I didn’t know if it was possible to make a better episode this season than the final premiere, but I should have known better. Somewhere between a rocky fifth season and an ambivalent sixth has come the pure genius (thus far) of 30 Rock’s final season.
After Liz has decided to side with Jack in tanking NBC once and for all, she has to choose between her personal life and her professional one…and even her political one, somehow finally getting everything she wants (besides the political thing). The continued popularity of Tracy’s impression of Governor Dunston, Romney’s new VP candidate, has forced NBC to put TGS on five times a week — especially since Jack’s been trying to tank the network with awful programming. This has caused Liz to organize just about everything, including her sex life. And as it turns out, she really likes to organize things. A lot.
Has this show ever gotten this much mileage out of something like that? First off, we have what I thought would be the best gag in Liz being overly excited at writing down everything in her calendar (and color coordinating it), but then there’s the Staples montage with not only Tracy’s singing in the background, but where Criss pours a cylinder of paper clips down on Liz. And that, my friends, may be one of the best things I’ve seen on television in latter years. Congrats to whoever came up with any of that. I love you. And more so, I love the continuity on the show here (besides the The Girlie Show sign still looking scuffed up) where Liz doesn’t like spontaneous sex, which has been a thing since season one…and it all finally came together six years later. Bravo! (Or brava, if you’re a girl.)
Meanwhile, the show does meta correctly in having a political figure look exactly like someone on an SNL-type show. If this rings any bells, it’s because four years ago, Tina Fey was tapped to play Sarah Palin on Saturday Night Live in a series of skits that gave the show its best ratings in almost a decade and a half. I think we all know the politics of this show, but thankfully the Dunston character was such a, well, caricature that it was more about how could a comedy writer not make fun of such an easy target. It had nothing to do with his politics and everything to do with his ridiculousness. Glad that’s how they handled it.
In our guest star category, while I wish they would have given Bryan Cranston a bit more to do, he hit it out of the park in his very first shot. When they showed his huge smile, looking around the TGS room, I just knew he would hit it out of the park. And he did. More so, I loved Kenneth being irked by someone so likable in Ron. Catherine O’Hara was given even less, however, but her best line probably has to be: “Well, I ate that goat because you and I are family!” I probably should have seen that coming, but it was completely unexpected, and absolutely hilarious. And lastly, Matthew Broderick was perfect reprising his role as Cooter.
Ultimately, I don’t know if I’m worried or intrigued as to how they left this episode. In the premiere, I was sure that we’d see a season-long arc with Liz trying to destroy the network (and somehow the current show we’re watching as well) along with Jack, but this episode kind of turned the tables on both of them. We know where Liz stands, and that’s at getting her personal life together with Criss, but Jack was left a bit more ambiguous and it remains to be seen how his arc will form towards the end of the series.
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I was really happy about this episode too. The seen in Staples was perfection. I'm very excited to see Jenna and Paul get married. I just have mixed feelings about Hazel.