A Televisual Feast

Finally, a schmaltzy (or nearing schmaltzy) finish works for an episode. Stacey goes nuts because Ned bribes a salesman (the bed she wanted was already sold). The episode’s terribly directed, even though Rob Schiller’s one of the regulars–guess he didn’t know what to do when Debra Messing was acting well.

The episode starts a little slow with some forced bickering, but the details–Ned watching surgical procedures and “Boy Meets World”–help it along. Once Amanda and Eric show up, everything’s fine. The episode also feels fuller than usual, maybe because a day and a half pass with a general accounting for of those day’s contents. A sitcom can be full with a present action covering a week–because then it’s mostly causal–or real time–because it’s playing with the format–but for some reason, making a day and a half present action full seems like a minor achievement.

Some great scenes for Amanda here, as she and Ned finally get to start remarking on their goofy spouses together.

Even the very end, which makes the show a little more serious than it’s got the legs for, works pretty well. Though there are some lines no one but Thomas Haden Church could do passably, including a lot during the first act and the last scene (his expression). It’s not a bad joke, but it doesn’t work. But Church makes it okay, if not good. Messing, oddly, has no problem with the scene.

2.5