I like Justin Long so much I even forgave him for the "I'm a Mac" commercials. Eventually. His appearance and character in this episode was the only shining light in yet another atrocious affront to half-hour comedy. The we're-siblings-I-swear bit made me laugh, that was definitely a problem when my brother and I were both single and carpooled to parties together. And I thought his motivations for being attracted to the mess that is Anna Faris was actually fairly solid--it just felt like a slap to the face that once again I wasn't Justin's type, since I don't spill my feels all over the place.
Now, while the writing for Justin was actually quite solid, let me address a couple of standing issues:
Adultery is not funny. Yes, of course, we were introduced to the wife, and she was a wench. And obviously Anna Faris and her boss don't seem to be deeply in love. Still. The ongoing jokes about infidelity don't endear me to anybody. You know it's wrong, fundamentally wrong, and you're still doing it? Nope, we are not amused. Call my morals Victorian, but I'm not willing to let this go.
The daughter is still horrible. Allison Janney finally made my night (for unfortunately the first time in this series, because her character is just not working for me) by calling her granddaughter a bitch. I wanted to give her a standing ovation. And Stupid Face being a bitch isn't a minor problem--her relationship with Anna Faris is one of the main tenants of the show. I should be rooting for them working through their issues. I don't know if you've picked up on it, due to my subtlety of language, but there has been a severe lack of rah-rah spirit coming from me toward Stupid Face.
So, yeah. This show is going nowhere, mostly because I'm not getting the sense that these writers particularly like or value people in general, much less relationships like husband and wife or mother and daughter. It mostly leaves me puzzled as to why they picked this subject matter. Maybe they threw a bunch of buzzwords in a hat and drew out "single mother" and "recovering addict."
Now, while the writing for Justin was actually quite solid, let me address a couple of standing issues:
Adultery is not funny. Yes, of course, we were introduced to the wife, and she was a wench. And obviously Anna Faris and her boss don't seem to be deeply in love. Still. The ongoing jokes about infidelity don't endear me to anybody. You know it's wrong, fundamentally wrong, and you're still doing it? Nope, we are not amused. Call my morals Victorian, but I'm not willing to let this go.
The daughter is still horrible. Allison Janney finally made my night (for unfortunately the first time in this series, because her character is just not working for me) by calling her granddaughter a bitch. I wanted to give her a standing ovation. And Stupid Face being a bitch isn't a minor problem--her relationship with Anna Faris is one of the main tenants of the show. I should be rooting for them working through their issues. I don't know if you've picked up on it, due to my subtlety of language, but there has been a severe lack of rah-rah spirit coming from me toward Stupid Face.
So, yeah. This show is going nowhere, mostly because I'm not getting the sense that these writers particularly like or value people in general, much less relationships like husband and wife or mother and daughter. It mostly leaves me puzzled as to why they picked this subject matter. Maybe they threw a bunch of buzzwords in a hat and drew out "single mother" and "recovering addict."