Jane Lynch Parties Down once more

     The second season finale of Starz's Party Down brought back first season character Constance Carmell (the spectacular Jane Lynch, Glee).  The episode was called "Constance Carmell Wedding", as every episode is named after the event they Party Down crew caters.  Constance was becoming the tenth wife of a rich producer (Alex Rocco), a man much older than her, carting around an oxygen tank, but still with a youthful, even lecherous, spirit.  Constance hires her old buddies to cater the event to make sure they attend, but spends more time catching up with them than socializing with the wedding guests.

     This episode was full of great moments, from Patrick Duffy (as himself) breaking in and trying to stop the wedding, to Kyle's (Ryan Hansen) tribute song to Constance being an Aryan anthem, making her new husband and his other Jewish friends very uncomfortable, and the groom dying ten feet down the road after the car left the wedding.  Don't worry.  He wrote a fake name on the prenup his daughter made them sign, so Constance is now loaded!  My favorite moment was when Lydia (Megan Mullally) tells Constance that she's her replacement, and Constance replies that she doesn't think she's replaceable.  And she isn't.  As much as Lydia is finally starting to grow on me, no one can really replace Jane Lynch in anything because she is truly one of a kind.

     Other plots came to a head, too, giving each of the main characters important changes.  Casey's (Lizzy Caplan) scene is cut from her Judd Apatow film, taking away the chance at a big break that she longed for.  Henry (Adam Scott) decides to come out of acting retirement and go for a big role, although is it for his own sake, or to prove himself to Casey?  Roman (Martin Starr) gets incredibly high and writes an opus of a screenplay on toilet paper.  Ron (Ken Marino, who also directed this episode) declares his love for the engage daughter of his boss, Danielle (June Diane Raphael).  And Lydia makes the moves on Danielle's soon-to-be-divorced father, Bolus Lugozshe (Michael Hitchcock, United States of Tara).

     The brilliant comedy co-created by Rob Thomas (Veronica Mars) has not yet been picked up for a third season, and while I sincerely hope that it gets renewed, it will face some challenges if it does.  For one thing, Adam Scott will be a series regular on Parks and Recreation next year, so his character of Henry will appear in no more than three episodes and will become the second principal that has to be replaced.  However, even with a reduced Scott quotient, I would very much miss the show if it went away.

     Party Down airs on Starz, which is a premium subscription channel.  If you have Netflix and a TiVo, XBox, etc. with streaming connection, both seasons, including last night's finale, are available to watch instantly.  If you don't subscribe to Netflix or Starz, I highly recommend signing up for Netflix immediately and at least take the free month trial and watch Party Down.