I had an extra week to write these up due to Thanksgiving, and it's still being posted at the last minute. Even with a few days off, I'm barely getting this up in time. Just goes to show my ability to procrastinate knows no bounds.
30 Rock - "Aunt Phatso vs Jack Donaghy"
Character maturation can be a tricky thing. Without change, things become stagnant, but change too much and you lose what people liked about the character in the first place. 30 Rock has a mostly good track record when it comes to these things. Liz is still neurotic, but in a healthy relationship. Jack is still an ambitious businessman, but looks out for his friends. Jenna is still crazy, but occasionally has real insights. The only problem being Kenneth, who had some character growth with the Standards and Practices plot last year, but has now completely reverted. This episode, though, gave us a Tracy that is still off the wall, but who is able to outsmart Jack. The proceeds of the movie going to benefit an orphanage was a brilliant play, and I loved Jack explaining how convoluted it was. Alec Baldwin playing an evil old man was fun to watch, as well. I usually love Hazel, but for some reason I couldn't get on board with this story. Liz trying to baby her feet was also pretty strange, and not in a funny way. I wasn't crazy about the Jenna and Kenneth portion either, until Jenna started singing a duet with herself in her head. Now that was amazing, and spot on characterization. All in all, a mostly good episode.
The Office - "The Whale"
Two episodes in a row of The Office that I didn't hate, weird. I think it helped that the Andy and his boat plot was only for two minutes at the beginning. Jan returns! It makes sense to be trotting out old guest stars for the final season, and I like the way they've brought her back. Dwight not being able to deal with women clients fits perfectly with his character and gave the women of the office a good showing. Jan is still her crazy self, but not so crazy now that you can't see her running another company. I think Dwight pulling in Clark to become the new Hunter for Jan would have played better if we hadn't been constantly reminded about her having an affair with Hunter, but I still like it as a solution for getting the deal done. On the other fronts, Jim is finding out that carrying two jobs, especially with one being in Philadelphia, is becoming too much to handle. A slight story overall, but clearly setting things up for later. Oscar and Angela spying on the Senator was, as usual, not so great. I just hope this is the beginning of the end for that particular story.
Parks and Recreation - "Leslie vs April"
I have one major gripe about this episode. Why would Leslie be mad at April? If anything she should be just as proud as she was shown to be before finding out it was Lot 48 that April wanted to use. Leslie has had years to do something with that space and has done nothing. Everything else about that story was great, I just didn't buy into the central premise, which was a problem. I certainly do enjoy Councillor Jamm as an antagonist with a stupid catch phrase and constantly plugging his dental practice. Andy finding out that police is work is not just chasing bad guys, but mostly paperwork was a point that was going to have to be made eventually, and I liked the way they got there. Andy interrogating Jerry was a fun scene and a nice call back to Jerry's actual name being Gary. Unfortunately, I'd have to rank this as my least favorite episode this season. At least with Parks and Rec, that usual still means pretty good.
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