How To Live A Better Life - Season 2, Episode 9: "Mike And Jordan Get Serious" Review

Watch The Episode Here

I'm pretty thoroughly convinced that the creators of this show are just screwing with us at this point. There's no other sane way to justify the things that go on in this episode. If you have been reading these reviews, you should already know where the problems lie. In case you're new, it's the beginning, and the end.

What really sucks about these problems is that everything in the middle was pretty good! It's just too bad that they are overshadowed by the insane direction they choose to go in toward the end. And the beginning, it's just...oh man. I really don't like to pan this show, but sometimes it deserves it.

I'm going to save my analysis of the beginning and end sequences until the end of this review so we can focus on the good for now. As you can guess by the title, this is going to be a nice interaction episode between Mike and Jordan, and it was. Ryan was there too, but this was about the two main characters, and shocking revelations were revel...ated.

Jordan comes over to find that one of Mike's one-act plays he wrote has been picked up by a local theater troupe (Mainstage), and he is set to direct it. Ryan is in it as the main character, and so is Jordan with his one line ("I'm the pizza guy."), so they do a little rehearsal in Mike's living room. The scene involved a very depressed Ryan stabbing the Pizza Guy because he is so depressed. All Jordan has to do is enter, say his line, and get stabbed. Thing is, Jordan is taking his part too seriously. I can't help but think that we've seen something like this before, but the ways in which Jordan overacts his part is funny. A lot of this is funny. The next scene is funny. The meat of this episode is funny. The bread sucks. It's moldy.

Mike, frustrated with Jordan's performance, leads his actors into the garage to find the perfect prop for Ryan to stab Jordan with. Because pizza guys totally show up to your house with sharp objects that can be used against them, not pizza. Because this is How To Live A Better Life, the door gets locked behind them, and they are stuck in the garage, together, with nothing but their thoughts.

Mike admits to not being satisfied with all the footage he's gathered for his documentary (Remember when this show acted like it was a documentary?) since he started it. Through Jordan's curiosity, we find out that Mike never actually came to like Jordan, and still doesn't. Jordan is just something to point a camera at, and according to Mike, not a very fun someone at that. What are Mike's standards, then? What the hell was he even going for when starting the documentary? Don't say "How To Live A Better Life", because it became readily apparent during the first episode that this show was NOT going to be about that. Don't blame anyone but yourself, Mike. You never stopped recording.

This all comes as a shock to Jordan, and in the heat of the moment, Ryan mans up and tells Jordan why he stole that part from him in West Side Story. It was bribery. There, saved you a minute and a half. Jordan's reaction causes Ryan to run out of the garage, prompting Mike to believe that the door was unlocked, but when he gets to it, the door is locked again. Fucking.......why?

So, in the words of the episode, Mike and Jordan stayed in the garage until they starved to death. And as for what happened to Ryan, no one really cares. Now, that'd be a pretty stupid ending. But, the show goes one step further, and shows us that it DOES NOT. CARE. AT ALL.

Cut to Mike and Jordan on the couch, or should I say, Zach and Jordan, because they are completely out of character here. They agree that what just happened was too devastating to the show (it isn't), so they're just going to act like it never happened. Ryan reminds them that he's still recording, so they snap into character and say things that Mike and Jordan would say. End episode.

Nice try, show, but the damage is already done.

How are we supposed to trust this show if it completely undoes a major event in its story? How can we even come to care about these characters if, when they are put into situations that truly test them and make them grow, the show does a 180 and denies that it ever happened? You know what happens when a show doesn't allow its core characters to change over the course its season(s)? They become tired, one-dimensional caricatures that spew catchphrases and never really do anything. A show can advance its plot all it wants, but if it doesn't allow that plot to affect its characters in some way, then what's the point? What's the point of living if we don't change during our lives? What's the point of anything, really? 

Mike and Jordan have grown somewhat minimally since the pilot. All they do is get put in wacky situations. Yes, that's what this show is about, but hey, they have to at least acknowledge those situations from time to time. With an ending like this one, they're saying that none of it matters. They're carving open the pumpkin that is How To Live A Better Life, and showing us that there is no pulp inside. There is no substance to the show. Everything must be taken at face value. While that may work for some, most of us agree that that's just not fun.

Also, at the beginning, we got 30 seconds of buildup that led to........nothing. Yeah, that's just par for the course with these intros now.

Stray Observations:

• Jordan's navy uniform comes from him just being in a play, but the show never mentions it. So it's just Jordan in a navy uniform. Kinky.
• "I need some grub! I've been overseas for years! And years!"
• Jordan says "granite" instead of "granted"
• This episode was well shot. I hope this becomes a norm so I don't have to keep calling attention to it.
• Speaking of catchprases, "Irrelevant" is really starting to overstay its welcome.
• What kind of play is this? Death Of A Pizza Salesman?
• Ryan's lines in the play before Jordan enters: "I am so tired of my life right now." and "What has my life become?" are so deadpan. So funny.
• Jordan, the pizza guy, enters with a guitar. "I'll never make it as a rock musician! I'll be a pizza guy my whole life! I can't even afford a strap!"
• That Arrested Development reference was waaay forced.
• A couple of those bloopers were directed towards me. D'awwww, you guys.
• Overall Episode Grade: D+