|
A friend informed me of some stuff that goes down later in the second season and oh boy am I excited for what's coming.
|
#
?
May 10, 2014 20:57
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 25, 2024 17:21 |
|
|
Last Man Standing "High Expectations" Season 2, Episode 3  Before reading this review I'd appreciate it if everyone reading this were to, sincerely, set aside the barely twenty minutes or so it'd take to watch 203 of Last Man Standing and post their own reactions to it, because I think the episode is worth discussing at greater length. This isn't a joke, I'm not trying to trick you into watching bad television. ----------------------------------------------------- This was...this was a good episode of Last Man Standing. I think. I think I might be biased due to the absolute poo poo that was the premiere and the sort of low-tier, constant badness of the second episode, but I genuinely think this was a fairly funny, astute episode that was trying (sometimes failing, but still trying) to make a somewhat nuanced view on race relations in this country. Yeah, I know, I'm shocked too. Buckle up because this is gonna be a long one. Episode 203 begins innocuously; Kristen's car has been egged by roving vandals. Unfortunately, the roving vandals targeted one other car in their spree, a silver Tahoe owned by the Larabees, the "Bla...frican American" family that has moved in just down the street, as Kristen so ineptly puts it. This leads to Vanessa and Kristen worrying about if the egging could be seen as a racially motivated attack, which Tim Allen sardonically retorts, in the setup to a fairly good payoff later on in the episode, "I don't think the Klan does a lot of work with eggs". Knowing how this show treats race from the season premiere one could assume this comes across as mean-spirited naysaying, but Tim Allen's delivery sells the line as genuinely funny. Unfortunately Mike immediately delves into one of his many, common, complaints about how everyone, especially minorities, feel victimized, and I as the viewer cringed in anticipation for a very, very awkward episode as Mike rails against the entitlement of minorities. Instead, though, the conversation takes an immediate right turn as Vanessa insists that they should make the Larabees feel more welcome, as Mike balks at the suggestion- not from the suggestion of associating with black people, but because Mike completely and utterly hates his neighbors (all of them) and wants nothing to do with knowing them. It's a difficult line to thread but the show actually pulls it off as Mike is shown not as a racist, but as a misanthrope- to him, being a neighbor consists solely of responsibilities, none of which he feels particularly obligated to participate in. The episode continues as Vanessa, who is worried of how the egging might look to the sole black family in the neighborhood, goes over to the Larabees' household and meets Carol (Erika Alexander) and Chuck (Jonathan Adams). The casting for the Larabees is absolutely top notch. Carol and Chuck are, immediately, very funny relatable, interesting characters. Additionally, on her own, without having to impart the Important Lesson to Tim Allen's character, Nancy Travis shines. One can absolutely feel the overwhelming awkwardness of the first meeting between these people as Vanessa good-naturedly attempts to be as neighborly and as sensitive as possible to her new neighbors, which only proceeds to make things more uncomfortable. Some accidental barbs later, Vanessa feels the need to invite the Larabees over for cheese and wine, which is when the main plot fully kicks into high gear. Mike, predictably, is miffed at the invitation and uses ironic racial humor to needle Vanessa endlessly for it. This might sound offensive, but as the party ("not a party", Vanessa notes) gets started, Mike immediately tries to get with the program and impress their new black friends. This is well-worn territory, but it is navigated well and that's all that really matters. Additionally it brings in a new, interesting textural dynamic to the show. Previously the show has been about conflict, about Mike working against someone- his daughter, his daughter's baby daddy, etc -to prove a point. This episode is about resolution- impressing the neighbors, who happen to be black -with conflict springing naturally from the resolution being sought. It makes the dynamic of the show instead of one about constant negativity and childish insults, one about trying to find a common solution, even if that solution happens to be conservative. This episode reminds of one of the best conservative-leaning shows in existence, King of the Hill. Especially in its later seasons the show was about Hank Hill and his family attempting to find solutions to problems, so the entire show felt sincere. I, ideologically, disagree with nearly everything Hank Hill ever stood for, but because he was a good-hearted soul attempting to help people with his specific skillset, I respected and admired him as a character anyways. In much the same way, Ron Swanson of Parks and Recreation, despite espousing a belief system that is morally repugnant to me, was able to be a morally and ethically sound and most importantly consistent individual and because of it he was a great character. This show will never reach the dizzying highs of either Parks and Recreation or King of the Hill but this episode was able to at least echo either of those shows' former greatness. The party proceeds as poorly as you would expect (and the awkwardness is genuinely funny- in no small part because Jonathan Adams is able to add amazing sardonic wit to the scenes as Chuck Larabee) until Mike, finally fed up with the charade, lays out the whole plan on the table. Eventually, the Larabees confess that they, too, had no desire to come to this party- they were simply worried that refusing might be seen as a racially motivated move. And here is the second, interesting point the episode makes. The episode deals directly with how people of different racial backgrounds see themselves and each other, and I think makes a challenging nuanced point. They could've easily gone with the "being PC is stupid" sort of conservative echo chamber ideology the show usually trades in, but I felt like the show was actually attempting to make a deeper point: that, in being as sensitive as possible to other people's races, we end up becoming an unrecognizable mess unable to interact with other people. Sometimes it's easier, and nicer, to simply say what we mean instead of couching everything we say in "Not that <x people> are like that, of course." It's a slight difference from "All PC is bad", but an important one. The Larabee dinner ends not with Chuck and Mike bonding over their mutual non-PC-ness (ugh, what a mouthful), as one would expect, but over their mutual antipathy; nobody wanted to attend the party and only did so out of fear that the other side would see it as an offense. It's a neat trick the writing room pulled, and one that I feel should be commended; they wrote a fulfilling, interesting, genuinely funny story with a clear start and end point. Unfortunately it stumbles right at the finish line as Mike and Chuck trade tired, unfunny racial jabs at each other as the Larabees leave, but it's clearly all in good fun and when the show uncharacteristically nails so much else right I'm willing to give them a pass. And let's not forget the subplot! This was also excellent, as it centers around Eve, the most consistent and best Baxter in the family. Eve is tired of being on the soccer team and wants to quit, despite the fact that Mike is forbidding her from doing so. He even prevents her from going to a party she bought a new dress for, which I can say from my time as a dress-wearing teenager is a real drag. Mandy, however, has made the show choir and even picked up a solo, which neither of her parents care about in the midst of Eve's lack of interest in soccer. Mandy soon gets a call during her show choir practice: Eve has not only gone to the party against her parents' wishes, but drank so much she's now a nearly-comatose mess at her friend's house. Immediately jumping from her father forbidding her from attending the party to the aftermath skips the entire party scene, which lends some immediacy to the proceedings and make the entire subplot feel energetic as opposed to a drag. Another neat trick the episode pulled was Mandy immediately dropping everything she was doing to help her sister as opposed to passive-aggressively needle/jealously insult her, which does wonders for Mandy's characterization. When she arrives at Eve's friends house, Mandy reveals that she's uncharacteristically a savant when it comes to sobering people up, unveiling her pre-made emergency bag. Which includes clean urine, because as she explains, "I've seen things you can't unsee." This helps dimensionalize Mandy as, perhaps, not the intellectually gifted member of the Baxter house but plenty street smart, and gives her character the agency that was previously not present before. Eve sobers up, sort of, but the whole plan falls to pieces anyways as she enters in the door and immediately collapses, much to Mike and Vanessa's fury and concern, respectively. Mike immediately rounds and Mandy and blames her for her sister's drunkenness. Mandy angrily snaps back at her father that she just sacrificed the solo that her whole family doesn't care about just to help sober up her sister, and finally a moral lesson lands with Mike's character. Favoring a child just happens among parents, any sibling can tell you. Especially the unfavored ones. But it doesn't make the fact of being the unfavored child hurt any less, even if it means you're allowed to bend and break the rules in the ways that the favored child can't. You can genuinely sympathize with Mandy's pain as she yells at Mike, and the end of the episode, as Mike apologizes to Mandy for being a heel, the emotion feels earned and lands. A genuinely good, heartwarming episode to...a good episode of television. Yeah, I'm just as surprised as you. Grade: B Random Thoughts:
|
|
#
?
May 10, 2014 21:34
|
|
|
Occupation posted:
Well this just took an unexpected turn.
|
|
#
?
May 10, 2014 22:04
|
|
|
They're lulling you into a false sense of security. The truly egregious episodes to come will be all the more offensive for knowing that they can make passable television when they want to.
|
|
#
?
May 10, 2014 22:05
|
|
|
It's gonna be cool when Occ turns into an unironic Last Man Standing fan and spends all his posting trying to convince people to watch this underrated gem. What's weird to me is how the show (apparently) constantly name checks real life things, especially political things. Even show about politics don't do that.
|
|
#
?
May 10, 2014 22:06
|
|
|
Dolash posted:They're lulling you into a false sense of security. The truly egregious episodes to come will be all the more offensive for knowing that they can make passable television when they want to. If they ruin Chuck I will be so mad 
|
|
#
?
May 10, 2014 22:10
|
|
|
gently caress me for having nothing to do on a Saturday, I watched it. You poor soul. I mostly agree with you on all points actually, it was a decently well-thought out plot about race relations and I did laugh out loud at some parts. The Klan eggs and brown paper bag callbacks were genuinely funny. The stumble at the end bothered me because it seemed to basically clarify that Mike is racist, which they tried to step around earlier. He really does think that his black neighbor is more likely to steal his lawnmower, when they could have further couched that in his misanthropy. They try to equate it with the parting jabs at the end, but the neighbor's "kill whitey" schtick doesn't have the same sincerity behind it. The subplot was only OK because the best daughter is played by the actress who played Loretta on Justified and she's amazing. It wasn't actively offensive though. And even in one watchable episode you can glimpse into the abyss of Nobama bumper sticker jokes and weird empty sitcom beats. You're going in deep, man.
|
|
#
?
May 10, 2014 22:27
|
|
|
Oh yeah she WAS Loretta Yeah Eve is the best, gently caress the haters
|
|
#
?
May 10, 2014 22:30
|
|
|
Josh Lyman posted:I can't wait for the Stockholm syndrome to kick in. Only took 3 episodes.
|
|
#
?
May 10, 2014 22:49
|
|
|
Okay, I watched it. It was alright, I guess. I only actually laughed at one thing though-- The audience member who realized what he was laughing at didn't agree with his ideals and did a "ohhh-awww" midway after this exchange: Chuck: "The guy with the 'Nobama' bumper sticker? The guy who never waves." Vanessa: "He's just anti-social... and he doesn't like Obama." [CUE LAUGHTER] (<-- what)
|
|
#
?
May 10, 2014 23:27
|
|
|
I think this show must have subliminal brainwashing 
|
|
#
?
May 11, 2014 01:04
|
|
|
Irish Joe posted:Considering how much Occ is foaming at the mouth over an innocuous TGIF sitcom, I'd love to see his take on All in the Family. I wanna hit this actually, because I've seen this comparison made before. Archie, in All in the Family, is the bad guy. Or rather, the wrong guy. Like yea sometimes he makes a valid point, but mostly it revolves around 'hey dad we're bringing our black friend over' 'WHAT THE WHAT A BLACK?!' 'Jesus dad that poo poo's embarrassing' and then the black friend proving to be a totally normal dude. Archie wasn't Carroll O'Connor's mouthpiece because Carroll O'Connor always thought the joke was Archie was a piece of poo poo. In Last Man Standing Tim Allen is basically playing Tim Allen, and he's expecting the audience to go 'yea he's right, we ARE turning into pussies by having empathy and not being racist sacks of trash'. It's not THE WORST THING IN THE WOOOOOOOOOORLD, I really doubt this show is popular enough to enter the public mindset at all really, but it's worth saying 'Tim Allen is a sack of crap and he thinks you are too', whereas in All in the Family it was more 'Carroll O'Connor thinks we're better than Archie Bunker'. Sure there were assholes who thought he was right, but there are always going to be assholes who think the rear end in a top hat character is the hero (see: Breaking Bad, Mad Men, most AMC shows actually, goddamn AMC you sure hammer that nail).
|
|
#
?
May 11, 2014 01:38
|
|
|
Episode 3, 1:38 MINUTES: "That's not the S word, the S word is socialism." Yeah, no, Occ, you're experiencing the other s word, Stockholm Syndrome.
|
|
#
?
May 11, 2014 02:00
|
|
|
Tatum Girlparts posted:I wanna hit this actually, because I've seen this comparison made before. Archie, in All in the Family, is the bad guy. Or rather, the wrong guy. Like yea sometimes he makes a valid point, but mostly it revolves around 'hey dad we're bringing our black friend over' 'WHAT THE WHAT A BLACK?!' 'Jesus dad that poo poo's embarrassing' and then the black friend proving to be a totally normal dude. Archie wasn't Carroll O'Connor's mouthpiece because Carroll O'Connor always thought the joke was Archie was a piece of poo poo. Ugh, thanks for making me aware that the evolving pop culture is very likely to forget the context of All in the Family and end up looking at it the same way people look at the 60s Batman series, except worse because they'll think everyone in the 70s were racist shitheels cheering on the ignorant bigot.
|
|
#
?
May 11, 2014 02:04
|
|
|
IRQ posted:Episode 3, 1:38 MINUTES: "That's not the S word, the S word is socialism." You're watching the wrong episode, that line doesn't exist in 203
|
|
#
?
May 11, 2014 02:05
|
|
|
Last Man Standing was renewed for a fourth season today. This is all your fault, Occ.
|
|
#
?
May 11, 2014 02:12
|
|
|
Occupation posted:You're watching the wrong episode, that line doesn't exist in 203 You're right, Netflix played season 1 episode 3, but I stand by saying "gently caress this poo poo forever" because really.
|
|
#
?
May 11, 2014 02:21
|
|
|
I'm in the middle of 204. gently caress this stupid poo poo loving gently caress gently caress gently caress gently caress ARGH I HATE THIS loving SHOW gently caress
|
|
#
?
May 11, 2014 02:22
|
|
|
Occupation posted:I'm in the middle of 204. Wonderful.
|
|
#
?
May 11, 2014 02:28
|
|
|
I was worried after that third review that maybe it wouldn't be so bad, which would be disappointing. Looking forward to this.
|
|
#
?
May 11, 2014 02:30
|
|
|
Occupation posted:I'm in the middle of 204. This thread is wonderful.
|
|
#
?
May 11, 2014 02:33
|
|
|
SHUPS 4 DETH posted:This thread is wonderful. It really just keeps giving and giving. Godspeed, Occupation!
|
|
#
?
May 11, 2014 02:41
|
|
|
Occupation posted:I'm in the middle of 204. I haven't laughed this hard at something in TVIV in like, years. I'm so sorry Occ.
|
|
#
?
May 11, 2014 03:09
|
|
|
I've been singularly digging the thinly-veiled Detroit jabs. My parents were actually in Tim Allen's high school at the time in the suburbs, and my aunt (who still lives in that very suburb) is a die-hard republican, so there's something to be appreciated.
|
|
#
?
May 11, 2014 03:35
|
|
|
Last Man Standing "Ed's Twice Ex-Wife" Season 2, Episode 4 This show is the most repugnant, regressive, and not only misogynist, but flagrantly and triumphantly woman-hating show I've ever had the misfortune to watch. Everything about this show, and this episode in particular, is completely and utterly despicable, and if you watch this episode and not only don't think this is awful anti-woman garbage, but you think this is funny, I have only one thing to say to you: gently caress you. gently caress you, gently caress your awful backwards beliefs you disgusting rancid sacks of flesh, and gently caress off forever you worthless piece of human garbage. This affront to all bounds of human decency starts, much like anything cancerous, fairly innocuously. Boyd accidentally knocks over his pancakes, and as Kristen is on her hands and knees cleaning up the mess, Tim Allen enters stage left, miserably cawing, "A woman working while you're sitting in a chair. I wish I could tell you it would always be like this." Unbelievably, this is the least misogynist mess of a non-joke this particular half-hour of scripted misery, this televised Chick Tract of inanity and hatred will produce. This is a sign of things yet to come! In the first minute of the episode! Eventually this misanthropic mess masquerading as a piece of televised enjoyment, this Typhoid Mary of comedy proceeds to the main "plot" of the episode. I use the term "plot" as loosely as possible to describe what occurs, because it is the barest of contrivances so Mike and Ed can parrot their awful, r/mensrights trash, their hateful word vomit into the viewer's eyes and ears. But I'm getting ahead of myself here. Basically, Ed attempted to defraud his most recent ex-wife, Wanda (Robin Baker), during the divorce, failing to list a vineyard he had most recently purchased. The show presents Ed as totally justified in doing so because Wanda is apparently the most evil oval office to have ever existed (one of the myriad number of crimes she has committed include literally stabbing Ed in the back- and seeing how he acts this episode one could almost, but not quite sympathize with her). Wanda finds out and sues Ed for the missing money. You know, the money she was legally entitled to, and that Ed committed fraud by not giving her. The show wants us to root for the guy who committed the felony. And maliciously so, it's made quite clear that Ed was quite aware what he was doing was wrong but it was all justified because Wanda is like, such a bitch. Continuing on, it's eventually discovered that someone in Ed's circle of friends blabbed to Wanda about the vineyard. Who could that, as Ed calls them, "sewer rat" be! Cut to the Baxter home, as Vanessa tells Mike all about her social outings with Wanda. I'm sure you can see where this is going. Yes, Vanessa blabbed about the vineyard to Wanda, therefore setting all of the events on the episode into motion. Despite Vanessa having no reasonable belief that she was supposed to keep the existence of the vineyard a secret, nor an expectation that talking about the vineyard would in any way cause trouble to Ed, the show presents her as to blame. For, I guess, not being omniscient. And even if she did know that Ed wanted the existence of the vineyard kept from Wanda, and what she was doing was, in some way, screwing Ed over, how could the act of telling Wanda about it be wrong?! Ed is the one who is at fundamental fault for not complying with the loving law the loving way he is supposed to. But solely because Vanessa is a woman, and Wanda is a woman, and those loving WOMEN dare take money away from the MEN they're to blame. This show is irredeemable. But even beyond that Mike sets in to Vanessa for committing the crime, the unforgiveable sin of hanging out with Wanda. See, because Mike hates Wanda, and works with Ed. And because Mike is apparently two, couples can only be friends with one part of a divorced couple, and the Baxters have already claimed Ed as "their" friend. One, because apparently couples are a homogeneous hivemind with no individual agency whatsoever, and two because these rules were set by men. Because apparently "their kind" (a term Mike actually uses to refer to women in this episode) just gently caress everything up. Probably due to "their" predilection for hysteria, since this show is obviously set in the 1950s. This leads into an utterly abhorrent rant from Mike about the unfair divorce laws in this country, with the poo poo capper of the line "I shared part of my life with the guy at the DMV, what do you think I owe him?" It's mind-boggling how overt this show is, on every level, of its hatred of women. Worst of all is Vanessa more or less sits there and tolerates the literal five minutes of uninterrupted hate streaming from Mike. She puts up a defense, sure, but it's weak and flaccid and crumbles almost immediately against the big, loud man's argument. The sheer level of vitriol spewed from this idiot's mouth is disturbing, but the fact that the show presents all of it as more or less factual is genuinely infuriating. Eventually the show drags itself, shambling like a woman-hating zombie, to the next despicable scene. Seems like Ed got, his words, "Completely screwed [by Wanda and her lawyer]. And then I wrote them a check. I feel like the world's worst prostitute." Mike, however, consoles him: "Hey, don't beat yourself up. That's what your pimp is for." There has never been an exchange more indicative of the flat, uninteresting, and worst of all violently, needlessly aggressive towards women the show's miserable excuse for "humor" can ineffectually generate. None of this is funny, but I've already come to expect that. The sheer, brazen misogyny is something else entirely and genuinely disgusts me. This show is disgusting. gently caress this show. Almost done with this review of this piece of loving garbage. gently caress. A neat wrinkle is introduced as it turns out that such close contact with Wanda has caused Ed to, as he puts it, "feel certain feelings for her. Unmedicated, even!" See? He's getting a boner. It's a boner joke. The joke is about erections, because if you've found the previous 15 minutes of this piece of garbage funny you're a literal loving caveman and need your jokes spelled out for you. Anyways this eventually leads to Ed trying to win Wanda back and then they end up together again and if this sounds, beat for beat, exactly like season 2, episode 8 of Parks and Recreation, "Ron and Tammy", congrats, you unlocked the code. Except this episode doesn't go anywhere. It's a vehicle to slam on women, endlessly, from beginning to end. That is it. It doesn't have a plot, it has an excuse to hate women. Sometimes it hates women in Ed's office, and sometimes it hates women at the Baxter house. But that's all it ever does, and it on top of being lazy and miserable and misogynist to its very core, it's just not funny. I'm known around TVIV for being hyperbolic. For saying some things are either "the best" or "the worst", for intentionally exaggerating an opinion about a TV show to get a specific reaction out of people. But when I do that, I have fun. There's an element of enjoyment I get from hating on something and making fun of it. I gain no enjoyment from this review of this garbage. It's honestly made me upset that in the 2010s, people watched this and found this not only not reprehensible, but found it funny. Hundreds of thousands of people. Possibly in the millions of people. gently caress this loving show. Grade: F Random Thoughts:
NieR Occomata fucked around with this message at 04:29 on May 11, 2014 |
|
#
?
May 11, 2014 04:22
|
|
|
Yes, this is more like it. 
|
|
#
?
May 11, 2014 04:30
|
|
|
Ahahahahahaha yesssssss
|
|
#
?
May 11, 2014 04:31
|
|
|
 And we're getting 14 more episodes of this!
|
|
#
?
May 11, 2014 04:35
|
|
|
Don't you dare eat the ban Occ!
|
|
#
?
May 11, 2014 04:48
|
|
|
The thing about Stockholm Syndrome is that the kidnappers still murder their captives.
|
|
#
?
May 11, 2014 04:48
|
|
|
Occ, this is the rant I was hoping you'd go on for episode 2. I spoiled it at the time because you weren't there yet, but... Did you notice HOW MANY TIMES Boyd excused his dodgeball injury by saying he "ran into a door"? It was the ongoing excuse for him to get out of trouble for getting hurt for Tim Allen's horrible life choices. He just ran into a door. I'm one of the least feminist girls out there, though not quite to the point of men's rights, but that seriously irritated me.
|
|
#
?
May 11, 2014 05:10
|
|
|
Well if no one else is going to mention it I might as well say it: Before he was famous Tim Allen was arrested for being a rather prolific cocaine smuggler and squealed on his compatriots to dodge a life sentence. He's probably the last person to have any right to complain about how great America was before we all became pussies.
|
|
#
?
May 11, 2014 05:10
|
|
|
DarklyDreaming posted:Well if no one else is going to mention it I might as well say it: Before he was famous Tim Allen was arrested for being a rather prolific cocaine smuggler and squealed on his compatriots to dodge a life sentence. He's probably the last person to have any right to complain about how great America was before we all became pussies. I thought we all knew and thus was why this is hilarious.
|
|
#
?
May 11, 2014 05:24
|
|
|
Tatum Girlparts posted:Don't you dare eat the ban Occ! This will only make you a stronger television viewer. Once you have experienced complete disgust, you will rediscover how wondrous it is to simply like something. To be okay with a show. Enjoyment is a muscle and you are testing its limits bending in the other more unnatural direction, but don't let it tear or break your bones. Rage against this monstrosity with everything you have, with everything in your soul that cries out for something, anything that isn't reprehensible garbage. You are creating art by facing the death of art. Do not stop.
|
|
#
?
May 11, 2014 08:04
|
|
|
Occupation posted:[*] Hey did you know Last Man Standing is the name of a movie starring Bruce Willis? I should track that down and watch that, I bet that's at least decent. Unfortunately, no. It's a Depression-era remake of Yojimbo, though, that's sort of a neat idea.
|
|
#
?
May 11, 2014 10:36
|
|
|
Occupation posted:
 I love this thread.
|
|
#
?
May 11, 2014 16:26
|
|
|
Propaganda Machine posted:Occ, this is the rant I was hoping you'd go on for episode 2. I spoiled it at the time because you weren't there yet, but... I just read that as a series of callbacks, I was more unsettled by the original "joke" that Mike says to Spence (the little fat kid) since...yeah it's real domestic abuse-y
|
|
#
?
May 11, 2014 16:31
|
|
|
Occupation posted:I just read that as a series of callbacks, I was more unsettled by the original "joke" that Mike says to Spence (the little fat kid) since...yeah it's real domestic abuse-y It's the Occupation Molestation Station 
|
|
#
?
May 11, 2014 18:00
|
|
|
I legitimately want these to get compiled when they're done so they can get sent to AV Club as a pre-written summer distraction. Like, I would pay money for there to be a regular Hatewatch feature somewhere.
|
|
#
?
May 11, 2014 19:22
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 25, 2024 17:21 |
|
|
Last Man Standing "Mother Fracker" Season 2, Episode 5 This was a very difficult episode to adequately review, for reasons that will become immediately apparent. As such I asked for help in writing this review from my good friend Oxxidation, so everyone thank him. This episode starts with Vanessa attending Eve's school's Career Day. As a note: Eve's in high school. They still have Career Days in high school? Really? Anyways, I didn't mention this in the episode review for the Episode That Shall Not Be Named but apparently Vanessa works as a geologist (in the first three episodes of the show I honestly thought she didn't have a job), specifically supervising over a Colorado hydraulic fracturing project, aka "fracking". Yep, it's a fracking episode, in case the title didn't clue you in. Vanessa finishes up her presentation then is assaulted by questions from her captivated teenage audience. Despite the fact that the entire scene is wildly unrealistic- teenagers do not give a poo poo, as a general rule -it turns out that everyone in Eve's class is against fracking. Not for any (as the show presents it) legitimate reason- the teenagers have internalized the standard liberal talking points against fracking, or at least the ones the conservatives believes all liberals against fracking believe. An example includes a female teenage student, in the perfect obnoxious parody of a teenage girl's voice, whinily noting, "I saw a documentary where this guy TOTALLY lit his tapwater ON FIRE." Vanessa returns home from her verbal pummeling to Eve, who previously admired her but now, due to peer pressure and the internalization of these liberal talking points, finds Vanessa's job to abhorrent, rudely remarks, "Why should I ignore [my friends who hate you]? I think what you do is disgusting." It's at this point that the show launches into a conservative polemic disguised as an argument between Mandy, Eve, and Kristen (all of whom take the side of anti-fracking) and Mike and Vanessa (pro-fracking). Unfortunately in this case I'm the exact sort of liberal stereotype strawman the show is railing against- all I know are vague, cloudy statements about fracking being bad for the environment. This makes me a quite frankly terrible fit to review this episode honestly because I have no idea what I'm talking about, and I would only serve to reinforce the show's slanted point to rail against something I know nothing about. So in addition to doing some actual research (yeah, I know) on the effects of fracking I called in my super political friend, Oxxidation, to write a refutation of the points the show raises. In doing so in hopes to help illuminate the viewer on the failings of the show politically, because this entire scene wasn't humorous in the slightest: It was meant to provide a (slanted) opinion by callously and smugly refuting the liberal strawmen the show had specifically built for this scene. Anyways, I know take you to Oxxidation's essay decrying the politics of this episode. Paraphasing Oxxidation: Fracking, short for "hydraulic fracturing", is a mining technique in which liquid is shot into a wellbore at high pressure to break up, or fracture, shale formations deep within the surface of earth. The resultant natural gas, petroleum, and brine then seeps through the cracks in the rock formations to the well itself, which can then be mined. This technique is horrendously damaging to the environment. A well known documentary, Gasland, went into explicit detail about it: As noted in this conservative tripe of an episode of "television", during a pivotal scene a resident pours water from the tap into a cup, which he then lights on fire. You see, the gas companies pay off the residents to frack their land, do the work, and then skedaddle as said residents learn that their drinking water is now flammable due to gas outflow. (Note: The gas industry got a little freaked out by that scene. They released a follow-up documentary called Truthland (yes, really) that said all they had to do was pump some cement back into the strata to separate out the gas and render the water non-flammable. Which they did. After the documentary came out. As a bonus, here's two paid shills decrying the Gasland "water being set on fire" scene: quote:In an article for Forbes magazine, Dr. Michael Economides, a professor of engineering at the University of Houston, commented on the Gasland scene of "a man lighting his faucet water on fire and making the ridiculous claim that natural gas drilling is responsible for the incident. The clip, though attention-getting, is wildly inaccurate and irresponsible. To begin with, the vertical depth separation between drinking water aquifers and reservoir targets for gas production is several thousand feet of impermeable rock. Any interchange between the two, if it were possible, would have happened already in geologic time, measured in tens of millions of years, not in recent history."[32] Note how the first paragraph's shill is completely contradicted by the second's.) As Nancy Tavis disingenuously notes during the episode fracking is the "best" of the three "bad options"- Coal, Oil, and Fracking - to attain energy. This is an arguable at best assertion in the first place- Coal is clearly the worst of the three, being that it literally drowned West Virginia in poison sludge due to inappropriate runoff management, but the argument itself is itself false; fracking could very well be safer, but that would be more expensive and make the big boys Upset. Just like oil could probably be safer but that would make the rich Upset- in the sense that any attempts at conservation/alternative fuel research instead of ripping as much of it out of the ground as possible makes the oil companies pitch a screaming fit. They're only "bad options" because any option that doesn't rake in as much money as possible for the 1% is immediately dismissed as liberal nonsense. This set of "bad options" only exists because any attempts at other options are quietly killed in their sleep. This argument, like all right wing arguments, limits potential solutions to a set of options selected exclusively by the right wing. Tim Allen discounts wind power as "kill birds, and not in the fun way" (wow, Buzz Lightyear's a loving dick), but the real downsides of wind are that it requires a lot of acreage and maintenance costs are fairly hefty. Nuclear power doesn't even warrant a mention from the show itself, which is all the more hilarious since nuclear power at this point is as close to fail-proof as it can get, but the cultural stigma against it from both sides is still enormous. It's definitely the best of our possible options but given that worldwide awareness of nuclear power is limited to The Simpsons it's tough to get it off the ground. To be fair, anti-nuclear sentiment comes from the left just as much as the right but I doubt that's a factor where this show is concerned. Essentially, the argument Last Man Standing is espousing the current flavor of the week conservative propaganda. Right now, fracking apologia is tied with DRILL BABY DRILL in terms of right-wing "environmentalist" commentary. A lot of fracking apologia relies on perspectives like Occupation's, in that it's a relatively new process and therefore propagandists do their best to poison the well, as it were. poo poo like Nancy Travis saying "Hydraulic fracturing is 100% safe if it's done right, and it's my job to make sure it's done right." are the exact sort of reductionist arguments the conservatives love: relying on its viewership's ignorance of a certain issue to construct false premises and allow conservative ideology to dominate what should be a much more nuanced argument. It's basically the Fox News of sitcoms. Again, though, and this should be stressed: Fracking is in and of itself a nuanced and difficult issue and reducing to a back-and-forth between liberal strawmen and conservative one-liners does everyone involved a disservice. Fracking does have benefits, after all: a lot of our infrastructure is built around natural gas already, and, like i said, fracking could probably be a lot safer if the fracturing wasn't so aggressive and more care was taken to seal off potential gas backflow/limit water usage (fracking uses up a loving TON of water). But, Bad Tim Allen Sitcom never even mentions that possibility. Let me put it to you in context: It took me twenty minutes, aka the runtime of this episode, to explain to Occupation the barest outline on how this poo poo worked. We all know he's an idiot (see this thread and the toxx leading to this thread), but even so this issue is an intensely complicated one. Oh, and as a footnote: Gasland points out that Congress snuck in an exemption to the Safe Water Drinking Act so that, if fracking should by SOME TERRIBLE COINCIDENCE poison water supplies, no one would be prosecuted. This episode feels like another brick in the wall. Or well. Thanks Oxx. Anyways, the show continues on with Eve being so upset with her mother and father's argument that she eventually resolves to live off the grid. Mike, in turn, refuses to let her back into the house until she apologizes for insulting her mother. And here's where my complaint lies: Although Eve is kind of a dick about it- as noted before, she says that she thinks Vanessa's job is "disgusting" -that's all she says. At no point does she really insult her parents beyond the capabilites of their job and she's expressing an opinion, albeit rudely. Then she follows up on her beliefs by actually walking the particular walk- in this case living in a tent outside of her house for the episode. The parallels to the Occupy protests are striking, as even Mike frustratingly notes, so it's all the more bizarre that we're supposed to be rooting against Eve, or for Eve to fail. All she does is express an (as we have found out, valid) opinion, and we're supposed to be rooting against her, for her to fail, despite attempting to affect change however small through her actions. In comparison Tim Allen's character has essentially complained about everything he doesn't like without really doing anything about it, and we're supposed to take his side. The dichotomy of presentation and of tone is bizarre and makes the logic of the episode even more flawed, in and of itself. Finally Tim Allen, fed up from the active sabotage he has inflicted on his daughter not working (which includes, among others, stealing the main tentpole from her tent and putting out the fire she starts to keep warm- and this is set during a Colorado winter so that's literally giving your kid hypothermia to prove an ideological point), finally wins her over with television and pizza. So in the end the only lesson that is learned is is protestors will voluntarily stop their protest if material goods are promised because they're awful, selfish, hypocritical assholes worse than the people they're protesting against. This show is weird. Grade: D Random Thoughts:
NieR Occomata fucked around with this message at 19:55 on May 11, 2014 |
|
#
?
May 11, 2014 19:44
|
|