S03.E02: The Choice

[Tara Ariano]

Selina and her team go on a ride-along with the Coast Guard; Gary questions his role; Jonah's new political blog causes trouble.

[Lady Grump]

This episode was amazing. I just about died when Sue said, "Yes, I had my hair chemically straightened. It was extremly painful." And Jonah. Jonah, Jonah, Jonah. I love watching Jonah; he's the ultimate outcast and I LOVE his insecure cluelessness -- and his new "co-partner" at Ryantology.NET. LOL! His t-shirt and sweater were something to behold, too.

[Danny Franks]

"Get the government out of my fucking snatch". Amazing. "If men got pregnant, you could get an abortion at an ATM." Even better.

Seeing them all dance around this hot button issue was just brilliant. So much nonsense spoken, and every so afraid of offending one section of the public or another. This show really nails the idea that politicians will abandon their own beliefs in a heartbeat if they think that's what voters want to hear. The idea that anyone would need to speak to a string of special interests to be able to say what their own views on a topic are? It's great to be fully informed, but Selina is about 15 years into a career as an elected official. 

Dan freaking out is getting interesting. I'm not sure where the show is going with this, and I'm not sure I like it. I prefer Dan as the emotionless political robot who can sincerely say, "I love abortion" (and there's a subtitle for his character thread) and break down decisions into nothing but the above political shenanigans. But I'm already sure that neither he nor Amy will be Selina's campaign manager.

This show is so consistently funny, cutting and precisely written, that it's impossible not to love it. And I feel like Selina is coming close to usurping Malcolm Tucker as Armando Ianucci's finest comic creation. She's so self-centred and selfish and hollowed out, with beliefs that would probably be laudable if she wasn't so willing to abandon them at the drop of a polling number.

I do feel that the show is starting to overdo it a little bit with characters, though. They added Kent and Ben last season, which was okay, but now we're seeing Maddox a bit, and possibly Jonah's new 'friends', and Diedrich Bader is going to be appearing as well. I really like the core characters so much that I'd rather the show focused on them.

[arc]

There was a really good comment over at the AV Club, though, that the A-plot was not that plausible. A Dem nominee for the Presidency has to be pro-choice, and a Rep nominee has to be pro-life. Candidates like Jimmy Carter, Rudy Giuliani, and Mitt Romney have all had to adjust their previous positions to align with party orthodoxy. I felt like the show was trying to have it both ways - was Selina trying to straddle the pro and anti sides, or just straddle nuances of the pro side?

Chung and Maddox end up just a few weeks apart on when the cutoff for an abortion is, allowing Selina to take the middle spot (they shoulda taken positions one week apart and forced her to either say "20.5 weeks" or pick one or the other to copycat.)

All the fine texture of the show was brilliant though: Jonah's absolute douchiness, the general semi-competence of the main cast, that whole "as a woman" thing… all great stuff.

Edited April 16, 2014 by arc

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Man, HBO really lost a golden opportunity by not seeting up a Ryantology.net website.

 

I loved Selina trying to figure out how to handle the pro-life/pro-choice issue. Has she never made a statement about it besides that pastel piece of garbage from her book? Mike and his new wife's penny thing, ugh. I'm afraid the two of them are going to keep telling us their number for the rest of the season.

 

At first I thought that Dan had contacted Jonah pretending to be MSNBC. I loved that Jonah's Ugly Betty just stood there watching Dan attack Jonah and obediently handed over his burrito. I don't think I've ever loved Dan as much as I did when he said he would kill Jonah. Is that wrong?

[radishcake]

At first I thought that Dan had contacted Jonah pretending to be MSNBC. I loved that Jonah's Ugly Betty just stood there watching Dan attack Jonah and obediently handed over his burrito. I don't think I've ever loved Dan as much as I did when he said he would kill Jonah. Is that wrong?

Enraged/out of control Dan is now my favorite Dan! I think the idea that he's in career limbo is the worst thing that could happen to him. And yes "Don't just give it to him!" at the Ugly Betty was fantastic. 

[ganesh]

I don't think potus flipping on abortion is realistic, but I totally bought the fallout from the whole thing. Though I think that someone with 15 years in politics like Selina could have done a better job. *Everything* is focus-tested, or whatever it's called. 

Meltdown or not, Dan was right. She should have said *something* and Chang got out in front of them on it. I think in this case simpler would have been better

[Lola82]

I loved Gary laying out the fetus fruit as a way to help the decision. And the priest popping one of them in his mouth before going to Selena's office.