I was right – we do get more good Matthew content in the season finale! Color me a happy Andrew Rannells fan. On top of that, it’s just a really solid episode and a great finale to wrap up the season (minor episode premise spoilers.)
While most of his friends have found a bit of closure after the events of the haunted-house episode, Nick is still dealing with the fears that manifested there, in a big way – he may not be able to deal with it alone. Meanwhile, Jay and Lola come to a bump in their relationship, and Matthew tries to repair his situation with his mom and faces the prospect of coming out to his dad.
For the sake of spoilers, I don’t want to get too much into the specifics of Nick’s plot, but it’s really well done. It ties together elements from earlier in the season in a really neat way, it’s a great exploration of his emotional issues, and after a season in which the main cast has often felt kind of fragmented, this story brings them together. The resolution is excellent, and it brings us to a very satisfying ending to the season.
Other bits of goodness: Jay has a signed photo of the Fab Five in his bedroom, which is a really fun callback to last season’s Queer Eye episode. Connie shows up at one point in Beyoncé’s Lemonade dress with a baseball bat, which is made of awesome. Also, after making the transition during the Halloween episode, this is Ayo Edebiri’s first full episode as Missy, and she does a really nice job – while her voice doesn’t sound exactly like Jenny Slate’s, she stills sounds very much like Missy and feels like the same character, albeit one with the benefit of the growth she’s gone through this season.
And then, there’s Matthew! I’ll save from the details for a post-season spoilery write-up, but on the whole, this is a good episode for him. It sticks with the more emotional/dramatic content of his family dynamics and his conflicting desire/fear over coming out to his parents, but we still get a few hints of Matthew’s biting humor. There’s a great scene early on with Jessi where he says, spectacularly, “Why are you smiling like a clown? Is Miles Teller being put down?”
Rannells is no stranger to playing characters who are both bitchy and vulnerable, and Matthew is turning out to be a nice addition to that repertoire. It’s a little different, because he’s so bitchy and likes to present himself as bulletproof, so there’s a bigger contrast when he puts himself out there. And, too, this storyline is different than the vulnerable moments he’s had in past seasons, like his insecurity around the other boys or his nervousness when he first gets together with Aiden, because this is about his family. Matthew’s dialogue, more so than any other kid’s, often feels like he’s 13 going on 25, but here, we’re reminded of just how young he is and how scared he can be.
I also continue to love Maury’s support for Matthew and how protective Maury is of him throughout his storyline. Maury is an outrageous, absurd character whose dialogue is positively rife with dick jokes, but he genuinely cares about this kid, and it’s sweet to see him go to bat for Matthew. It’s a nice relationship for Matthew to have, since his centric plots frequently occur away from the main cast, and it shows us an interesting side of Maury as well.
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