How To Live A Better Life - Season 3, Episode 2: "Getting Rid Of Ryan"

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I'm finding out the hard way that I should have been much, much more timely with these reviews. I mean, I feel like I owe it to Zach and Jordan to give them immediate feedback on the newest episode, and I also owe the same to the audience these reviews have found based on their interest in the show. So for that, I'm sorry. I'm sorry that time hasn't quite been on my side lately. College has been a trip so far, but now that I'm coming down from that initial high of independence and existence in a largely adult world, I'm making plans to be able to stick with it for the next three-and-a-half years. One thing that needs to change in order for that to be a reality is that my productivity needs a little kick in the ass.

When I mentioned that I was finding out "the hard way", I was referencing the last review I wrote for this show. In the Stray Observations column I mentioned how this show was putting off a serious reality show vibe, that continues onto this episode. While I still stand by that it has its reality show elements in the season premiere, I can't for the life of me figure out what I was talking about when I said it also showed up in this episode. I mean, this is almost a typical How To Live A Better Life episode, with a few tweaks. Consider it a hybrid of what the show was and what it is now. It has pacing! Real, tv show pacing. During the first 2/3rds of the episode, it was cutting back and forth between the A and B stories, the A story being Mike and Jordan reuniting and trying to get rid of Ryan, and the B story being the Derkiss on a feverish manhunt for his star J-Dawg. And in the end, both story lines converged, only to split back off again and create two new stories, both of which will recur throughout the rest of the season. I know it's basic storytelling, but it's so fresh when How To Live A Better Life does it. That could be considered an insult to the show's past, but I don't care. This is how it is now, and I love it.

What I find interesting though, is how the show, despite taking on new forms of telling its stories, was still trying to get back to the Mike and Jordan of it all. Mike puts it perfectly, right before the episode came to a head:

"We feel like we've just gotten back together and we need more shenanigans, but you just kinda put a damper on things. Would you mind just...staying somewhere else?"

Mike is talking to Ryan in this scene, trying to get rid of him, and this line works. Ryan of course always goes with the flow and never takes offense to anything. I feel like this is the show's way of acknowledging how it dabbled in heightened storytelling but ultimately decided that it's not what it needs to focus on. What further sells this is how the shot is framed. The camera is placed in Ryan's perspective, or a POV shot, looking up at Mike and Jordan as they talk directly to the camera. This kind of shot allows us to look through Ryan's eyes, so while the characters are talking to Ryan, the creators are also talking to the audience. Now this type of angle is nothing new to the show, that doesn't mean it can't be used to send a message. How To Live A Better Life has touched darkness, and darkness touched it back. Now I would argue that the darkness has improved the show, I think that it just really wants to get back to Mike and Jordan's silly antics as a center for it all to orbit around. Splitting up the characters was fun, but that's HTLBL's heart, and as long as there are still good ideas on how to play these guys off of each other in different situations, you can't seriously fault the show for sticking to what it does best.

I think that elements of this 3-episode arc will stick with the show as it plays out the rest of its vastly improved third season, but I know that it doesn't want to lose track of its identity. This is the final season after all. Narrowing the scope and focusing on our main characters as they prepare to deal with whatever ends their stories is not a bad idea. There are still new and big ideas on the horizon, new characters, and new laughs, don't worry. However, above all of that, this is a show about Mike and Jordan. We need to know just how exactly one lives a better life.

Stray Observations:

• The Derkiss is currently the subject of a manhunt by the police, yet allows his location and antics to be filmed by the documentary crew. Ever heard of the phrase "comedy without consequence"? It can be both a good and a bad thing.
• Behold, the first (and only) title sequence without any footage. New music though. This arc really has thrown the show off of its groove. No wonder why it wants to get back to its roots.
• "GET RID OF RYAN!" I swear, these guys do that sort of thing just to spite me.
• "Home is where the.....gay!"
• Jordan's middle name is Octavius, and if he is found James Derkiss will award you with a major role in an upcoming Hollywood film. Also if someone would like to pay his bail, that'd be great.
• "I really hope the ASPCA sees these!"
• Oh yes, more of Jordan's over-the-top crying.
• "You two are like brothers to me, it's gonna be like living with brothers!"
• Jordan majored in pasteurization in pastor school. It's Arrested Development.
• And now James has roped Ryan into his terrible business practices.
• That was a somewhat lazy ending.

Overall episode grade: B+

How To Live A Better Life - Season 3, Episode 1: "A (Not So) Better Life"

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First thing's first, I came up with that episode title, so this season is already off to a great start.

It's here, finally. Well it's been here for over a week but thanks to college I haven't had a real good chance to write the review until now. None of that matters. We need to discuss how this show has handled the aftermath of a finale that split its world in two. Jordan has run off with the Derkiss to New York so he can pursue his acting ambitions by making movies James Derkiss will produce. The Derkiss is kind of a production everyman, in that he is first and foremost a producer, but can also act as an agent, director, or writer. He's pretty much guaranteed to be able to add something to any project he works on. Whether or not he's actually good at any of that is another story.

Like many season premieres, How To Live A Better Life kicks off a considerable amount of time after its previous finale, but not before the show picks up immediately where it left off to show us who was on the other side of Mike's phone call. It was Ryan, naturally. I mean, at the time of the finale we didn't know who Mike was calling (I did), so that leaves much room for speculation, but when the show reveals that secret you can't help but think, "Oh, duh.". I mean, there isn't a huge collection of characters for the show to draw from in this kind of moment, much less ones that Mike continually interact with who aren't named Jordan Ross, so when you really think about it the only reasonable answer would be Ryan Sylvan. Sure, you could argue that this would be to set up a new character, but like I said, Mike doesn't know anybody. He has direct ties to Jordan and Ryan, and that's it. In accordance to what we've seen on the show, there is nobody (at least in America) he could comfortably call and make plans with. That may change, but I'm just telling it like it is.

So the season starts right off with that and a joke. Very good. Then we hit the time jump, which is a whole three months. Not enough time to make a feature film, but surely something has to be in the works or various stages of production. Not a chance. This is James Derkiss we're talking about. I'm pretty sure he's blacklisted from the major production companies and media outlets. He's just poison. He has terrible ideas and even worse ways for implementing them, as shown in the episode. The guy goes to jail and then subsequently breaks out, for pete's sake. He's a cockroach. Put him in any sort of situation and he'll find a way to make it worse or weasel out of it. So good on Jordan for deciding to get the hell out of dodge when he did. The Derk was going to drag his career into an early grave so his could have some company.

Speaking of production, specifically production value, this premiere did not disappoint. We went into the big city to film the exteriors for "New York", which is so recognizably Indianapolis, Indiana that it's not even funny. But it's not like we could just go to the real New York to get a few fleeting shots (and a couple of sequences involving thematically-appropriate tree signs), so the suspension of disbelief holds up there. How To Live A Better Life is filmed on an average budget of about -$15. "Really?" you ask after you see the sequence of Jordan running home set to licensed music, and I say really. That entire part is just gold thanks to the green screen. Especially him running in the scene from The Dark Knight Rises where the football stadium collapses. It's perfect. The entire time this has been going on, Mike has been trying to turn Ryan into a semi-Jordan because he is crazy and has abandonment issues, which leads to a slightly awkward moment when he finally arrives home to see this taking place, but it's actually a moment of rejoice. Jordan coming home pretty much signifies that How To Live A Better Life has returned, in more ways than one. Expect a nice balance of the same old antics mixed with heightened storytelling. This current story arc isn't over yet.

What? Serialized storytelling in How To Live A Better Life? Yeah, I know.

Stray Observations:

• Some residual callback-itis is present in this episode, with the gratuitous zoom on Ryan's mouth (check), Mountain Dew, Mike taking Haperal, and more.
• "Life is meaningless and we're all going to die anyway." Classic Ryan.
• Not sure why The Derkiss had to give Jordan a tour of the house they had been living in for three months...wait I know: Exposition.
• "If you want a TV, you can just...buy a TV!"
• Those Rembrandt "Pastries" tasted godawful and were very, very old. My saliva was very blue for a long time.
• The exterior shots of "New York" coupled with the music gave off a big reality show vibe, which doesn't exactly go away (more on that next episode).
• Overall Episode Grade: B+   

How To Live A Better Life - Season 2, Episode 3: "Stuck With Me" Review

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Back into the past we go! I missed my opportunity to review the backlog of this season last week, so it's this episode and "Do The Dew" next week, and then we'll be allllll caught up.

So here we are, three episodes into season two, and a lot of the show's future is riding on this episode. Why? Well "Home Is Where The Home Is" sucked, and "The Pool Master" was a good rebound, so in terms of quality, this season has averaged out. So if we get a good episode here, that's two for three. If it's bad, then it's just one, and that is not a good sign this early on.

Being what it is (a that show is completely unpredictable), I only think "Of-freaking-course" when I find out that this episode was pretty average. Nothing stood out, either good or bad. It was vanilla. Milquetoast. Bare bones How To Live A Better Life. If I had a complaint, it would be with the story, which we'll get into right..........................now:

In the intro that actually pertained to the story, Mike gets a call and is invited to a British Convention, because those exist. He gets understandably excited, and goes up to pack. In the midst of getting everything together, he can't find his British identification card, only to find out that Jordan (who was hiding in his closet) ate it thinking it was food. I left out a couple details there to purposefully confuse you.

Despite this setback, Mike gets all ready to leave immediately. Not five minutes after he gets that call, and he's gone. Do British Conventions invite people on extremely short notice? That's needlessly stressful. Before he gets to leave, Ryan Sylvan shows up at his front door, lost. So Mike invites him in, and he promptly leaves. He didn't even say goodbye to Jordan. Also, he never filled Ryan in on his situation either. He just yelled "British Convention!" and left out the garage door. So does he just trust his nephew all by himself for god knows how long he'll be gone? With Jordan? What is it about these British Conventions that makes people drop everything and focus all of their time and energy on getting there? Listen up, government. If you ever want to control an entire population, get some of what those British people have. It's working.

So, hence the title, Jordan finds out that he is stuck with Ryan, whom he hates. Because of some back story that was established in season one. Jordan wants to leave, but before Mike left, he armed his home security system so no one would break in while he's gone. Ryan tells Jordan this, and for some reason, that means they can't leave. Do they have any idea how alarm systems work? Who in their right mind would purchase a device that served to imprison you in your own home? Who would make that? HTLBL is set in a fantasy world.

So all they can do is sit and wait. Through montage. A montage that would have worked better if they made the camera stationary. You'd know what I mean if you saw it. Did you? Are you reading these reviews without watching the episodes, so you can tell yourself (and Zach and Jordan) that you watched them? You're cheating. 

Jordan can't take it anymore, and has a heart-to-heart with Ryan. This seems like the purpose for the episode, and they seem to be able to further their relationship to "tolerant of one another". Right after this, Ryan looks at the same security device from earlier and suddenly recognizes the model by name. Wait. So Ryan, if you have an intricate knowledge of security systems, specifically how to disarm them, then why did it take you THIS LONG to identify what model that one is? Why did you not mention that you knew even the slightest bit about them when Jordan wanted to leave? One could argue that he never got a good look at it, but he had been sitting on that couch directly facing the wall the device is installed on for the entire episode, so there is absolutely no reason why he wouldn't have figured out what it was earlier. It does not make sense.

They disarm it, and go into the garage. You guys couldn't go out the front door? No? The garage door is closed, so know they have to figure out how to open it. Since when did Jordan and Ryan become toddlers? This is common knowledge! Eventually, Ryan opens the thing, and they are "free". They run out from under the door and into the pitch black oblivion.

Only to be called back by Mike, who for some reason hasn't left yet. He explains that it's only been ten minutes. Okay whoa whoa whoa slow down; So at the beginning of the episode, Mike is in this EXTREME hurry to leave, only to dick around on the front porch for a solid seven minutes? What could he be possibly doing out there that he couldn't do inside? Masturbate? This entire episode has been made up entirely of conflicting plot lines and manufactured drama, and frankly, it's absolutely ridiculous. For shame, HTLBL, for shame.

This episode was pretty well made, too, which only makes the story problems stand out even more. Come on. It's like they're making this up as they film it. Wait, they are? Time to abandon that tactic, guys, and soon.

Stray Observations:

• Bring your comments to the comment section.
• This episode's ending was abrupt, so there's that too.
• The first shot of the episode was well-placed. There was a lot of nice cinematography in this. Too bad the story can't keep up.
• "Have you at least seen my British ID card? It's got a picture of my face on it and some crumpets?"
• Ryan is so deliciously deadpan. 
• Ryan is also revealed to be a big softie.
• This was a short episode. Just a little over seven minutes, minus the bloopers.
• Overall Episode Grade: C