"That dude just got ass-knifed!"
--
Pushing onwards through Close Enough, it's become obvious that there are two different types of episodes. On one hand, there are episodes that are dedicated to furthering the development of the show's cast by making pointed revelations about how they operate, or commenting on the ways that they deal with the show's themes of adulthood, responsibility, and aging. On the other, there are episodes that simply make it their mission to do weird stuff without much intent of deeper messaging. It's not that the former sort of episode can't indulge in surrealism while having a point it's trying to hammer forth—"The Perfect House" explores ideas of escapism with a house that warps into a sitcom, and "Logan's Run'd" explores falling out-of-touch through a club that murders old fogies—and that just makes the existence of the latter episodes more confounding and dissonant in the face of the sorts of ideas Close Enough wants to toy with, even if they offer the same brand of joyous lunacy.
"Skate Dad" is, fortunately, in the former camp, and if the fact that its climax has Josh skidding his crotch across a street until it combusts into flames, it didn't have to sacrifice the show's absurdity in the process. If anything, it was a shockingly cute episode, maybe even a little low-key, because it's most focused on how it can funnel ridiculous elements into a very basic but meaningful conceit. Josh wants to bond with his daughter, and when his old skateboard catches her eye, he's ready to become the ultimate skate dad... or at least he was, until he stumbles, gets ass-knifed by a skateboard in an attempt to demonstrate an ollie, and has a metal plate inserted over his taint.Talking to a friend about this episode who was, suffice to say, immensely dissatisfied by that twist, I feel like it's worth mentioning that your mileage may vary with the sort of material. Close Enough is never above veering into vulgar territory for the sake of its storytelling, and that boldness has, admittedly, led to a few groaners. But I think that "Skate Dad" manages to take advantage of its ribaldry and use it to imbue itself with a stronger sense of purpose, depriving Josh of the quality time he wanted to spend with Candice since the very start of the episode and forcing him to sit out and watch as the Goosh, in his mind, steals father-daughter bonding time away from him by assuming his role.
There's a lot of risks inherent to the episode's conceit, but the intelligence that drives how "Skate Dad" plots itself ensures that the episode never simplifies the issue for the sake of convenience. For instance, "Skate Dad" makes a point out of how the Goosh is, legitimately, just a really nice and sincere dude who's put at the mercy of Josh's emotional baggage. I feel like it would've been easy for Close Enough to simply turn him into an actively villainous force who was indeed trying to become Candice's surrogate daughter, but with a few exceptions, the show's proven itself to be adept at providing its side characters with a sense of depth. That's a really important and smart decision in general, and one that forces Josh's conflict to occur internally rather than creating a foe that he can be validated in sticking issues onto.Josh, too, risks creating an imbalance in the episode, but the fact that "Skate Dad" manages to justify his actions by prodding at his insecurities allows it to feel fulfilling. Even if it's clear that he's antagonizing the Goosh with unsubstantiated claims, it's rooted in his fears that he's being deprived of quality time with his daughter, and in the process, that he's no better than who his father was to him: a rigid, stone-faced businessman who only communicated by pointing sternly at his watch.
The culmination of his anger, too—challenging the Goosh to a ride down the gnarliest hill in LA and inexplicably having to team up with the Goosh and Emily to rescue Candice when she decides to slide down for the fun of it—allows the stakes to rise enough that Josh is forced to get out of his head and hash out his issues for the sake of the greater good. It's a moment of clarity amidst the chaos that feels as well-earned as anything Close Enough has managed to accomplish up to this point, and in its emotional maturity, a nice step forward for Josh in general. That also reveals one of the most subtly intriguing things about "Skate Dad": with Josh redeeming himself, there's not a single truly bad character in the episode, and that feels unexpectedly refreshing.And yes, to throw some irreverence back into the mix, Josh's metal-plated crotch is set ablaze in his efforts to save Candice and Emily. It's a juvenile spectacle, but all in good-natured fun; Josh saves Candice and Emily and, more than being a Skate Dad, he's become, as declared by a teary-eyed Goosh, a Skate Father. "Skate Dad" might be a rather simple episode at the end of the day, but it uses its straightforward nature to unearth some satisfying truths about its characters, and that's a win in my book.
As for "100% No Stress Day"... first of all, I just want to take this moment to point out that since this episode premiered before the rest of the series, I actually already wrote a review of it, albeit under the pretense that it was the season premiere. While my general thoughts towards the episode haven't changed a ton, I still think that it's worthwhile to look back on the episode, especially bolstered by the new context of the five episodes that preceded it.It slides into the flow of the season pretty well, but I'm a little less sold on its characterizations per my second viewing in light of how we've seen Emily and Josh utilized in the past. The fact that Emily's personality is centered entirely on a bout of anxiety could work in the grand scheme of things, but the way that it basically makes a point out of Josh being less put-together than her in his quest to take on her to-do list for the day feels like a bit of a flawed thesis; they've been shown to have basically neutralizing vices in previous episodes. The fact that how Josh tackles everything is built partially his lack of intelligence feels like a stretch as well, even if "100% No Stress Day" finds some fun in his brain suddenly being sparked and causing him to have moments of inspiration (including, rather amusingly, suddenly knowing what "shoat" means).
And even acknowledging that Emily has had some of the nuance taken out of her to make the premise work, her half of the episode is still, oddly enough, the weakest half despite it having the most to theoretically say. While I felt like she was much more idle on my first viewing, she still comes across as stuck in a vicious cycle that the episode makes limited efforts to break until the last minute. While "100% No Stress Day" tries to compensate by throwing new, unexpected moments around—her traumatic high, encountering Candice's teacher at a jazz festival, and a frantic climax involving her trying to find a hobby to help her de-stress per the teacher's advice—it struggles to present a satisfying level of growth.I also feel like it's worth mentioning that, given that Josh begins the episode with the first acknowledgement from the show that he's a video game developer, Close Enough could afford to be better about the slow trickle of details about its characters. Sometimes it's able to reveal interesting things about the cast with enough subtlety to feel organic, like Alex having been a professor at UCLA before getting fired (as revealed in "Skate Dad" by him presenting a preserved frog specimen as a party drug), but it feels strange that something so theoretically integral to the character's interests and livelihood would go unacknowledged. (Similarly, Emily and Bridgette being a musical comedy duo gets a slight nod here and in the next episode, but not much else.) Exposition is a very difficult and delicate thing, but the solution isn't to act as if we automatically know these things going in because it can be jarring and feel even more tacked-on to suddenly see them partaking in their own hobbies.
If a Close Enough episode is going to be built around its characters reacting off of the insanity around them, too, it helps if it's truly ridiculous, and the fact that we reach a point where Emily enters their apartment only to be met with a party of clown strippers and ham burglars competing in a life-or-death VR ladder simulator is enough proof that "100% No Stress Day" has actualized its goals. It's an episode that offers a fun spectacle at the end of the day, but it does little to push the cast forward as much as it sets itself up to.
Acknowledging that Close Enough is an episodic show, and one that doesn't have to worry about the continuity or maintaining the precedents it sets, it's still hard to figure out what exactly it wants to be. Does it want to adhere to being joyously nonsensical, or does it want to glean meaning out of its unconventionality? The outcome will be intrinsically unique no matter which route the show pursues—this is a very singular show—but I hope that it continues to channel that uniqueness into the sorts of complex stories that Close Enough, when it feels so inclined, is fully adept at accomplishing.
FINAL GRADES:
"Skate Dad": A-.
"100% No Stress Day": B.
Next Friday: Josh starts a prank war, and Emily tries to befriend a cool mom.
For my review of the last two episodes, "Logan's Run'd" and "Room Parents," CLICK HERE.
If you like my stuff, be sure to follow me on Twitter @Matt_a_la_mode.
No comments:
Post a Comment