Apparently I saw the original version of this episode, as the season two finale and with James Murray. I feel badly for those who don't get to see this because he's so good chewing the scenery as the horrible boss. I'm sad to hear this was his last episode. And it was so perfect that it got to feature his real life wife who was similarly being the most delightful, over the top villain that I've seen in a long time. She might as well have been a Bond villain, the way she manipulated everyone around her, including McDonald. As the episode went along, each scene with her got hammier and her actions more over the top. It's a shame her character was a one off. She would be perfect on some soap like Dynasty.
The mystery was pretty obvious. The dog was plainly running around when it did for a reason. Rose's video claiming twice that Al was after her was too badly acted (on purpose). And then when the stalker fan went missing, it made it clear. But to be honest, I didn't even care much about the mystery since it was just a device on which to hang all the really good stuff.
This was definitely my favorite episode of both seasons. It felt like the writers finally found the direction for the show in that it was so hilarious, apart from the whole murder thing. I loved all the little extra business that was going on on the side, such as Houseman doing his best to be an evil mentor to McDonald. My favorite was their scene by the candy machine. Then there's the crush Darren has on Milena and whether she feels the same way. There was the completely, amazingly loony Nurse Penny. I'd love to know how much of that was in the script versus it just being that actress who decided to steal the show with her own ideas. O. M. G. Finally there was the little scene where Mariel so easily seduced the judge while playing golf. I almost forgot about it until the judge laid into Al in court. This whole script was hysterical and well crafted. However, I did still want to be sure Spike actually got to end up with Al at the end or did he get Fluffy.
On top of that all that, we got Dodd befriending McDonald's boyfriend when she was actually trying to get info on him instead. That was so cute. I did love how he didn't play the bumbling fool for once. His character and status are already established now so the writers no long need to make him look so bumbling all the time. I loved his scene at the memorial service when Dodds said all the girls must be from the future. It was funny, plus I appreciated the non-cynical take on that culture. The writers could have taken the same hack view as most other shows but they didn't. They did show how that life can be completely faked right down to the name and nationality of a person. But an online community could also could be sincere. I liked how Dodds could look at them objectively.
Finally, there was the scene at the very end where M&D both bonded a little deeper, sharing a moment, which was so touching. Followed by that gorgeous drone shot pulling far over the city and the river. So perfect.
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