Mulaney is what happens when good writers produce a bad show. It's evident throughout that the writers are clever and the cast is game, but the show's cheap sets, stale laugh track and awkward sense of pacing bring everything to a frustrating halt. After showing just the tiniest steams of promise last week, Mulaney completely falls flat with its third episode, the holiday-themed “Halloween.”
Why the show creators, and/or Fox, decided to have this themed episode this week instead of the more-appropriate Sunday after is anyone's guess. Fox has never been a channel run by much logic. Regardless, in this October-laced episode John Mulaney and his roommate, Motif (Seaton Smith), find themselves haunted by the ghost of their recently deceased neighbor after Mulaney steals his jokes for the sake of saving his career on The Lou Cannon Show. Their other roommate, Jane (Nasim Pedrad), meanwhile finds herself attempting to gain the deceased's old apartment, rented for a mere $40, by pretending she was his wife. It's all an episode that channels a darker, meaner spirit than Mulaney is used to incorporating. Any sense of ill-malice seems muted by its generic, passive style and flimsy storytelling.
By now, anyone who has talked about Mulaney has mentioned Seinfeld not far before or behind it. It's not hard to see why, and the narratives of this week's episode would not be strangers inside a weekly installment of the '90s sitcom. But, in failing to invest any sense of overarching point for what is happening either comically or narratively, it's impossible to reach the heights of Jerry Seinfeld's show, since nothing seems at stake. Jane's storyline, for instance, could have been delightfully rich in its malice but only ends up leading to awkward, forced musical numbers and half-hearted storytelling, thereby completely flat-lining on the spot.
Unlike the previous two episodes, Mulaney steps down as the show's writer this week and gives the job instead to fellow comedian Dan Mintz, who audiences likely know best as the voice of Tina on Bob's Burgers. He also makes a brief appearance here as fellow Lou Cannon writer, Mintz. Much like John, Dan is a comedian and writer in his own right, but this episode is about as stale and wishy-washy as holiday-sitcom episodes go. Perhaps the writers were too restricted by the censors to push their boundaries, or maybe they didn't want to offend or off-put their audiences. Either way, because this episode never bites deep into its potential, it makes for some fairly lackluster television. The fact that these writers are capable of so much more is what makes it frustrating to watch.
Even in its third episode, this show feels tired. Its stories and writing are getting more predictable and generic, and there is never really a sense of care about what is happening to these characters. This would be fine, if the show had some sort of laid-back style. But because everything always feels forced or confused, the show can't even accomplish a passive sense of entertainment. Mulaney knows comedy, but maybe he doesn't know sitcoms. Regardless if he does or not, he's going to keep trying, and maybe that's the scariest thing of all.
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