S02.E05: We Can Do Better Than This

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Jimmy questions his ability as a writer but finally zeroes in on his next project. Meanwhile, Gretchen and Lindsay discover all they do is talk about men and set out to change the status-quo. Edgar gets close to his improv teacher, Dorothy.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Awwwww, Jimmy knows.

[arc]

"Jimmy, you're not writing recaps, are you?" - Grand slam meta moment considering Stephen Falk was a recapper for MBTV/TWOP.

 

I'm glad that Jimmy liked the improv because I love improv a lot, even if a lot of that world is ridiculous and team names are often terrible. ("Hey Put That Down Brian" is not even that bad, relatively.)  But yes, when it's on, it's fantastic and even a bit hard to believe the connections and callbacks are found in the moment instead of pre-written.

 

I'd read since months ago that Colette Wolfe would be cast as a possible love interest for Edgar, so I was never super concerned about the not-great way that the Edgar-Lindsay relationship was shaping up, but I hadn't expected her character to be so into the military past that Edgar has otherwise usually wanted to put behind him, so... hmm.

 

Gretchen and Lindsay's plot about passing the Bechdel test was good (and I think better than A to Z's similarly knowing take on the same topic) but Lindsay's dive into right wing politics was so-so for me.

 

Probably it was an easy joke, but I still laughed hard when Killian said the NCIS novel's plot "didn't track".

 

 

Awwwww, Jimmy knows.

Yeah, that kinda broke my heart a little there.

 

(Why does he not use the CPAP every night?)

 

OH I FORGOT.  "Erotic Tales, by Jimmy Shive Overly, age 11." was amazing. "Still holds up" and "This is the most Jimmy thing you've ever done" were hilarious lines.

Edited October 8, 2015 by arc

[ElectricBoogaloo]

I laughed harder than I should have when Lindsay yelled, "STOP CALLING ME!" at Nancy Pelosi's people.

I know it would bother me in real life, but on tv Gretchen and Lindsay at the froyo shop cracked me up. I loved the bulletin board of banned customers behind the register.

[Texasmom1970]

Awwwww, Jimmy knows.

I must have missed an episode what does Jimmy know? I was trying to figure out where she was sneaking off to!

[Evie]

I loved the return of Jimmy's list of heckles and his love of NCIS:LA.

Of course Jimmy wrote Erotic Tales at age 11. I laughed at his whole set up for getting off.

[arc]

I must have missed an episode what does Jimmy know? I was trying to figure out where she was sneaking off to!

Gretchen was sneaking off again in the middle of the night but this time, we saw that Jimmy was awake and saw her leave.

I just realized this is really something when Jimmy, whose defining flaw is extreme honesty - or just being a dick who uses honesty as an excuse - preferred not to confront her right away.

[arc]

Here's the full list of Jimmy's heckles for last night, including the ones the camera cut off: https://twitter.com/philyuck/status/652177992211296256

[Arynm]

Jimmy made me sad when he was awake for her whole sneaking out thing. He just looked so young. I hope she doing something stupid that doesn't involve cheating. This episode was very funny, with Jimmy loving the improv and deciding to write an erotic novel. Based on the bit he read... I would read it, maybe with some candles and a scarf over my lamp.

[Jodithgrace]

As a practitioner of Improv (my group is called Nutty by Nature) improv scenes in tv shows always crack me up. Our group doesn't do long form, which this seemed to be, but no matter..I still love it.

Jimmy is perhaps the world's worst heckler. His heckles are hilarious, but only to us, the TV audience, for their total joke incompetence. And he seems to have a list for every occasion.

My DVR cut off last week before Gretchen snuck out and I thought that I had missed something major when i read about it, but then this week, it was as though nothing had happened. But then I caught it this week, so i guess it's a recurring thing, and we know not what she is up to. She is, as we know, the worst, so it could be anything.

I loved Lindsay and her news mashup between extremes of Fox news and PBS..I feel the same way sometimes. I seem to be bombarded by both sides of every issue these days until I don't know what the hell I believe any more! But at least she could forget about it all at the first mention of sign language Amy! I'm not so lucky.

[Traveller519]

Gretchen and Lindsay's plot about passing the Bechdel test was good (and I think better than A to Z's similarly knowing take on the same topic) but Lindsay's dive into right wing politics was so-so for me.

 

 

I enjoyed how it wasn't just the right-wing politics though. It was the talking points from both sides ("I found a bunch of websites talking about current events, then I found a bunch of websites that had the exact opposite opinion on those issues!")

 

It was essentially wrapped up the dumb person's foray into politics spoutting off what other opinions were being made for her... well, unless the other side might(???) be right? Despite her unbridled enthusiasm, it's a lot easier to just say "Keystone XL (sorry X-Box) is bad" that put any critical thought behind it.

 

There's going to be some real coming to a head issues at some point, and I can't wait.

[Ottis]

Of course Jimmy wrote Erotic Tales at age 11. I laughed at his whole set up for getting off.

 

 

I don't think 11yo boys writing erotic tales is unusual. What was unusual was his Canterbury Tales style at age 11. That was just odd.

 

Jimmy is perhaps the world's worst heckler. His heckles are hilarious, but only to us, the TV audience, for their total joke incompetence.

 

 

Is he actually good at anything? His one book doesn't seem to sell. He struggles with recaps and whatever that NCIS thing was. And while the show seemed to think his erotic tales were good, the short bit we heard was not good. I don't know what exactly Jimmy can do well. This is becoming a central point for me. You see flashes of Gretchen doing her job. I don't know what Jimmy does.

[arc]

Is he actually good at anything? His one book doesn't seem to sell. He struggles with recaps and whatever that NCIS thing was. And while the show seemed to think his erotic tales were good, the short bit we heard was not good. I don't know what exactly Jimmy can do well. This is becoming a central point for me. You see flashes of Gretchen doing her job. I don't know what Jimmy does.

His book might have sold poorly, but it got decent reviews (see also that ridiculously pretentious radio interview he did last season). The literati like his stuff. His publisher is interested in a second book but he's got writer's block. He did magazine feature pieces for a while until the Megan Thomas situation- which, granted, was entirely of his own doing - made that untenable. I think Jimmy is more than a bit too precious about writing, but he's not that bad at it.