The Crazy Ones 1.02 Review: Failure is on the Road to Greatness

For all those that have yet to watch tonight’s episode of The Crazy Ones, titled ‘The Spectacular’, or are simply not caught up at all and are hoping to do so without the threat of spoilers, then now would be the time to exit this blog. THIS REVIEW MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS! You’ve been warned.

Right off the bat, this series began its second episode of comedy most hilariously. Every interaction between Robin Williams’s character and James Wolk’s character is just hysterical. Not only do they have a childlike friendship that works out brilliantly, but they play off each other like no others.

I’m going to go out on a limb here and surmise that the beginning of each episode will include that backdrop and either photographic or videographic advertisement, much like the first episode and this one. While this time around it worked out a little better than last week’s, I’m not sure if they eventually won’t find themselves stuck in this rut of having to write that into the beginning of the episode.

This series surprisingly managed to stick in a lot of penis metaphors, while not making them too graphic. It’s nice to see a show dip into immaturity, without dipping into the immaturity that is merely infantile in humour. I like that I seem to be able to trust this series won’t shy away from that comedy, but at the same time won’t rely on it.

The episode this week I believe was very funny, and that was without depending on the backing of a commercial product (McDonalds) or a celebrity guest (Kelly Clarkson). This is a sitcom I can get behind. Fast paced, interesting new world, and characters that play off each other brilliantly. It’s almost comedy gold. Based off merely this episode, I quite hope this series gets a second season because I desperately want to see these characters for years to come.

While I’m a big fan of Sarah Michelle Gellar (Buffy for the win!), I do think she needs a little work with her facial acting when it comes to comedy. That, and she looks really thin in the face and neck area. Maybe it has something to do with the stress of raising two kids, I don’t know, but I would like to see her looking a little healthier.

 Maybe it was just me having a girl moment, but didn’t anyone else squeal when they saw the ducks all following after Simon and Andrew? They were just so adorable and fuzzy! Definitely the right move in making Simon appear eccentric and childlike in nature. Perhaps that’s the reason he is so able to freely come up with brilliant ideas for advertisement, because he’s got the imagination and heart of a child.

All in all, I greatly responded to this second outing for the series. It has everything I look for in a comedy, funny, great chemistry between actors, and interesting storylines to be followed. I would like to see some development for Sydney when it comes to relationships with men, but this is only the second episode, I trust that will come in due time.

My rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Best Line:

“No, but you can get a gay one. Because ducks are fabulous!” – Simon responding to his daughter’s question of whether she can get a straight answer.

All right, I’m off to watch Grey’s Anatomy now, then it’s either The Originals or The Vampire Diaries. Probably in reverse order for possible continuity issues.