Man, this was a solid episode. Especially for Jordan. Anyone who knows the impeccable Jordan Ross personally knows that he is a major film buff, and just kind of exudes that classic "director" look. He essentially plays a heightened version of himself on the show, so it's only natural for him to give a great performance when an episode like this comes along. It is the new best episode of the season so far, even with its two glaring flaws. "Jordan's Commercial", at this point in the show's life, is pretty much the best episode of the series.
As I just mentioned, there are some problems with this episode. It's no surprise, really. The flaws are stuff that the show constantly struggles with, so I guess they aren't as big as they ought to be, because we are used to them at this point. However, I'm going to keep pointing them out as long as they keep popping up.
I normally don't mention the intro to an episode in the main review, but I need to say something. This is flaw number one of the episode: the intro just falls flat. Every single time, the intro falls flat. This one was super flat. It involved a way-too-long conversation with Jordan talking to Mike about how he didn't get a part in the play he auditioned for. They rambled, and then started wondering if what they were doing would be considered an intro or not. I know that the show is supposed to be a documentary, so that would allow the characters to go meta and reference their own show, but look at the previous episodes. "Jordan's Dream", anyone? If the show itself doesn't follow documentary rules, then it's just weird when it suddenly decides to remind you that, "Hey! This is all supposed to appear like it's non-fiction, even though it totally is!" It's hard to explain what I'm getting at here, so I'm going to try to make it as clear as possible:
A fictional show about a non-fictional documentary likes to take on stories that are completely and totally fiction. So when it decides to revert back to the non-fictional documentary aspect of the show, it throws you off.
That's about as clear as I can make it. If it still doesn't make sense, then the show definitely has a flaw it needs to address.
But wait, didn't I say that this was the best episode of the series so far? I did! The intro would have you thinking differently, but I swear, there's some good stuff here.
The episode begins with Jordan answering Mike's phone. On the other end is a production company who are trying to reach Mike to tell him that they want him to make a commercial for an anti-depressant pill. Mike isn't anywhere to be found, so Jordan offers to do the commercial for him. The company agrees. What kind of irresponsible production studio is this? They just give multi-thousand/million dollar projects to total strangers? Can I have their number? They won't be disappointed with what I can do for them. Well, they might.
Mike comes back to Jordan's house to retrieve his phone, only to find out the news. He obviously isn't happy about it, but Jordan doesn't care. He's got some film to study! For a 30-second commercial? *crosses arms* Typical Jordan! The next day, Mike is still mad, so he calls up his nephew Ryan Sylvan to help him make his own commercial for the drug. Ryan shows up, and we have a guest star! Hooray!
However, Jordan is ready to make the commercial now, so he steps out with his slicked back hair, sunglasses, and toilet paper roll viewfinder, ready to commit some footage. Mike explains that he was going to do the commercial behind Jordan's back, but Jordan just shoves him out of the way and takes over the project. Mike gives up, just like that. What I would have liked to see happen next would be a competition between both Mike and Jordan to see who can make the better commercial, with both of them starring Ryan. I think some funny stuff could come out of that. Mike doesn't decide to do that. He decides that if he can't make the commercial, he's going to make sure Jordan can't either through SABOTAAAAGE courtesy of the Beastie Boys.
This is enjoyable too, so I'm not really mad about them not going the route I wanted the episode to go, the bastards. What really makes this sequence is that every time Mike does something to derail the shoot, the actual "SABOTAAAAGE" sound bite from the song plays. It's not overused, so every time it comes up it produces a laugh.
Jordan quickly finds out that Mike is behind all of this, and confronts him. Mike tries to run away, but all Jordan wanted to tell him is that Mike is the star! So, the three collaborate together to make the commercial, and the end result is a commercial that's actually good by fake commercial standards. Seriously, it's fun.
Mike and Ryan don't feel that way though (They have no taste), and after the initial screening of the final product, they let Jordan know. Jordan disagrees, and goes to call the producers to see what they think.
Here comes flaw #2: The ending. Of course! It wouldn't be an episode of How To Live A Better Life without a abrupt/bad/nonsensical ending! This one falls into the third category. When Jordan calls the production company, they tell him that the project has been given to someone else. Seriously, the work that they are doing is sloppy as all hell. Jesus, is it the zoo? Are elephants the producers? This wouldn't be SO bad, except for that the person they gave it to is Mike. Again. I guess, in a way, it makes sense, seeing that Mike is the person they originally wanted to do it, but what? Were they just humoring Jordan when he offered to do it, then when he finished the thing, they realized "Oh crap this kid was actually serious! Somebody call Mike Sylvan again!" You just wasted a dickload of money, Zoo Production Company. May you go out of business soon.
Despite the two bad bad things that book-ended the episode, everything in the middle was quite good. More than good, actually, it was great. The story was well-paced, and never got hung up on some weird joke or sequence. The jokes didn't come rapid fire like in some episodes, but were steadily flowing, and almost all of them were pretty funny. Most of the time you get a short "Huh!" laugh out the show's jokes, but in this episode, there were some deep, belly laughs waiting to be had. That's successful humor. I can only think of one other episode that has the same kind of joke repertoire going on, but it hasn't been released yet, so I'll just hush about it.
Stray Observations:
- Comments. Leave them.
- Mike wears that damn Nirvana hoodie for 90% of the episode, and 100% of the time he's wearing it he has his hands in the pockets. Even whilst running. Stop.
- I finally figured out why Mike openly narrates everything: The show is a documentary, so he's just talking to the cameraman! Of course!
- Toilet paper roll viewfinder.
- I really enjoy Ryan Cage's presence.
- Gratuitous zoom in on Mike's mouth? Check.
- The tissue in the camera lens is so ridiculously juvenile that it's hilarious.
- After Jordan explains that the toilet paper roll around his neck is a viewfinder, the cutaway to an actual viewfinder was very Arrested Development-esque. It was just missing some sort of music or sound effect.
- "I can't work with this!"
- Ah, the classic, "Taking your incredibly small role too seriously" gag. Works every time.
- Seriously, that commercial is great. "Haperal" is a good fake drug name.
- Overall Episode Grade: A-
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