S01.E04: Wait a Minute, Then Who Was That on the Ladder?

[formerlyfreedom]

With Judd worried about his reputation, Iris arranges a meet-and-greet with several passengers in his luxury suite. Frustrated by a bridge crew with no answers, Ryan and Billie bond with the engineers below deck. Matt encourages Frank to become the man he always wanted to be.

Airing Sunday, February 9, 2020.

[ottoDbusdriver]

Wow ! That was bad. Really, really bad. 

In addition to the 4 coffins orbiting the ship, there will now be an orbiting ring of shit too.
And no, the Captain would not be the one outside doing an EVA to service the problem.  Ever.

Why can't Judd and the bickering Bickersons be out with the orbiting coffins ?
I'm really starting to get annoyed at Zach Woods character too.

The Pope in this show is really opinionated, according to the crawls on various displays on the ship.

I only snickered once -- and that was when it was mentioned that one of the skulls of the 4 Beatles in Judd's room might actually be Mickey Dolenz.

 

[Lily H]

The funniest episode yet.  I've never laughed so much in a half-hour in my entire life.

[Netfoot]

That was shit.  Hugh Laurie, I'm sorry, but I'm not watching this any more.

ETA: And if the ratings are anything to judge by, nobody will be watching it for much longer...

Edited February 10, 2020 by Netfoot

[UnknownK]

I'm done

[tennisgurl]

How has this not happened to these ships around 20000 times before if everyone is so incompetent and unable to deal with a crisis?!?

[AnimeMania]

How could they make the only character that I could partially stand have such an annoying laugh.

[iMonrey]

This one was marginally better than the first three. I chuckled a few times. In particular I think Sarah is kind of funny. I liked the word cloud too. That said, "better than the first three" is a really low bar.

In a way I can sort of see the attempt to apply the same type of humor used in Veep to this premise, but it just doesn't seem to lend itself to that. Maybe it's because the contemporary, real world of US politics is much more accessible than an outer space cruise ship. I don't know exactly what's wrong with this but overall it doesn't work very well.

[DoctorAtomic]

Oh now you can act? 

I did like that the real crew likes the captain. I actually hope he can be marginally competent. Him and Billie are my favorite pair. 

[PentaHookUp]

(1)    They should have sent Billie out to make the repair and let the kid take the bridge, or vice versa.

(2)    Can anyone explain what Karen and Frank could possibly see in each other/have in common? 

(3)    Why Micky Dolenz’s skull?

(4)   All the tech folks below deck are so unattractive? Why?

5 hours ago, DoctorAtomic said:

I did like that the real crew likes the captain. I actually hope he can be marginally competent. Him and Billie are my favorite pair. 

Jokes and Beer--who wouldn't.  

Even though he was trying with the kid tutor, I wouldn't hope for any kind of competency.  I think "lucky" is about the best it's going to get with him. 

[DoctorAtomic]

39 minutes ago, PentaHookUp said:

2)    Can anyone explain what Karen and Frank could possibly see in each other/have in common? 

She's domineering and he's a doormat. It's not an unheard-of pairing. 

40 minutes ago, PentaHookUp said:

(3)    Why Micky Dolenz’s skull?

They were contemporaries. It's just a dumb joke. 

[PentaHookUp]

41 minutes ago, DoctorAtomic said:

They were contemporaries. It's just a dumb joke. 

Thanks.  Was just wondering.

On 2/10/2020 at 1:25 PM, tennisgurl said:

How has this not happened to these ships around 20000 times before if everyone is so incompetent and unable to deal with a crisis?!?

Have you read the parable: "For Want of a Nail."  

Well, the captain was the nail.

As for the ships, if everything is mostly automated, there could be thousands and thousands of trips without anything ever going wrong.  Then that one fateful trip and POW! “S” happens.  I guess you could think of like a commercial airplane where the odds of it crashing are estimated at one trip in millions of trips.

On 2/9/2020 at 11:36 PM, ottoDbusdriver said:

And no, the Captain would not be the one outside doing an EVA to service the problem.  Ever.
 

But, that's where we first meet Captain Joe...outside doing whatever.  Maybe it's part of a new age captain's skill set…commanding inside, tinkering outside?

[DoctorAtomic]

To be fair, the pilots of the airplanes are actual pilots. Not actors.

The captain was known as the 'hero of Avenue 3' already, when he's been clear that he called the fire department. Then, here, Sarah as 'Sarah' gives this motivational monologue how he saved her, and then everyone was forcing him to go. He refused plenty of times but they kind of all shoved him out there. And it was beamed to Earth as well. It's meant to be ridiculous. The captain and Billie know this.

Edited February 13, 2020 by DoctorAtomic

[Dowel Jones]

2 hours ago, PentaHookUp said:

(3)    Why Micky Dolenz’s skull?

Because Monkees are closely related to humans?  I'll show myself out now.

[PentaHookUp]

13 hours ago, DoctorAtomic said:

To be fair, the pilots of the airplanes are actual pilots. Not actors.

 

As far as you know.

[madfortv]

I just watched the first 4 episodes. The premise of the show is good.  The execution is awful. With few exceptions, I've never found that the constant use of profanity replaces true humor. I can't take another scene with the fighting couple, Judd and some of the others. Ho Hum. I wanted to like this show but won't be watching any more episodes.

[Joimiaroxeu]

I dunno, I feel like with this episode the show is finally catching its stride. I laughed all through it. So many great throwaway lines.

Catastrophe chic. That'll become a subcategory of cruise wear.

Edited February 13, 2020 by Joimiaroxeu

[PentaHookUp]

On 2/10/2020 at 4:15 PM, AnimeMania said:

How could they make the only character that I could partially stand have such an annoying laugh.

 It should be the ringtone for a number that you only give out to your creditors.

[kokapetl]

I tried, but this show is awful. What is the point of the married couple who hate each other? Why are so many of the characters emotionally retarded, complete fucking morons?

[Phishbulb]

On 2/11/2020 at 2:01 PM, iMonrey said:

This one was marginally better than the first three. I chuckled a few times. In particular I think Sarah is kind of funny. I liked the word cloud too. That said, "better than the first three" is a really low bar.

In a way I can sort of see the attempt to apply the same type of humor used in Veep to this premise, but it just doesn't seem to lend itself to that. Maybe it's because the contemporary, real world of US politics is much more accessible than an outer space cruise ship. I don't know exactly what's wrong with this but overall it doesn't work very well.

It is a strange thing- Iannucci has a peculiar quality to his writing which sounds OK coming out of the mouths of British actors, but seems a little more stilted coming out of Americans (and having Rebecca Front playing an American character isn't helping). 

I find myself admiring the construction of the lines sometimes and the cleverness of the writing, but something about the overall product isn't really working, you're right. 

[TexasGal]

On 2/9/2020 at 11:36 PM, ottoDbusdriver said:

In addition to the 4 coffins orbiting the ship, there will now be an orbiting ring of shit too.
 

I'm not sure what this says about me, but every time they show the coffins and now the poop cloud rotating around the ship it makes me laugh.