Well last night saw the last of the run of three episodes and most of the story lines were brought to a conclusion but others are still ongoing and I suspect will be for a while.
Lets begin with the easy one - Tom, Lucy amd Kim. Kim was very drunk and finally brought back to the studio by Simon and Tom, and when Jack saw the situation he called Kim’s parents. Meanwhile, in an effort to sober her up, Simon is feeding her prairie oysters, which we later find out actually make you drunker. When the parents arrive, we find out that Daddy actually speaks English after all, Mother controls the girl, and after a little back and forth, Jack’s plan is agreed to. NBS will fight the FCC, hire the best PR firm, the best lawyers, and make the Macao deal contingent on NOT paying the fine. As a part of this interaction, Tom talks with Lucy and a date is set for Sunday night. A new beginning.
Over to the roof - or should I say up to the roof. A lot of back and forth, all very clever, basically designed to show us how clever both Jordan and Danny are. Funny moment when Harriet sees a homeless man sleeping on the street below and throws a rock into the dumpster next to him to try and wake him up - only to have Danny remember that it is one of the fake rocks that actually holds a spare key. We have to ask Why didn’t he remember this a few hours ago, - Why wait until she throws it over the edge before remembering…. but it wouldn’t have been funny otherwise, Now would it? Anyway - part of the interaction is Jordan showing Danny that she can do magic tricks, which may seem completely irrelevant until..Wait for it. They eventually get rescued by Cal, I’ll come back to him in a minute, and when Jordan shakes Danny’s hand on her way out, which does look very odd, well he finds a little piece of paper stuck in his cuff - her magic trick. Upon reading it, Danny runs after Jordan calling her name and eventually finds her, in the basement car park - it looks like, where they have their first and incredibly looooong kiss - it actually lasts through the credits! So another beginning we think!
Now to Simon and Darius - they also kiss and make up - methaphorically speaking. But they talk, sort out their differences and we see them working on the sketch together, happy as can be.
Back at the dinner, Natalie COle sings her new song - Say A little Prayer For Me, the Save A Life Foundation gets its plug and we get to…..
Matt and Harriet - still waiting for Harriet’s award, which Matt will have to present as Jordan is a No Show. They are fighting, very loudly it seems to me, although no one else hears them apparently. But, long story short - they break up. There is a lot of back and forth about their previous breakups, their fights, a lot of mean things are said, but the crunch is really Harriet telling Matt that she thinks about having sex with Luke. That seems to touch Matt’s soul and I think it is the point when he realises that they are truly Over. I will come back to them, because the end of the show is really the most clever peice of TV writing I have seen in a long time.
And finally - well almost - the snake. This is like one of those long running gags that permeate thoughout the entire show. Remember we have a viper, being chased by a ferret, and enter the coyote, along with the American Humane society, who should have been there all along. One is not allowed to film with animals without their presence. So Cal was a bad boy, and to cut to the chase, he is issued an ultimatum at the end - either pay the fine ($20K per animal and 5 years in prison) or pull up the stage and find the animals. Cal obviously goes for the latter, and tells the staff that rehearsals will begin in an hour, as they failed the annual mould inspection and have to have the stage area treated. Of course this causes consternation among the staff, who actually believe him. But Cal - when he goes up on the roof to shut off the circuit breakers - I promised I would get back to it, frees Danny and Jordan, and ‘fesses up to Danny about the snake. Funny line - the original estimate for shooting the scene outdoors, was $72K, Cal’s estimate for the indoor shoot was $54K and the total final cost, after stage demolition and use of animals - $235K.
The final moments of the show are incredible - not sure what the song is but to the poignant words of the song we pan across Danny and Jordan still kissing in their underground car park, Simon and Darius working on the sketch, Tom and Jack smoking cigars and celebrating, and in between shots of the stage demolition we see Harriet, alone, looking at herself in a mirror, and Matt, alone, watching the stage being demolished from his office. An incredible peice of symbolism, as the stage is in ruins - just as their relationship is in ruins.
Stay tuned…..
