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How to Curry Favor with Your Boss When His Father Dies. Review: Episodes – “Episode 203”

  • By

  • July 15, 2012

  • 7 mins to read

S2 E3 – “Episode 203”

Air Date: Sunday, July 15, 2012, 10:30 pm ET/PT on Showtime

Rating: ★★★★★

 

After having a stroke and being in a coma for a month, Merc’s (John Pankow) father dies. Unbelievably, everyone tries to one up each other in a race to incur Merc’s good will.

Thoughts and Observations:

Jamie (Genevieve O’Reilly) receives a phone call about Merc’s father dying in the middle of performing oral sex on Matt (Matt LeBlanc). He tries to commiserate with her but in true Matt style, he wants her to finish the job. OMG! How self-centered can he be? Then again, she complies so she’s no better than he is in my book. I know Jamie and Merc don’t have the best of relationships but still. Have a little respect for the dead here! Is a climax all that important? OK, I know…I know.

Morning (Mircea Monroe) and Beverly (Tamsin Greig) are all ready for the funeral in their LBDs.

Beverly (Tamsin Greig) and Sean’s (Stephan Mangan) conversation about which word to use in place of “cock” for the show is pretty funny. After going through almost every synonym, all of which won’t pass the censors, Sean comes up with the perfect word in the course of their regular conversation. Isn’t that the way it always goes, though? The word you’re searching for never comes to mind when you’re trying so hard to come up with it but the minute you stop searching, it pops into your head. Maybe it’s just me but hearing Beverly suggest “prick” and “dick” in her British accent gave me a few good chuckles.

Sean, Beverly, Morning and Matt arrive at the funeral together.

Beverly and Sean aren’t familiar with American customs so they call Carol (Kathleen Rose Perkins) for advice on what to do for Merc on this sad occasion. Should they send flowers? Cards? Carol cracks me up each time she suggests something and then follows it up with, “But honestly, don’t feel any pressure,” as she sits there eating from each basket or tray that comes in. I must say, that cream cheese topped bagel looked mighty delicious; I could practically taste it from her description! Or maybe I was just hungry when I was watching…

Matt and Jamie present a normal front to people who don’t know what’s going on between them.

Matt wants to go in with Beverly and Sean on a gift and suggests the three of them should cater a dinner…for 75 people! Beverly’s response cracks me up! “Whatever happened to somebody dies, you dig a hole and bury them?” Beverly always calls it like she sees it; she’s a very no-nonsense kind of gal, which is one of the things I like about her. Greig is an excellent comedienne; she knows exactly when and where to change the look on her face or tone of her voice to convey something funny, plus her comedic timing is spot on.

The things people buy are so outlandish as each tries to impress Merc with their condolence gifts. Imagine…a tree planted at the cemetery in Merc’s father’s name…a dialysis machine donated to the hospital in his father’s name…can you say “pretentious?” And Matt is no better; he’s only interested in making Merc remember the excessive gift he, Beverly and Sean send. Or perhaps, that’s what people in Hollywood do to make sure the network head thinks highly of them. It’s not about an appropriate way to express one’s condolences but rather, how much they spend. Episodes is, after all, a send-up of what goes on behind the scenes in Hollywood. You know the expression, “many a true word is spoken in jest?” Well, it definitely applies to Episodes.

Carol tries to console Merc despite Jamie standing next to him on the other side.

I feel so sorry for Beverly when Morning (Mircea Monroe) lets slip that she’s seen the inside of Sean’s bedroom. The look of surprise on both their faces, coupled with the look of sadness on Beverly’s, is very telling. I guess Morning never dreamed Beverly hadn’t been in Sean’s apartment, while Beverly is shocked to find out Sean has been cheating—although he doesn’t think he cheated. They are separated, after all. I know Beverly thinks she and Sean are going to patch things up but with this piece of news, maybe not.

As Matt and Sean wait for Morning and Beverly to go to the funeral, Matt does an impersonation of what a “deaf chick” says during sex. They should have put “BEVERAGE ALERT” across my TV screen because I almost choked on my ice tea during this scene. It’s just too funny, not only because LeBlanc uses a perfect nasal intonation, but Sean keeps interrupting him—to no avail.

Memorable lines:

Carol, referring to all the condolence baskets: “I hate it when people die. I get so fat.”

**

Matt: “Look, if our ratings were great, we could get away with sending a bowl of cat piss and a bag of Doritos.®”

Sean: “Mmm.”

 **

“Episode 203” deals with the excesses and eccentricities in Hollywood, which is perfectly portrayed when Merc interrupts the Rabbi (Gary Levine) mid-song to take a business call! I guess that’s what important people do in Hollywood.

Beverly and Sean share a funny moment before things turn serious.

But amid all the comedy and laughter, there’s such sadness when Beverly realizes during the funeral that neither she nor Sean will be at each other’s funeral. There was a moment when I thought the two were going to kiss but sadly, that didn’t happen. Please, writers, have Sean and Beverly kiss and make up. It’s the right thing to do.

Tune in to Episodes Sundays at 10:30 pm ET/PT, only on Showtime.

Check out the show’s homepage at http://www.sho.com/sho/episodes/home. Like Episodes on Facebook, and follow the show on Twitter using hashtag #Episodes. Tweet star Stephen Mangan @StephenMangan.

All photos © 2012 Showtime Networks/CBS Broadcasting, Inc.

 

Linda

Love TV, movies, and books--mostly mysteries, with a good love story thrown in every now and then. I have four adopted dogs who I adore. I love trying new recipes, and enjoy eating what I make. English language perfectionist. Reading in bed, Italian food, warm weather, the beach, all types of games = favs!

Linda

Love TV, movies, and books--mostly mysteries, with a good love story thrown in every now and then. I have four adopted dogs who I adore. I love trying new recipes, and enjoy eating what I make. English language perfectionist. Reading in bed, Italian food, warm weather, the beach, all types of games = favs!