'Man Seeking Woman' season 1, episode 8 review: 'Branzino'

After last week's stellar and surprisingly fluid "Stain", it's not necessarily shocking to see this week's "Branzino" take a step-down, if a small one, in quality. That's not to discredit what's actually a continuously funny episode. But compared to last week, it's safe to say this installment is more amusing if unfocused inclusion to the season.

What's perhaps the most discouraging is how Man Seeking Woman comes back head-first into its sporadic ways after containing itself so well narratively these past couple weeks. There are many funny asides, most notably when Josh (Jay Baruchel) takes his buddy Mike (Eric Andre) to a bro shelter, run primarily by Portlandia star and Sleater-Kinney co-founder Carrie Brownstein. Plus there's rarely a moment where "Branzino" falls short.

Even the most basic of premises, like when Josh and his new girlfriend Rachel (guest star Claire Stollery) visit as a couple for the first time with Josh's parents (Robin Duke and Mark McKinney) only to be dragged in to guest star on Late Night with Mom with Tom and His Friends From Work Band, find some good comedic bits to play on as the episode progresses. There's never a moment when "Branzino" drags or puts around to the sake of even mediocrity.

And yet, for all the good will that's produced, it seems like "Branzino" is an episode that would be found in the first half of this first season instead of the second to last. Some may love that this is the case — and I love the first half of this season too so I don't say that begrudgingly — but it does feel like Man Seeking Woman has gone more immature in this week's episode when the show has done such a great job in maturing and progressing forward.

All that negativity aside, like I said before, "Branznio" is still a good episode. It's filled with imagination, heart and creativity as always, and the pacing is still in check while the sense of scale never is afraid to go to the nines, whether the audience gets it or not. Although it's hard to imagine anyone in the target demographic of this series not relating to at least a majority of the situations which come into place in this episode.

Written by Dan Mirk, who also co-wrote the third episode "Pitbull" with Rich, there's a vibrant pulse that's unmistake to this series, and even a good-not-great episode of Man Seeking Woman is exceptionally better than most sitcoms on TV today by far. It's a wonderful joy to see what Rich's show makes each week, and to know that it's officially back for a second season as of this week it's a fantastic pleasure to behold.

Image courtesy of Peter West/ACE/INFphoto.com

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