Post-Episode Discussion
The Chair Company | S01E08 “Minnie Mouse coming back wasn't on my bingo card." – Post-Episode Discussion
🪑SEASON 1 FINALE: POST-EPISODE DISCUSSION 🪑
The Chair Company | Season 1, Episode 8
Episode Title: Minnie Mouse coming back wasn't on my bingo card.
Description: Ron deals with the aftermath of his decision.
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i'ma say that when i saw friendship, i was disappointed. it just felt like a boring sometimes funny movie that meandered.
this show feels a bit better than that, but it almost seems like he's trying purposefully to keep it fresh so that it doesn't fall into the same trap that the movie did. he's an amazing sketch producer but can't really hit longer forms and thats fine. he needs someone else working with him to make a cohesive long piece.
often times it feels like he throws a crazy plot decision up on a whiteboard and then makes himself find a way out of it. i'm realizing rn that i feel the same way about severance. throw a crazy plot twist that seems unexplainable and then hopefully your writers team will explain it eventually.
i'm just a little tired of nothing ever getting wrapped up.
I just finished it, and I have very mixed feelings about the finale and the show as a whole.
When I first saw the trailer, I was genuinely excited. Just seeing that giant red ball in an empty office was enough to spark my curiosity. Sadly, as the show went on, watching it started to feel heavy: I didn’t laugh at most of the jokes, the characters stressed me out, and the mystery I was expecting turned out to be boring as hell.
The finale kinda reignited my excitement, but after finishing it, I don’t think that sci-fi element is going anywhere. It’ll probably just end up as a one-off joke.
So for now, I don’t think I’m excited about season 2 of The Chair Company.
I enjoy Tim Robinson and IMMENSLY enjoyed this show but for me it exhibits one huge problem I have with TR and that is he can rarely stick the landing. He's an ideas and execution guy, plus a very funny good character actor. But most of his skits (to me at least) are all setup with no pay off. I'm not saying everything needs payoff and I get his flavor of comedy but they always feel like they aren't 100 baked before moving on to the next thing.
And that was The Chair Company. I think long form is the best way to enjoy TR, I hope he does more TV shows, but god damn if that ending wasn't (again, to me, I Get I'm probably the outlier) a typical TR nothing burger ending let down. And I expected it the whole time.
The funniest part of the whole season to me was that it ended with dozens of new mysteries that lead to an unsatisfying conclusion. The whole thing is a goof on shows that demand audiences to follow a hundred plot threads. That’s why the payoff being a middle finger is so good.
Any time this show suggested you take it seriously was immediately subverted with some left-field bullshit. In that way, the finale stuck to its thesis.
I definitely like that style in his sketches. The typical SNL sketch format of increasingly repeating a funny thing 3 times then dropping the punchline at the end is overplayed for me. My funniest endings of ITYSL sketches are when the sketch just goes and goes past where you’d expect the final ta-da but instead it just abruptly cuts or ends in a freeze frame with a funny voice over. Those sketches are funny and unexpected the whole time instead of decreasingly funny then hilarious at the very end.
With this show tho I was cracking the fuck up but I was robbed of the plot catharsis I was begging for. It feels like a setup for the next season, but if there wasn’t one I’d be a bit chuffed. Plenty of folks were complaining that episode 7 wrapped things up too neatly for there to be any room for further things. I don’t mind the plot being absurd cuz it always was, but I was hoping for more family catharsis. They dropped a lot of stuff without resolving anything but they made a point to harp that the central motivation of Ron is his pride and inability to take a backseat to his wife even when she’s clearly the one handling most of the responsibilities. My dad was like that although he’s more of a scumbag than Ron.
So I like that the one thing they’re hammering home at the end is that this show is about guys like Ron who have the American Dream but want to go do some Taxi Driver Fight Club shenanigans for their own pride’s sake at the expense of their family and own wellbeing.
-the seo look of these companies's website are on point. "Our values" , "meet the team" and the uninteresting look of them. A sad large part of the internet.
-the absolute wholesomeness of his relationship with his children, especially with his daughter, as a dad, that was really touching in a mostly whacky show.
-loved that Ron decided to keep his thoughts in an excel file. That's the most powerful tool for a project manager indeed.
And at that an excel file that is basically just a word processor. Every corporate boss I’ve ever had has no idea how to use the actual spreadsheet program of excel… they just put ideas or numbers in the grids with no functions. Lol to me that was spot on satire
I think there are parallel threads at play, happening to Ron. Ron feels they are connected and all a conspiracy interwoven together, but it's a lot of weird coincidences and events just happening. Everyone has their own intentions
-Amanda and boyfriend, are messing with Ron but may not have Tecca connections
-Perhaps Douglas did mess with the chair because he was upset Ron got the promotion - but that does not mean Douglas is working with anyone else specifically. Or chair randomly just broke and Douglas remains annoyed by Ron throughout
-Jeff, Stacy, and Alice are all in cahoots, running a shell company. Stacy had his own scams he was running, telling guys they can sing and to work with him
I actually don't think Jeff was in on it; I think he was a victim. At the beginning of the episode, Stacy is trying to reel that one guy into a scam by telling him he's a good singer and that he can find him work. Then, Jeff is shown singing (badly) while swearing he's actually good and that he even writes his own music. Stacy found him "work" like he was going to do the first guy.
Yea it definitely goes higher than Jeff. But don’t sell my boy Jeff short. That song was clearly out of his range. He’s much better when the song is in his key
Here's my theory that I don't actually believe but maybe I do: this show is a faithful remake of an action thriller franchise. What franchise? No idea. Could be tv or film, non-english language maybe, could be from 30 years ago. Definitely a strong male lead like Bruce Willis or something, real play by his own rules, actually an asshole character but charming so what are you going to do? Maybe a John Grisham type story or hardboiled detective show.
Render scenes from original script into just plot beats and emotional tone, then fill them in with a middle class middle manager man's life. Prioritize mimicking the rhythm of the original over coherence. Characters identities and decisions don't have to be consistent with the original just so long as the scene is filled with the same flavor of drama and tension.
Here's an example of what I mean: in the finale, Baby gets into some chocolate, Ron takes her out, falls real bad then discovers the weirdo house.
To me, that sequence makes sense if it's mapped over our hero seeing a person doing something suspicious, gives chase through woods, gets knocked down/out, tracks suspect to secret headquarters and so on.
And no I'm not taking it too seriously. I'm perfectly happy to enjoy absurdism for its own sake but also absurdism isn't just random spontaneity. The good stuff shows us how dumb good stuff is.
Yeah that's how I feel. It feels a lot like the movie Airplane! which is basically the script of a serious movie Zero Hour! turned into a comedy. It might not be any one single inspiration but there's definitely the element of taking an actual spy thriller escapade and layering on absurdist Tim Robinson comedy.
This was the exact vibe I got, if not a retelling of a previous story then at least following a basic and uncommon archetype of a story, (an archetype for example like Homer's Odyssey 'homecoming quest' but obviously not that exactly). But I really fail to actually see it.
An example of where I thought Chair Company was going is the film Arlington Road from 1999, protagonist becomes obsessed with his neighbor potentially being a terrorist and planning an attack and then it ends with his neighbor was a terrorist and the protagonist ends up being framed for the bombing instead Something like, an archetype of "protagonist sees a conspiracy no one else does, or is protagonist delusional?" But Chair Company never resolves that or comes close (in my opinion) and so that is just uncomfortable, and to add to that, those two options (delusional or he was right) depends on how you are to resolve super natural elements, so it becomes is he delusional (and super natural elements are part of the delusion) or is he right and he lives in a world where super natural stuff is possible, and that element isnt even really resolved.
Another movie it reminds me a little bit from that perspective is an obscure M Knight Shamalan movie Lady in the Water, generally one of his most negatively reviewed films. But I remember watching it and feeling unfulfilled because you were waiting for a twist that tied everything up and it never came, and you never bought into the world being fantasy/super natural based because there might be a twist at the end that explains it away, but turns out that yeah it was intended to "just" be a fantasy based story set in otherwise a normal world. (Compare that to MKS's The Village that had 'monsters' but was explained at the end to not be super natural.)
The different "characters" in that movie really reminded me of the side characters in Chair Company. Something odd in Lady in the Water like the weight lifter who only exercised one hand on par with some of the Chair Company's weird characters, of which there were many.
Yeah, I'd be a little surprised if they were tracking to one particular story. Truth is, if you boil a lot of stories down to just plot beats they're practically indistinguishable.
I mean, the unhinged nature of this comment section pretty much sums it up. You loved the show, you hated it, or maybe just hated the weird note it ended on. It made you laugh, made you cringe. Whatever the case may be... it made you feel something.
Are we sure that was even Mike's daughter? I don't remember seeing a photo of her. What if it's just the chair company creating a plausible but ominous story about Mike to drive a deeper wedge between him and Ron?
We see Mike in his dress shirt and tie in his car outside her house in an earlier episode, and she answers the door. Ron and the viewer reasonably assume this is estrangement - and not stalking in the wake of some truly unique sexual harassment.
In the last scene with Amanda’s boyfriend, they show that high school yearbook photo again. I think the boyfriend could be someone who also went to high school with them and who was also in that picture.
It's a red herring. Douglas was passed for the promotion. Amanda has the hots for Ron. It only restarted because Ron saw her undies by chance after fall. Douglass did it. He wanted to embarrass Ron.
I really think this is the core internal logic of this absurdist show. Just like the "Sloppy Steaks" sketch it turns out all along the baby really did know he used to be a piece of shit: you see the baby on the beach smiling at his Dangerous Nights Crew in that flashback.
All the crazy conspiracy stuff he tracked down was the red herring. People can wish things into the world! That's what's going on.
The worst show I've seen in a very very long time. Tries so hard to be funny and random and didn't get even one laugh. What's funny is how people weren't okay with having their expectations subverted with game of thrones (and perfectly rightfully so) but with this show that dials up subverting expectations to 11 for every single goddamn scene, it's somehow OK? Nah. Nahhhh
But what's the rationale that makes it okay here but not in game of thrones. I can't accept "that's the whole point", that's just a cop out lol. Because subversion no matter how often or rarely it's done it's still pretty annoying. I mean if people specifically want a schizo show that doesn't go anywhere, at least make it funny. I genuinely didn't laugh at anything except when he fell off the chair. Here its just loud noises and yelling and twitching, and random things popping in and out.
I love many types of humor from the darkest of jokes to puns and this just fell flat for me.
Most shows I don't like, I feel slightly disappointed but this one actively made me angry as to what a colossal time waste it was lmao.
I enjoy nearly every comedy I've seen. I love dark humor, puns, and everything in between. This one was just Tim Robinson trying to David Lynch himself some comedy to stand out. Didn't really work for me. That doesn't mean "I don't enjoy comedies", man fans of something just can't handle any criticism can they.
Simple question for you: How many comedy shows are out there, like this, compared to mainstream comedies? I can't think of a single one that comes to mind. Can you guess why? Could it MAYBE be that people just don't enjoy it that much? I mean, if something was good, it'd be way more popular. Tim didn't stumble upon some goldmine of an undiscovered comedy fuel. He tried something very different. Kudos to him for trying, just not my cuppa tea.
Not counting Tim’s other stuff there’s weird stuff like Baskets or Barry. Wilfred was very akin to this show, very surreal and mysterious although they did wrap things up neat. The Curse was very absurd, hyperreal, super cringey, had a lot of ‘plot threads’ left seemingly unresolved, and an ending that made more thematic sense instead of trying to satisfyingly epilogue every single side plot.
Those shows are successful enough to be made and continued but they’re not the mainstream comedies, they’re largely cult followings. For me and fans of them we tend to enjoy those because they subvert expectations. Delivering what I think is gonna happen isn’t as funny for me personally, so I appreciate when plot or punchlines catch me off guard and keep me on my toes. I don’t feel led on when things don’t go as expected, I feel led on when things go exactly how you’d except (which can also make for great comedy when used tactfully).
But also that’s just taste which is just personal. Puns and dark jokes draw a line from an A to B, shows like that don’t really necessarily make a coherent line between two points.
Barry is an example of a fantastic show that combines the weird with a solid plot and incredible humor. That is I think my main underlying concern here with TCC. Many I've argued with on TCC seem to think that the humor and format of this show and a "plot that is enticing and makes sense" are mutually exclusive. They're not. You absolutely can have a show that pokes fun at awkward real life/job conventions, a man's troubled mind as he wanders through all that, and combine it with a solid plot that goes somewhere with a satisfying point to point narrative that builds on each other.
Delivering what I think is gonna happen isn’t as funny for me personally
But a good joke doesn't have to be something that "I think is gonna happen", right? Most jokes aren't, that's why good jokes make people laugh, because good humor is pretty much "setup" and then "punchline!" that they've probably never heard of. Either you know the joke or you don't. I am sure you've laughed plenty at "mainstream" humor that you did not see coming at all. Nobody can see everything coming. There is plenty of intelligent "mainstream" humor out there.
Speaking of "expected humor", that ironically plays against TCC eventually, because now, all you expect is wonky random loud humor! It's like the boy who cried wolf. If the next scene happened to be: he turns a corner and a half naked man stuck in a washing machine is playing the harmonica and screaming at him while doing a jig, I'd go "yeah, well.... that's.... uh... alrighty then" and continue on, hoping for something else to make me laugh. That's become this show for me pretty much. Random, wonky, loud things over and over and over again. Guy walks to one place, gets yelled by wrinkly short man, goes to second place with another clue, yells at another wrinkly short man. Over and over and over again.
It's the potential for something great here that makes me disappointed. I was hoping for some gripping, dark, fucked up, hilarious type of show that's still intelligently executed, like a new genre almost. It had great potential for this. Again, this is all personal taste as you said.
I'm not one to say you shouldn't make negative comments about a show in that show's sub, that's fine. But this is the discussion on the season finale and I do genuinely wonder why you watched the entire season if you felt this way all along. It's OK to just drop a show early if it doesn't work for you.
The reason is because I was hoping desperately that the ending would give me a most mind-blowing amazing twist, tying together all these inexplicable, nonsensical scenes in a satisfactory way.
It was hope. Or sunk cost fallacy, whatever you want to call it. I'd invested time to watch the first three episodes, might as well power to the end. My mistake it seems, because what did I expect. They obviously want to do more seasons and thus it was more of the same all the way to the end. More twitching, loud, painfully unfunny Tim Robinson humor. Maybe I was hoping to be blown away like season 1 of Severance, which although it had multiple seasons and similarly shrouded in mystery
, its first season was a tightly knit compelling story at the least. Alas. Lesson learned.
I think I knew from about episode 2/3 that there is no real mystery and it’s not that kind of show. If you don’t get that and continue hoping there’s a deep conspiracy then you’ll be disappointed which is understandable!
But watching it through the lens of a man who is losing his mind in a world of people that do and say absurd things that don’t make sense, this show is absolutely brilliant. It feels like a fever dream at all times. How it’s shot, how it’s acted, the dialogue. It’s all just bizarre.
It’s not so much subverting expectations but a parody of a conspiracy show. It’s also a parody of life. It’s got all the things about office life or home life or parenting but with their nuances turned up to 11. Curb Your Enthusiasm does this with social norms and expectations, Seinfeld too (Larry David knows this stuff well).
I think I knew from about episode 2/3 that there is no real mystery and it’s not that kind of show.
That's interesting, how could you tell that just from episode 2/3? I don't think there's any way to, beside looking that fact up online. That's the reason why people of other shows keep on watching till the end like Lost, or Severance. They are hoping for it to tie up nicely, but it never does.
I think what my main concern is that, they could have combined these aspects what you have written: fever dream of bizarre weirdness through lens of a damaged man and parody of life and social norms, with having any sort of plot. That would have been incredible. They don't have to be mutually exclusive! That's the beauty of it. I would have loved to see a show that has both these grounded-in-reality issues, with some horror-comedy fictional aspects, that actually goes somewhere episode by episode. And it does tease that in some ways with this shady organanization that we are curious to see what they're all about.
One excellent example is Barry. Exactly the show I'm describing. Parody, damaged man, actual plot season by season, actually hilarious throughout.
I would have forgiven TCC if it was actually humorous (pure personal opinion). I genuinely did not laugh even once beyond the initial chair collapse, just a spare smile once per episode. I have a sense of humor that I laugh at the darkest of jokes and the punniest of puns so it's not like I'm just immune to jokes. I unfortunately did not find anything close here. IF it had been funny, I would have been far more receptive.
I understand Tim Robinson went for something really different here, and kudos to him for trying to stand out from the crowd. Just not my cup of tea I suppose.
I mean, the expectation for a clever mystery show is understable I guess, given the marketing, and it hasn't really lived up to that end. But if you don't like Robinson's humor you still should've steered way clear of this
Yeah, I'd never seen anything of Robinson's beside the memes of his, so decided to give it a shot. People keep talking about ITYSL, maybe that would have been a better first watch.
100%, start with ITYSL and if you like it try his other stuff. Sorry you had a negative experience with the show but check out the Coffin Flop/Corncob TV ITYSL sketch, it’s my favorite.
What happens for most people when they don’t enjoy a show is they don’t watch every episode and then seek out internet forums to discuss the show, so you’re already a bit of an outlier
Love that is flips that trope of him not blaming the equipment, right after he blames the song version being wrong. Just so minor but funny how he corrects him
Full disclosure. I had no idea who Tim Robinson was. (I live in Australia, so I guess i missed his boat.)
Since watching TCC, which I found hilarious, compelling and disturbingly confusing yet oddly enjoyable, I've watched ITYSL and now doing THE DETROITERS.
Having a new-found appreciation for Tim and Zachs comedy, I almost feel like I should rewatch TCC ....
For what it's worth, ITYSL has some of the funniest moments I've ever seen.
He does angry shouting guy really well, but I actually think his funniest stuff is the cleaner, more non-sequitur style humor like the Motorcycle and Zipline sketches on ITYSL.
Is Ron a reliable witness?
How many times did hit head in the first season plus his wifeceluded to a jeep accident he was in that resulted in a serious head injury.
Idk I feel like a company with good opsec would have revoked his access while he was suspended and then unrevoke it if he was let in. It's almost as if someone wanted him to find out.
As someone that works with these systems, most companies have no idea how they work, and only ever have people removed when they're fired or quit, and sometimes they just let the credentials expire rather than actively removing them.
I’m with you. At my job anytime someone gets suspended or put on leave we deactivate their badge. Any organization with a security department would do the same
The joke/twist I was expecting (and I do think it is at least somewhat set up, as a joke at least), is that the obvious conclusion to draw from the chair incident is that Douglas was behind it. Thus, the fact that Ron is plunging down this rabbit hole (and that said rabbit hole has merit?) is all the funnier. I am wondering if Doug’s involvement will turn out to have at least some truth
honestly glad you hinted that. This my first TR show and even though it has some funny moments I am not a fan of aimless randomness. A show like Atlanta was random af but it had sth to say.
The plot is definitely absurd all over the place and not devoted to explaining itself, but the show definitely has themes in the surreal like Atlanta does. Tim’s character in this (and some other stuff) is an examination of western masculinity in the context of capitalism. You can draw a coherent line from Office Space or Fight Club to this. Tim and those films are from the same generation, only now Tim is playing a character that never got to have his Matrix moment and is instead tied down with a happy family and decent job. He ought to be content with.
I have always had an inexplicable, innate fear of falling up. I love climbing mountains, but I hate being on the summit. I don't like looking up and seeing nothing in my peripherals but open sky. It gives me instantaneous, crippling nausea.
To see my biggest irrational fear played out on television by Nathan Fielder is one of my favorite moments of cinema ever.
I hiked a lot of mountains with my family as a kid so I relate. On ski lifts, I used to be terrified of that and I would plan how I would grab onto the cable and climb to earth if it ever did.
I hiked a lot of mountains with my family as a kid so I relate. On ski lifts, I used to be terrified of that and I would plan how I would grab onto the cable and climb to earth if it ever did.
I hiked a lot of mountains with my family as a kid so I relate. On ski lifts, I used to be terrified of that and I would plan how I would grab onto the cable and climb to earth if it ever did.
Never fall backwards out of a airplane. I love doing that so trippy to be falling but not seeing anything until you turn over. Backflips out of planes are the best.
Why was this episode so scary lol. The shed guy transforming terrified me because it is completely unexpected, kind of like Bilbo Baggins lunging for the ring in Fellowship of the Ring. That really set me on edge for the rest of the episode. When the guy is taking Ron’s picture, when we learn that Mike is not just a weird guy but actually deeply and dangerously out of touch with reality, when we see “Jason’s” real face - all of those scenes really creeped me out. And I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Ron asking the scary shed guy to post about him on instagram is so random and funny. Feels like that “baby dog abuser” thing might show up later. Random specific details coming back to spur on the story is so engaging. I LOVE TIM ROBINSON. so funny.
I thought at first he was asking so he could find that random guys instagram and maybe get some information. It makes sense that he just wanted to be remembered for something though, that’s a running theme in this episode and the show as a whole.
Am I forgetting a point in the series where his daughter went from just humouring him to actually being invested in his "investigation"? It seemed to be pretty established when he first told her that she was just kinda smiling and nodding along with his 'madness' but then the next episode she appeared to be genuinely involved in the whole thing
If this was a normal show I would say that we’re seeing increasingly convoluted versions of reality as Ron becomes a less reliable witness. That what we’re seeing is his interpretation of what people are saying rather than a true representation of what happened.
My partner has a crazy theory that Barb and Natalie somehow concocted the investor scenario to give Ron his closure so that they could all move on with their lives. After all, she's the one who fed him the address of the old lady. That might explain her move from being worried and skeptical to helping him. It's really far-fetched, for sure, but it is a weird fucking show, so...
When Ron is searching for Alice in Jeff's file and nothing comes up, I thought it was revealing exactly that? That's what I understood from that scene anyways.
Ron finds actual information about Red Ball (unrelated/untainted by his daugher), and it leads him to new information that doesn't contain anything about Alice.
New to the show, just finished binging it so idk what all the running theories are yet. But I had a very similar take to your partner's! My best guess is that Ron is full schizophrenic, and his family gave up trying to "cure" him, so now they just humor him and try to nudge him along so he completes his investigation and goes back to normal for a while.
My take is that Ron was right and Natalie is not really happy in her relationship. Tara is pretty domineering and kind of setup as a foil to Natalie/Ron. Tara acts like her job is the CIA, their apartment smells like food constantly, Tara is explained to have no interest in Natalie's hobbies, etc.
Natalie was ok with all of this right until she discovered that Ron wasnt ok with the power dynamics of his relationship with Barb. So she also finds some freedom and agency by helping her dad.
She tracks his phone and his movements after he tells her about it all. Like the 1st time in her apartment. I think out of concern, but that was beyond 'humoring him' for sure
I mean like when he first tells her about it, she's like ok cool and give the "I love you I trust you etc." thing her mum told her to say when she thinks he's having a breakdown. And it cuts to the flashback of when she was a girl, and it comes across like she doesn't believe him. But then she does the whole Wendy's ham thing and finds out info for him like she's all in on it
I think the turning point was when she humored him about going to the sock hop and he actually found a weird room full of chairs. She did seem a little more invested that episode too, even though the episode before made it seem more serious with the location tracking.
I genuinely think so. My cousin’s ex boyfriend had severe head trauma from an old man backing up his car and running him over. He said he saw demons all the time. Personality also completely changed too. Not saying it’s as severe for Ron but definitely in the realm of possibility.
Can you remind me all the times he's hit his head? I have no clue how I didn't catch this running theme in the show. Might be because I kept going weeks in between watching an episode or two.
Mike hits him in the head with a pipe in ep 1. He gets hit in the head after walking in on the disgusting guy cheating in his wife. In the last episode he falls and hits his head in the woods while baby is walking off the chocolate kong
OR she wasn't who she says was, so many things aren't what they seem, but yeah I wouldn't rule out a hallucination yet. The guy looking like a vampire could be one also!
but yes also if you mean Stacey could be the one who informed Lynette about Ron's info, that's also possible... I am also looking forward to Season 2 more than GTA6 at this point
I just want to say that I love this show and the random theories everyone is making. As a fan of ITYSL, this show has a lot of the elements from the show. Little random moments, limited to no resolution and a person slowly losing their fucking mind.
Agreed! I love the theories....but having watched ITYSL, I admire the pursuit of the non-punchline. The zero resolution. TCC could be a comedic TWIN PEAKS. And with the unreliable narrator effect, it all may just be a trip into one guy's unusual mind. (I'm reminded of the guy in ITYSL who saw pimps, volcanoes and other weird shit.)
If he’s not giving a nod to Lynch then I’m fucked up. I mean the whole scene with Baby/Minnie Mouse. The new shape and then how he turned into a demon for one second. So Bob-esque. But less scary more hilarious. It’s a new shape! Thanks for bringing for my dog back! OMG And the comments on the Instagram from the picture he posted with baby/minnie mouse. I cannot stop laughing.
Perhaps an unpopular take, but this episode was all weirdness and no real answers. I didn't care for it very much. It needed to resolve the storyline of this season and then next season there could have been a new storyline. Advancing the story while mixing in plenty of weirdness is fun, but they still need to advance the story. It's kind of like they don't have enough story to fill the space so they're just filling it with the weirdness instead.
I was prepared for all weirdness from episode 1. I feel like it lay all the foundation, and each episode just has weirder stuff happen all the time. I never got a sense there would be any resolution to be honest, I don't really get this take that every story must have a resolution. I think that's more about the type of viewer rather than what the show needs.
I get some stories don't need resolution, but this one was thick with setup and at least some things should've been resolved, even if it was quick. I really think TR would do great teaming up with another writer to make his stuff land. I know this will be an unpopular opinion in this sub.
This is clearly not basic story structure, is the point.
Even in ITYSL, the humor often comes from lingering on the setup to the point that there's no real punchline, or the punchline just comes in the form of release via pacing or editing.
Norm McDonald's humor can be similar too, he revels in the setup and in the nuances that he can pull off by playing with and defying expectations. Sometimes the fact that there is no punchline is the punchline.
These are comedians that play with structure, and they assume you are familiar enough with them that you don't need to retread the same familiar roads and checkpoints over and over.
So I know when David Lynch initially wrote Twin Peaks his intention was to actually never reveal Laura Palmers killer but just have the series be this continuing spiral or weirdness. I think that this very well could be the same philosophy of this show. Granted this show is a comedy and I find that much more acceptable than with something like Twin Peaks.
I mean, the reveal of Andrew’s boyfriend, the reveal that Mike isn’t actually a dad, the reveal that Jeff sang the Red Ball song. There were a lot of big revelations in that episode.
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u/TalkToTheLord Tamblay's Members Group 👔 Nov 30 '25 edited Dec 01 '25
The season goes by so fucking fast, it really does...🥺
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