[7.7/10] Well hey, if nothing else, this is the best season finale The League has managed to burp out so far, so that’s a big plus! But honestly, not even grading on a curve, this one was pretty good. Each of the characters had something at least moderately amusing to do, and the clockwork storytelling largely worked (even if it took some of the usual level of contrivance).
I think my favorite bit in the episode was the MacArthur feud. Kevin was oddly adorable in how hurt he was over Jenny “roster-flirting” with Ben, and he and Pete basically becoming a bickering couple in the meantime was equally cute. Sure, the gay panic jokes feel retrograde, but Ruxin’s low-grade busting on them for it got some chuckles out of me. And the fact that Kevin and Jenny reunite, and Kevin’s advice actually helps Jenny win the Shiva is great. The whole “Shiva and Sacko in the same house” bit doesn't do much for me, but has at least a little bit of potential.
I’ll admit that the idea of Taco’s Eskimo Brothers Database felt kind of dumb to me, but as usual, Taco trying to run a business had a lot of laughs to it. Between getting locked out of his van during his own commercial, or storing regular file folders in a computer, his schtick turned out to be pretty funny here.
And I liked Andre’s story well enough too. Aziz Ansari is a definite get, and he and Paul Scheer had a good rapport as equally ridiculous plastic surgeons. Aziz’s scheme to shuffle Andre off to El Salvador for three years was implausible, but the series of events that led to Andre’s change in fortune was just silly enough to work as an Xmas miracle.
Which brings me to the awesomeness and ridiculousness that is Rafi trying to be Jewish so that he can impress/sleep with Ruxin’s sister. Lizzy Caplan does great work (as usual), and Rafi’s standard outsized persona directed toward all things hebrew got a lot of laughs out of me. Their dynamic together was especially funny, and Ruxin facilitating it all because Baby Geoffrey follows Ruxin’s lead, and it’ll help him win the Jewish/Catholic war at home is a good fig leaf.
Honestly, the only thing about this one I didn’t really remotely like was the ending, where the presence of the choir felt hackneyed and out of step with reality even for this show. The sacko song lyrics weren’t remotely clever, and it was just a dose of pointless, showy nonsense at the end of an otherwise solid episode.
Overall, this has been another rough season for The League, but one that also had some high water marks (“Rafi and Dirty Randy” in particular), including this finale. Here’s hoping once again that the show has turned the corner.
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParentSpoilers2019-09-26T21:23:22Z
[7.7/10] Well hey, if nothing else, this is the best season finale The League has managed to burp out so far, so that’s a big plus! But honestly, not even grading on a curve, this one was pretty good. Each of the characters had something at least moderately amusing to do, and the clockwork storytelling largely worked (even if it took some of the usual level of contrivance).
I think my favorite bit in the episode was the MacArthur feud. Kevin was oddly adorable in how hurt he was over Jenny “roster-flirting” with Ben, and he and Pete basically becoming a bickering couple in the meantime was equally cute. Sure, the gay panic jokes feel retrograde, but Ruxin’s low-grade busting on them for it got some chuckles out of me. And the fact that Kevin and Jenny reunite, and Kevin’s advice actually helps Jenny win the Shiva is great. The whole “Shiva and Sacko in the same house” bit doesn't do much for me, but has at least a little bit of potential.
I’ll admit that the idea of Taco’s Eskimo Brothers Database felt kind of dumb to me, but as usual, Taco trying to run a business had a lot of laughs to it. Between getting locked out of his van during his own commercial, or storing regular file folders in a computer, his schtick turned out to be pretty funny here.
And I liked Andre’s story well enough too. Aziz Ansari is a definite get, and he and Paul Scheer had a good rapport as equally ridiculous plastic surgeons. Aziz’s scheme to shuffle Andre off to El Salvador for three years was implausible, but the series of events that led to Andre’s change in fortune was just silly enough to work as an Xmas miracle.
Which brings me to the awesomeness and ridiculousness that is Rafi trying to be Jewish so that he can impress/sleep with Ruxin’s sister. Lizzy Caplan does great work (as usual), and Rafi’s standard outsized persona directed toward all things hebrew got a lot of laughs out of me. Their dynamic together was especially funny, and Ruxin facilitating it all because Baby Geoffrey follows Ruxin’s lead, and it’ll help him win the Jewish/Catholic war at home is a good fig leaf.
Honestly, the only thing about this one I didn’t really remotely like was the ending, where the presence of the choir felt hackneyed and out of step with reality even for this show. The sacko song lyrics weren’t remotely clever, and it was just a dose of pointless, showy nonsense at the end of an otherwise solid episode.
Overall, this has been another rough season for The League, but one that also had some high water marks (“Rafi and Dirty Randy” in particular), including this finale. Here’s hoping once again that the show has turned the corner.