With one or maybe two episodes left in its run before it's inevitable cancellation, all one can do with Mulaney at this point is study what's available and go from there. In a continuous wormhole of sterile, mediocre television, to look at what it accomplished and where creator/star John Mulaney doesn't go wrong is perhaps the most appropriate course of action one can sanely take at this point in time.
This week's episode, "Power Moves," begins by backtracking any goodwill the stand-up bits accomplished in the weeks prior. Talking about his effeminate nature, Mulaney recycles one of his best bits — the Delta Airlines debacle — but takes away what made the material so good. Much like his dramatized recreation of his Xandax story from the pilot, and the rape stand-up bit in the beginning of that episode, Mulaney standardizes what makes the bit funny — in this cause, the name-dropping — while attempting to hostler up his snarky-but-sincere demenour. These two personalities go together like milk and tar.
By saying "Belta" airlines instead of Delta, it takes the boldness of the act and makes it toothless. Same goes for when he refuses to say the Wolfpuck Express foot court by name. The balls of the bit have been cut, and all that is left is a second-rate variation of his bit. It is bad enough to know he's just reusing old material, but to know how funny it can really be and see it completely fall apart is heartbreaking.
Despite this disappointing opening, however, the episode itself is starkly better written than most to date. Penned by Dan Mintz and Marika Sawyer, the material feels edgier and more ruthless than the ho-humness of the previous episodes. There's a solid punchline about John's roommate Jane (Nasim Pedrad) killing herself early on, and a well-timed joke about John's "limpness" earns a respectable laugh. This may not be enough to recommend the episode — and especially not the show — but considering how much I struggled to come up with things to recommend before, this is definitely an improvement. Of course, if one of your best punchlines is about a main character offing herself, you know you're in hot water.
Lou Cannon (Martin Short), once the show's weakest and most useless character, has a more inspired and vital role in "Power Moves." In addition to vying for the dramatic lead role of a serial killer in Martin Scorsese's latest, Lou also helps coach John on how to dominate his authority against his persistently nagging roommates. It demonstrates a bounding between the two that was attempted before but never succeeded. It also suggests there may have been a more endearing friendship between the two characters if Mulaney ever figured itself out.
There are other good things here, but they are fairly minor. There are some nice, genuine reaction shots of Jane's new cat Omar, whose look of frustration and confusion often mirror the ones I make during the show. I know, I'm recycling a joke I made before, but hey. They do it too, so why can't I? There's also a decent use of montage three-fourths into the episode which seems to find Mulaney a little more enthusiastic about his show-making possibilities than he ever was before.
Beside these points, however, Mulaney continues to host the same problems. The exact ones I have repeated over and over again, and feel no desire to mention anymore. Knowing full well this sitcom is not going to rebound, the best I can do at this point is look for the best virtues of Mulaney's show, and just hope that when his sitcom gets the axe he'll be able to get some good work. He deserves it, no matter how meh Mulaney can get.
Image courtesy of Peter West/ACE/INFphoto.com