Episode 203: HiatusEpisodes to see: For a proper Lindenson introduction, you might want to see “Identifying A Body”.
Cast:
Brendon Small/Dwayne/Ken Addleburg/Perry – Brendon Small
Jason Penopolis/Coach Jon McGuirk/Walter – H. Jon Benjamin
Melissa Robbins – Melissa Bardin Galsky
Paula Small – Janine Ditullo
Mr. Lynch – Ron Lynch
Cynthia – Jennifer Kirkman
Arnold Lindenson – Andy Kindler
Synopsis: A cinematic failure prompts a hiatus for Brendon, Jason, and Melissa. Melissa seems bored, Jason finds a friendship with Walter & Perry, and Brendon attempts a friendship with a new girl, Cynthia. Meanwhile, McGuirk befriends Lynch in order to get a discount on travel during his vacation, and Paula gets bad news from her work
History:
· This is the first episode where we learn Melissa’s last name is Robbins (by her mail box). We also learn Ken Addleburg’s name.
· This episode introduces Cynthia and begins her arc.Lawn Gnomes: (Click for picture)
· Bed Shot while Brendon is talking to Melissa about boredom
Brendon’s Filmography:
· “Jazz Fighters” – A man getting a divorce from his wife (as well as being represented by his wife) gets mad when Richard (Jason) tries to get with her. After a sword battle, they have to resort to other methods of fighting. JAZZ FIGHTING!
· “Jazz Fighters 2” – Pretty much the same as the first one. Perhaps worse.The Movie-Episode Connection:
· I always thought it was appropriate that the trio came back to do the exact same thing they went on hiatus for in the first place.The Plotline Connection: (TheJazzFighter)
· Brendon, Melissa and Jaso take a hiatus from making movies. McGuirk wants to go to Mexico on vaction, which is sort of a hiatus from his life. Paula gets fired, a (forced) hiatus from her job.
Song Lyrics:
· Jazz Fighters Theme (Ski
Skip-dop-diddly-doddley dow!
Scop-skid-dip-a-zappidy-zo (And so on…)· Crazy Legs #1
Well I found five bucks so I bought some fancy shoes
Gonna put on my feet put them to some good use
Well I’m 15 years old and I don’t like being told what to do
I got, two legs they’re crazy legs they’re very very leggy and they’re crazy legs I said..
Ooh! I got those crazy legs!
Woo-oo-oo-oo, I got those crazy legs!· Crazy Legs #2 (Ballad)
Ooh! You’re such a pretty girl (yeah you are)
And you like to spin and a twirl
I said ooh; you’ve got those crazy legs
I said ooh; you’ve got those crazy legs…Guitar!Random Observations & Facts:
· Brendon cuts off part of Jason’s Afro in “Jazz Fighters”.
· This is the first time Brendon has ever looked right into the camera (during “Jazz Fighters”). Scary.
· There appears to be a banana on Paula’s desk.
· In any scene between Brendon and Dwayne, the actor Brendon Small is talking to himself.
· As Brendon leaves the table to go outside, you can see he did successful cut his pants off.
· Hasta manana compadre = See you tomorrow,
· Paula’s shoe (from the shoebox) looks a lot like Dwayne’s shoes. On the commentary, they mention how this kills the joke.
· Dwayne’s skull has a crack in it. Dwayne’s bones also bend (this is probably just to fit the animation style).
· The way Dwayne is sitting after he gets electrocuted the first time, it looks like his legs have melted. After Dwayne gets electrocuted the second time, it looks like his whole body has melted.
· After Brendon goes, “Dwayne I am so sorry”, Dwayne gives Brendon a quick thumbs-up sign.
· On Lynch’s Spanish board: Ir = Go, Taberna = Bar, El, La, Los, Las = The, Bano = Bathroom, Ayuda = Help, Comer = Eat, Si = Yes, No = No
· Pencils McGuirk has thrown at the ceiling gradually fall during the classroom scene.
· Tu eres el profesor de soccer actually should be Tu eres el profesor de futbol, since futbol in Spanish means soccer.
· Although Lindenson drank most of the wine, Paula looks like she’s had a little herself. There's a running "gag" about her drinking in this season, if you follow it.
· Lindenson has made a Gandhi-style sash using toilet paper, and also a toilet paper bandana.
· Jason’s face turns red when he says “No More!” to Walter & Perry.
· Paula is looking at the classified ads towards the end of the episode.
· In the recycling bin: “Wino”, “Grape Death”, and another one I can’t make out.
· This is the first time we see Lynch drunk.
· A drunken Lynch says (in Spanish) “My name is hotel.”
· As far as I could tell, there is no Josie in this episode.
End Credits: “Crazy Legs” (#1)
Reviews: WARNING: Spoilers
Spectre: A big improvement over last week, "Hiatus" was a pretty good HM episode. Greatest parts would have to be Paula's boss (once again), every Jazz part, Jason narrating his journal entry, Dwayne - him even speaking is freaking hilarious, everytime Brendon messed up at Dwayne's dance rehearsals, McGuirk at his Spanish lessons, the whole "Me - he - co" sequence, and even the ending was fairly good. I really enjoyed this episode. Although not as good as "Politics," it's at least the second best episode so far in this new season. Grade: A-
Randomguy: Wow. That was quite an episode. Better than Politics or Identifying a Body, I think. The intro (Let us Fight with Jazz!) was truly hilarious, and more or less let you know you were in for a good episode. Let's see.
Good Points:
-The whole Cancun subplot with Lynch and McGuirk was awesome. These two play really will off each other, and their interactions here were almost as funny as in Mortgages and Marbles (Not quite though)
-The Premise. After the so-so premise of Identifying a Body, this was a great idea for an episode. Just taking time to show the Home Movies cast sort of dawdling and doing nothing is really pretty clever.
-The Re-appearance of Dwayne. I was really waiting for him to come back in, and I have to say, I was not disappointed. His speaking voice is just perfect, and the new song was great too. I'd love to see a Home Movies soundtrack with all of Dwayne's songs.
-Jazz Film. I already mentioned it, but it was gut-bus tingly funny.
-Jason's diary entry was funny too. He wasn't in the episode a ton, but that was classic moment right there.
-Ending. Having Jason, Melissa, and Brendan come back from hiatus and realize they still suck was appropriate.Bad things-
-Paula's boss. I realize some might like him, being an obvious Jerry Lewis homage, but me, I find him annoying and over-the top.
-Under usage of Melissa. Once again, I just think Melissa doesn't get the screen time she deserves. It's like she could be an interesting character, but they don't give her any real scenes of her own. At least the telephone call was something...Overall, this episode was really great. A definite step in the right direction. Grade A. I urge you to catch it Thursday if you missed this run.
The Condiment King: "Fight....with jazz!" "Bring it on, daddy-o!" I noticed that in this first scene they used the Rich joke again, which is amusing. They also used the same dialogue rewind joke with McGuirk and Lynch as they did with Brendon and Paula in "Politics".
This is the introduction of Skab's new choreography, Cynthia. I never really was a fan of the character or the storyline that she has running with Brendon throughout Season 2. At least we got some funny Skab facial expressions and some of their better music here. Its odd that Cynthia ends up showing that she's at least somewhat interested in Brendon after all the indifference. I think this might be the only instance in the series that she really shows this.
Its really ironic that Brendon, Melissa, and Jason decide to go on hiatus after doing the jazz movie since it was so (I guess unintentionally) hilarious. Melissa and Jason weren't really used much yet again with Arnold Lindenson and Cynthia taking some screen time. Melissa and Jason (with Walter & Perry) were explained away as bored.
I love the rendition of Brendon and McGuirk playing out Brendon asking Paula to go with McGuirk to Cancun and McGuirk assumes she'll just say, "sure". It reminded me of Brendon and Paula with Lindenson in the previous episode, but an even funnier one-shot scene.
Arnold Lindenson was even better in this episode than in "Identifying a Body" with his ill-timed bad news, all for Paula, and how blatant and painful he delivered it. Its true that the comedy isn't really consistent with the rest of the show, but it brings a new variety. In a way, its almost like Jonathan Katz comedy with things like asking Paula to at least clean the windows if she doesn't have a desk to clean out. A bad time for jokes. I love how obvious the wine bottles that Arnold Lindenson brought were (GRAPE DEATH). "THAT'S YOUR CALL! TO EACH HIS OWN YOUNG WOMAN!"
Lynch teaching McGuirk spanish was a great little scene as the headed towards Cancun for their trip, just because its easier to go in a group. Lynch and McGuirk go really well together as Lynch being the overexuberant teacher and McGuirk the bored student. Its relentlessly ironic that its Lynch that ends up being the one that's drunk and unable to communicate with the locals in Cancun. ****
StrangerAtaru: There are those episodes where just, well, nearly everything works. "Hiatus" is just one of those shows where the magic of second season starts truely making itself present. It all opens with one of the worse movies that our trio of filmmakers have made, but of course this one has the now famous "Jazz Fight", which while we think is hilarious (including myself), adds to the crappiness quotient of the commentary. (Like Jason's comeback to Melissa: "It's an alternative to good") Thus leads to the kids going there seperate ways for once, with Melissa moping a lot (wish we saw more with her), Jason spending some time with Walter and Perry, and Brendon just getting into mischief until getting recruited to Dwayne's latest project. I love the little interchange between Brendon and Paula as the moping continues, showing how desperate she is to get him out of her hair. But then, the episode sort of slows down once we get to meet the infamous Cynthia. Personally, I don't hate her as much as some people (in fact she inspired one of my favorite HM scenes coming up soon), but the whole Brendon hitting on a girl making himself look stupid in the process just never works for me. (well, except the "looking stupid" part: the part where he electrocutes Dwayne is one of the best parts of the episode!) Meanwhile, Paula has to put up with another episode with Lindenson, which while similar to the previous episode in annoyance, at least appears better with the whole home sequence where he gets drunk. Then, of course, I've been saving the best part of the episode for last: McGurk and Lynch's Mexican expedition. This is one of those episodes where the chemistry of the two just works into overtime making one of the best interactions in the whole series. (it was rather simple: Lynch tries to get them prepared for the trip, McGurk just acts like himself) And who doesn't laugh when Lynch, the only Spanish speaker, gets drunk himself at the end? Overall, all this put together makes for one heck of an episode!
Superloud: I love this episode... Brendon electrocuting Dwayne, the jazz fight, the, uh, other jazz fight, the drunk Mr. Lindenson, McGuirk in the Spanish class, the drunk Mr. Lynch, donde esta the hotel that we were staying at! Who cares what everybody else says, this is one of my favorites.
Mynd Hed: The jazz battle really made this episode for me. The rest of the episode was good, although I thought Brandon's whole unrequited-love plot fell a little flat. McGuirk and Lynch were good, and I found Mr. Lindensen great as always (I swear I feel like I'm the only person in the world who likes this guy), but the jazz battle was GREAT.
"We'll have to continue this battle without weapons."
"You mean a battle of wits?"
"Close. We'll fight... with jazz!"The Landstander: This episode has one of the funniest scenes in the entire series, and a very good McGuirk plot, but an oddly uninspired romance story at the center.
Following the hilarious "Jazz Fighting", the trio decide to take a break. Jason (in a very funny side joke) and Melissa get a bit of screentime, but I would've liked for them to have done a bit more. Instead, we get Brendon meeting up with Cynthia, a nice girl (who doesn't live, but is often) next door. I can see how a Cynthia storyline would sound good as a character arc on paper, but in execution it kind of fizzles out. Brendon's awkwardness is funny, as is Cynthia's indifference, but it kind of doesn't stand out as anything we haven't seen before. The Cynthia storyline throughout season 2 doesn't quite do it for me, on the whole, as I'll review as it goes along. Then there's Mr. Lindenson, who is a bit better here than in the previous episode, but still feels off from the humor of the show. Still, mistaking Brendon for a girl and yelling loudly about nothing is pretty funny.
The highlight here, besides "Jazz Fighting", is McGuirk and Lynch's trip to Mexico. McGuirk's instincts and Lynch's intellectual approach conflict nicely. You can really feel McGuirk's pain when Lynch instructs him on Spanish. It also has one of the funniest ending jokes of the show, and seems perfectly true to the characters.
I'm on the edge between a Recommended episode and just a Good one. Since I'm purposefully trying to be critical in these reviews, I'll go with the latter. A Good Episode.
