[7.7/10] And we’re off! This was a great start to the show. Admittedly, there was a bit of gay panic stuff that I didn’t love necessarily, but for the most part, despite delving into racism and homophobia, the jokes were on the main characters, so it worked for me.
I particularly loved the clockwork nature of the writing, where you had a number of different story threads going on that were all tied together and intersected with one another by the end. The comedy struck the right balance of edgy, awkward, and absurd for my tastes, and the ridiculousness of the characters and their great dynamic with one another was evident early.
I’m still getting the characters straight, but my favorite story was probably Charlie(?) feeling unexpectedly at home among African Americans, but using that to try to impress the girl at the coffee shop. There’s something about him being so blithely wrongheaded about what he’s doing that led to some great comedy.
Dennis enjoying the attention when Paddy’s turns into a gay bar was also a good gag. Again, some of the best humor in the episode came from the gang’s reaction to awkward situations involving race, sexuality, etc. Them tripping over themselves when outside their comfort zones was good stuff, and Dennis being initially uncomfortable about being touched by people he’s unfamiliar with but then relishing the attention was a good bit. Again, I’m not crazy about the “you had sex with a man” finish, but Sweet Dee’s “I couldn’t get a hold of my actor friends” was, at least, a nice twist.
Mac getting Dennis drunk by pretending not to know how to do a tequila shot was an amusing bit, as was Sweet Dee not realizing Terrell was gay. Again, easy stuff, but plenty amusing.
Overall, this was a tightly written, fun show of insane camaraderie, that bodes well for the rest of the series. Only 123 episodes (and counting) to go!
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParent2017-03-01T05:39:02Z
[7.7/10] And we’re off! This was a great start to the show. Admittedly, there was a bit of gay panic stuff that I didn’t love necessarily, but for the most part, despite delving into racism and homophobia, the jokes were on the main characters, so it worked for me.
I particularly loved the clockwork nature of the writing, where you had a number of different story threads going on that were all tied together and intersected with one another by the end. The comedy struck the right balance of edgy, awkward, and absurd for my tastes, and the ridiculousness of the characters and their great dynamic with one another was evident early.
I’m still getting the characters straight, but my favorite story was probably Charlie(?) feeling unexpectedly at home among African Americans, but using that to try to impress the girl at the coffee shop. There’s something about him being so blithely wrongheaded about what he’s doing that led to some great comedy.
Dennis enjoying the attention when Paddy’s turns into a gay bar was also a good gag. Again, some of the best humor in the episode came from the gang’s reaction to awkward situations involving race, sexuality, etc. Them tripping over themselves when outside their comfort zones was good stuff, and Dennis being initially uncomfortable about being touched by people he’s unfamiliar with but then relishing the attention was a good bit. Again, I’m not crazy about the “you had sex with a man” finish, but Sweet Dee’s “I couldn’t get a hold of my actor friends” was, at least, a nice twist.
Mac getting Dennis drunk by pretending not to know how to do a tequila shot was an amusing bit, as was Sweet Dee not realizing Terrell was gay. Again, easy stuff, but plenty amusing.
Overall, this was a tightly written, fun show of insane camaraderie, that bodes well for the rest of the series. Only 123 episodes (and counting) to go!