Article first written for Seat42F.
Showtime’s EPISODES, which,
funnily enough, doesn’t use episode titles, begins its third outing this week.
Picking up the morning after the events of season two’s finale, much has
changed for the characters, while at the same time, life continues as normal,
too. Some jobs have shifted and some decisions have been made, but the show
called Pucks must go on, and so they get back to work.
Merc (John Pankow) vows to cancel
Pucks, if you remember, but that was when he thought he would continue to head up
the network, which obviously is no longer the position he holds. Nor does he
have a woman to stand by his side, his wife, Jamie (Genevieve O’Reilly), having
gone home with Matt (Matt LeBlanc), and Carol (Kathleen Rose Perkins) dumping
him when she finally accepts just what a selfish jerk Merc is.
Thus, Merc begins the new year on
a terrible note, desperate and alone. I don’t think he’s going anywhere, as
Pankow is too valuable a player to lose, and Merc is still a figure in too many
people’s lives. But he won’t be the same Merc we’ve grown used to, or at least
he won’t have the same power and control.
Carol spends the first half hour
trying to get a hold of Elliot (Michael Brandon) so she can accept Merc’s job,
which Elliot offered her. But, as we know, Elliot is leaving town and intends
to name the new network head before he goes. Did Carol wait too long to change
her mind?
If so, that’s too bad. Yes, she’s
a little self-centered, as we see again in a lunch scene during the season
premiere, but Carol is a good person, by and large. At least she’s honest about
who she is, including the lies she tells, and those around her know what
they’re getting with her. She deserves the job more than Merc did, and she can
certainly do better than Merc in choosing her next lover. Whether she takes the
office now or later, it seems like a strong possibility that it will happen at
some point.
One question not so up in the air
is that of Beverly (Tamsin Greig) and Sean’s (Stephen Mangan) relationship.
After all, Sean comes to Beverly’s defense in the finale, and so the two are a
couple again as season three begins.
But how long might that last?
They both slept with other people, to be sure, and that could continue to hang
over them. They must confess their sins, forgive one another, and move on. Keeping
things from one another will destroy them when those hidden bits come out, as
they inevitably will. However, fans of the show know how neurotic the two Brits
can be, so forgiving and forgetting may be easier said than done.
I can actually live with a little
tension between Beverly and Sean. What’s more important to the series is the
dynamic between Sean, Beverly, and Matt as a trio. This fell apart quite a bit
last year, and it’s nice to see it back on track now. They can have conflict,
as that is entertaining, but things between the three can never be allowed to
get so bad that they go their separate ways. That’s what would kill the show,
but I think the writers are smart enough to realize that, pushing the
characters as far as they can go, then pulling back just before permanent
damage is done.
EPISODES is very, very funny. All
these relationships above make up the story, but not necessarily the reason to
tune in. Every installment has joke after joke that lands in the best of ways.
From a secret that quickly spreads out of hand at the wrong time, to Sean
helping Matt write an apology to his wife, to Matt’s charades behind Jamie as
Merc attempts to win his wife back, there are amusing bits constantly in the
most recent outing. Many of these are minor and lots are inappropriate, but the
frequency, tone, and flow of them are what kick EPISODES up to a top-notch
comedy series. This has not changed in the season three premiere.
Plus, unlike in previous seasons,
there is no fretting about whether the often-on-the-bubble show will continue.
It has already been renewed for a fourth season.
EPISODES premieres Sunday at
10:30 p.m. ET on Showtime.
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