[9.0/10] Oh man, this is a hard episode to review, but it’s fantastic. The escalating Calvin Ball-like insanity of this made up mishmash of games, drinking, and derangement is delightful. It has a How I Met Your Mother vibe of group in-jokes and quirks being magnified in the vein of competition, but with the ribald, boundary-pushing qualities that IASIP brings to the table.
The show takes the simple premise (let’s have The Gang play a bizarre game of their own creation) and turns it up to eleven. Little bits like Charlie’s illiterate ramblings being “trivia” questions that even he can’t get, Mac living up to the prophecy and trying to flip the board, or Dee drunkenly rambling about the emotional abuse part of the game show off the out there qualities of any activitiy this group would put together. Each new challenge or wrinkle or twist to the game is better than the last, and the contrast between their wine and cheese dignified breaks and their “Maori war chants” is hilarious.
There’s also a great rhythm to the episode, with how Charlie and Mac start out losing terribly, Frank turns the tide for them, and then they lose via a coin flip anyway. It’s the perfect deflating ending to an episode full of escalating insanity.
This is a stand-out to be sure, and a feather in the cap of Season 7.
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParent2018-01-20T22:21:23Z
[9.0/10] Oh man, this is a hard episode to review, but it’s fantastic. The escalating Calvin Ball-like insanity of this made up mishmash of games, drinking, and derangement is delightful. It has a How I Met Your Mother vibe of group in-jokes and quirks being magnified in the vein of competition, but with the ribald, boundary-pushing qualities that IASIP brings to the table.
The show takes the simple premise (let’s have The Gang play a bizarre game of their own creation) and turns it up to eleven. Little bits like Charlie’s illiterate ramblings being “trivia” questions that even he can’t get, Mac living up to the prophecy and trying to flip the board, or Dee drunkenly rambling about the emotional abuse part of the game show off the out there qualities of any activitiy this group would put together. Each new challenge or wrinkle or twist to the game is better than the last, and the contrast between their wine and cheese dignified breaks and their “Maori war chants” is hilarious.
There’s also a great rhythm to the episode, with how Charlie and Mac start out losing terribly, Frank turns the tide for them, and then they lose via a coin flip anyway. It’s the perfect deflating ending to an episode full of escalating insanity.
This is a stand-out to be sure, and a feather in the cap of Season 7.