Rhett and Link's Buddy System Review: Missing Link

"My entire life's work for naught. My friends left, my family abandoned me. Why? All I ever did was spend every moment of my entire life trying to make myself happy." "I know what you mean. My friend left me just because I said he wasn't my friend." "People."

All good things come to an end, but thank all that is holy that Buddy System went out in a blaze of glory. We've seen Rhett and Link's relationship blossom over the course of the series, but "Missing Link" is the final episode that allows us to see just how important it is to them, and more importantly, the consequences of its collapse.

The first act is the show at its most narratively-elaborate; Link, without the partnership of Rhett, finds himself briefly dragged into the sign-spinning business under Maxwell, making his triumphant return as what I can only describe as a sign pimp, and after Rhett accidentally runs over him, he starts hanging out with Roberto. Meanwhile, Rhett goes to a Kenneth Kenneth discussion group at the community center only to meet the man himself. Up until the midpoint of the episode, both characters use these interactions to distract themselves from their true feelings regarding their split-up, and it plays out like tragicomedy. The two try to fill the emptiness that they didn't know they even had by re-inventing their lives, but painfully enough, it's clear that their new friends are nothing if not hollow substitutes (especially Roberto. Because he's Roberto).

"Missing Link" thus boils down into two wildly different (yet delicately intertwined) adventures. Having been run over, Link and Roberto bond over Link's new robotic legs, convincing him to go full-robot, something that the inherent mundanity of Link's life readily fancies. Meanwhile, feeling equally empty, Rhett teams up with Kenneth Kenneth upon learning he never truly attained satisfaction to discover the seventh seal and finish his life's work. (Both storylines, naturally, have a hilarious contrast that the show lovingly points out, cutting from Rhett and Kenneth's intense quest to challenge their senses to the same shot of Link and Roberto gleefully pulling the late shift at the styrofoam peanut factory over and over again.)

But perhaps it's telling that their encroachment into the superhuman is just as unsatisfactory as their torn-apart friendship. With Rhett, he successfully becomes a star, but what after that? Wherein lies the point? And with Link, he makes the realization that turning into a robot would destroy all of his memories and emotions. ("I wanna feel joy! I wanna feel pain!" "Oh, I promise you'll feel pain.") No matter what they could possibly attain and however ethereal, it becomes apparent that it doesn't compare. However surreal and insane those last few minutes gets, there's a clear message there to help guide us through the madness, and trust me, it's complete madness. It's insane. Basically, Rhett takes over the doctor's body, sparing Link from becoming anything more than 95% robot and salvaging their entire relationship, albeit with a few... ramifications.

I'm not going to lie when I think "Missing Link" lacked a strong emotional punch to finish the season off with, but at the same time, it's not really going for that, either. At its core, Buddy System is the one place where anything can happen, where Rhett and Link have the free reins to do whatever they want; it only makes sense that the finale would embrace that as much as possible. Only Rhett and Link could pull together the insane logic that a fight over remote controls leads to one character turning 95% into a robot and the other taking over some other person's body.

That final reprise of "I Like What I Like," though, really tied the whole series together. On one level, it successfully bookends the whole series with a much-deserved, triumphant callback, but in doing so, it also demonstrates just how much has changed, even beyond their physical transformations. Sure, Rhett and Link may not have changed a ton over the course of the series - Rhett seems convinced the meaning of life is still rather hedonistic, for instance - but if the lyrics are any indication, they see each other on the same level at last.

So yes, let the series end with Rhett and Link eating Kenneth Kenneth. They freaking deserve it.

Quotes and Notes:
-"You look like a little kid took an egg out of your nest and handled it and then put it back, and then, when you smelled the human on it, you rejected it, killing your own child."
-"Yeah, y'know they've got groups for everything down there. They've got one group for people who want to marry their household appliances. There's another group for people who want to divorce their appliances. There's also a group that's just the appliances... That might be the kitchen."
-Kenneth Kenneth patting Rhett's leg for seven straight seconds is yet another example of the show crushing the art of stretching out small gestures as long as humanly possible. I love it.
-The combination of the two lines, "I have no free will," and "I'm really starting to like you, Roberto," was hilarious.
-The word "sax" being initially played off as "sex" is one thing; cutting to a close-up of the Kama Sutra covered in saxophones is another thing entirely, and it's a great double fake-out.
-I was hoping the reveal of Maxwell giving Link's job to a pole would be a deeper joke, as in he gave it to a Polish person. Missed opportunity, show, c'mon.
-"I can get you both kinds of sax depending on your specific predilection. You soprano or baritone?" "Baritone." "Really?" "Okay, soprano."
-"You're not gonna ask me about my new robot legs?" "Oh, I didn't even notice."
-The doctor throwing Link's organ into what I can only assume is a paper shredder was great. Having Rhett, taking over his body, throw the brain scooper into the paper shredder was even better.
-All of the little comments that Rhett's doctor character makes that serve to both undercut and intensify the situation are brilliant. ("I don't want to do this!" "Well thankfully for you, that's the last thing you'll ever actually want.")
-"Maybe life isn't all about the single-minded pursuit of self-satisfaction. Maybe it's about something else." "Like what?" "I dunno. Money? Power? Instagram followers? It's gotta be one of those three."

Final Grade: A. "Missing Link" is great because it's the culmination of the season, and it owns that. Rhett and Link know there's nothing left to do afterwards with these characters, so why not squeeze every last drop out of them? In doing so, it's an episode that's simultaneously the perfect resolution while leaving you wanting more. There's nothing I admire more than writing that exists to be rewarding in its own right and that doesn't simply pray on leaving the viewer on the edge, screwing them for the next installment, and "Missing Link" manages to avoid that trap with ease.

It further begs the question, too: will there be a Buddy System Season 3? And where else could it possibly go? Whether or not a third season will ever make it into fruition, Buddy System is as creative, hilarious, poignant, and satisfying as I could possibly want, and it's a complete joy from start to finish.

Either way, it's been a massive pleasure being able to review all the episodes from the past two seasons. Hopefully I'll be back around someday, but for now, all we can do is wait.

For the last Buddy System Review of "Silent Fight," CLICK HERE, or CLICK HERE to access all of the reviews.