a self-aware way, genuinely melancholy but at the same time tinged with just a little of Matthew’s vanity. Rannells sounds great, bringing really dynamic vocals throughout to follow the rise and fall of the emotion in the song.
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