How To Live A Better Life - Season 2, Episode 6: "Mike And Jordan Get Athletic" Review

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Ah, a fresh episode of How To Live A Better Life. After the messy "Jordan's Dream", I would be slightly worried heading into the next episode, but judging by the title alone, "Mike And Jordan Get Athletic" feels like it's going to be a normal episode of the show. And by normal, I mean hilarious.

The episode is the best one of the season so far, beating out "The Pool Master" for that honor. Everything that "Jordan's Dream" did wrong, this episode does right, well, except for the ending. But we'll get to that later. "Get Athletic" throws a two-part story at you this time, as well as about 3,000 (hit-and-miss, mostly hit) jokes a minute. This is the HTLBL that I love. This is the kind of show that I should be writing about. From the intro to the bloopers, I was smiling. See, I told you the bad episodes were out of the way!

The episode follows Mike and Jordan wondering why exactly their dates didn't go the way they wanted. Jordan's date ended up in the hospital, and Mike made fun of his for being fat. Where did they go wrong? Jordan hypothesizes that maybe girls don't like them because they aren't athletic enough. So, the guys try out a range of sports in order to see which ones they're good at, which is approximately none of them. In fact, they don't know a single thing about sports, as evidenced by Mike picking up a football and throwing it right into Jordan's face, calling it "soccer". It's typical comedic ignorance, and it can be very funny. For example, about a week ago in my speech class, we were performing impromptu speeches based off of a random topic that you only have 30 seconds to prepare for. One guy got Vladimir Putin, and not knowing who he is, proceeded to tell the class that he was a vampire who needed to be "impeached" from "American Congress". That speech was absolutely hysterical, because Vladimir Putin is the prime minister of Russia. The first time he got it wrong, you could tell that he seriously didn't know who he was, but then he caught on, and started deliberately getting that one fact about Vladimir wrong. One might think that it would get old, but it only got funnier. Comedic ignorance can be hilarious when done right, and the entire sequence when Mike and Jordan try out different sports is pretty funny because of that.

But wait! That's not all! There's a B-story going on here! Well, it's more of a continuation. See, there's one more sport left to try, and that sport is basketball. Instead of playing against each other, Mike and Jordan join a pickup game at the local b-ball court. Two other guys are there, and accept the challenge. Best to three wins. What follows is the worst basketball game ever played, but it's also one of the funniest. I don't really want to get too much into detail for this sequence, because it's just better to watch than to analyze. All I'm saying here is; Mike's tendency to tie his shirt in a knot is worthy of an episode itself. 

All of this is great, and the episode is really well-paced all the way through. Jordan's final shot to win the game was a big "Yeah!" moment, and it's the right kind of hi-jinks that the show does so well with. One thing that the show needs to work on, however, is its endings. After the game, Mike and Jordan return home, full of pride from the win. They think that winning one poor game of basketball makes them instantly attractive, so they call up their previous dates to see if they want them back. Turns out, the girls have boyfriends, and Mike and Jordan were the ones who just approached them in the movie theater without warning. Mike shoots a look at the camera, and ends it Looney Tunes style, which is NOT OK. Not at all! I would have tolerated just a moment of silence as Mike and Jordan realize what they did, but no! Mike had to ruin it all with his stupid "Da da da duh da da!" Just, dear god no.

However, the little segment afterwards that introduced all the guest stars was amusing.

Still, what the hell, guys.

Stray Observations

• Please feel free to leave comments on this and all the other reviews. Your opinion on the episode is just as important as mine.
• This episode broke the record for most guest stars ever with Jake Kovacs, Daniel Lawrence, Bryce Flory, Trent Scifres, Justin Benjamin, and a special cameo by our very own Ryan Cage.
• Speaking of Ryan Cage: "Dinkleberg."
• This episode was very tastefully shot, by HTLBL standards. Examples: the first shot after the title sequence, and when Mike and Jordan were tossing the baseball around.
• Extremely outdated Michael Vick jokes are still funny.
• I didn't mention the intro in the review, as it didn't pertain to the episode story wise, but it was a good one. It even hints at the plot of next week's episode, hint hint.
• Revealing that the two gangstas were only playing with Mike and Jordan because they were happy that Mike and Jordan wanted to be around them was a nice touch.
• For every shot that either Mike or Jordan makes, Jake's pants fall lower and lower to the ground.
• Seriously, do people's pants just fall down when everything is going wrong for them?
• "Somebody call the fire department!"
• The one or two unruly guest stars could have ruined the entire basketball sequence, but instead only slightly ruined it. "I'm Batman." Seriously? Show some professionalism, guys.
• Jordan running away from Mike after he made the winning shot. El oh el man.
• Overall Episode Grade: B+