Episode 204: Business & Pleasure

Cast:
Brendon Small – Brendon Small
Jason Penopolis – H. Jon Benjamin
Melissa Robbins – Melissa Bardin Galsky
Coach Jon McGuirk – H. Jon Benjamin
Paula Small – Janine Ditullo
Josie Small – Loren Bouchard
Erik – Jonathan Katz

Synopsis: After playing a very small role in a movie, Jason invites Brendon over for a sleepover. Brendon is forced to leave when Jason starts discussing work. Then things start to get weird…Meanwhile, Paula asks Erik for some help in finding a job and McGuirk thinks Brendon is on drugs.

History:
· This episode is the first time we get to see Jason’s weird home life.
· This is the only episode in season two where Erik appears. As I understand, Jonathan Katz was unavailable for a long period of time.

Lawn Gnomes: (Click for picture)
· Bed Shot during 4 A.M. phone call
· The cookies that Melissa gives to Paula are shaped like Lawn Gnomes

Brendon’s Filmography:
· “The Blind Date” Version 1 – Romantic comedy about two people out on a blind date. Starring Brendon and Melissa.
· “Waiter Minute” – After his parole officer leaves, a man and a waiter go rob a bank. Starring Jason and Brendon.
· “The Blind Date” Version 2 – Romantic comedy about two people out on a blind date who rob a bank. Starring Jason and Melissa.

The Movie-Episode Connection:
· Well, the movie has nothing to do with the episode, just the cast. Whoever is not in the movie changes the course of the episode.

Random Observations & Facts:
· The movie at the beginning starts out on take 1, then goes to take 2, 4, 15, and 31.
· The restaurant in “The Blind Date” is called “La More Restaurant”.
· The table in “The Blind Date” is actually a box with a tablecloth.
· Melissa blushes slightly when she says the chicken is “really funny”.
· After Erik says, “Finding smells?” on the phone, he likes his finger a sticks it out. I have no idea why he does this.
· Jason wears flippers when sitting next to the kiddy pool.
· Jason tan lines around his butt seem to indicate that he wears a thong.
· The phone-clock says 4:09 AM when Jason calls, and it is 4:13 AM by the time Paula hangs up the phone.
· Movie posters in Jason’s room include: “Madagascar”, “Teeth”, “The Hunt For Red Oktoberfest”, “Space Rumble”, “Pulp Free”, and “My Clock is Orange”. Though the name isn’t seen, you can also see a parody of “The Usual Suspects” movie poster. Most of these posters have a picture of Jason’s face taped on.
· There is a skull on Jason’s bookshelf.
· Jason’s closet is full of a bunch of orange outfits like the one he wears.
· When Jason holds the picture of him, Melissa and Brendon as mobsters, he covers up Melissa’s face with his thumb.
· Brendon’s “smoocheroni” leaves orange juice on Paula’s face.
· Sign in the lunchroom: “Potatoes Yum!”
· When Brendon uses a hand motion to show he will expand Jason’s role “a little bit”, Jason pushes Brendon’s hands farther apart.
· It is never explained who Mr. Freckles is, exactly. He isn’t McGuirk’s dog, because we’ve seen his apartment before and haven’t seen him. Freckles never appears after this episode either.
· The people in the back of the restaurant look distorted.
· Brendon is holding Mr. Freckles on a leash right before he runs away.
· “That’s enough fun for today kids we gotta practice.” I just got the joke in this line after watching it now.
· In the background when Melissa talks about “Mr. Freckles going all over the place”, you can see one of the soccer players sliding. She is sliding on, well, Mr. Freckle’s crap.
· Sign in the office of the second place Paula applies for a job: “Rock the Fishy”.
· At Paula’s workstation: An old man and a monkey are hooked up to each other. A clock says Meltdown in: 3:49. The guy who gave her the job is one of the guys in the radiation suits.
· This is the only episode (I can remember) that ends with the Paula storyline.

Movie & Other References:
· “The Blind Date” is pretty much your average Julia Roberts, Richard Gere type piece of crap.
· Jason’s posters in his room:
Madagascar = Casablanca
Teeth = Jaws
The Hunt For Red Oktoberfest = The Hunt For Red October
Space Rumble = Star Wars
Pulp Free = Pulp Fiction
My Clock Is Orange = A Clockwork Orange

End Credits: “Season Two Theme”

Reviews: WARNING: Spoilers

Spectre: This episode is simply the best episode from the second season as of yet. It's nearly flawless; not a moment wasted. Where the past three episodes failed this one succeeded; "Hiatus" had many funny moments, the best one being the Jazz sequences, but there were also some stale, unfunny moments. This episode was entirely funny.

Best of the best moments: Jason talking to Brendon at his house; Paula's conversations with Erik; any scene involving Melissa - especially when we catch her talking with Paula; the misunderstood conversation between Brendon and McGuirk about Brendon being a drug user; etc, etc, etc.

This episode works because it doesn't seem to try too hard. It doesn't have to introduce numerous characters to go for laughs -- it sticks with the main characters and succeeds.

It is also the first episode in the second season where Jason and Erik had more than three minutes of screen time. A great, great episode. A+

Randomguy: By and large, I agree with most of what's been said already. I loved the return of Erik (he's one of my favorites), and his interactions with Paula were great (Although they could have covered more story if they were dating... THAT would be interesting). McGuirk was McGuirk as always, truly hilarious. The intervention was the crowning touch. Melissa got a bit more screen time, which was good, and she was funny too. The conversation she and Brendan had over dinner on their filmed blind date, using the chicken as a metaphor for everything from living prospects to sex, was pretty funny as well. The only bad part about this episode? I never thought I'd say this, but Jason was just.... weird. I mean, Jason's always weird, but this time, calling at 4 in the morning and obsessively giving Brendan his animal blocks was almost Hitchcockian in its creepiness. One of the charming parts about Jason so far has been that, despite first impressions, he's more or less the sanest, most reasonable character in the show (save the parents). This kind of seemed to break with that. Maybe I'm just being too observant there though. Anyway, great episode

StrangerAtaru: As we have seen throughout the show's run up to this point, Jason is one of those characters who is somewhat normal, yet is deranged to the point where he is funny. This episode is purely one of those episodes where Jason stands out no matter what else goes on. (well, a lot of the other stuff was funny too, but I will get to it) From the opening sequence where he tries to insert himself into the movie after being given a tiny part ("SIZZZZZLING FAJITAS!" is just one of those onomotopeatic lines that only he could do), he starts obsessively and comedically trying to influence Brendon to give him a bigger part. From the scene with the "pool party" (which is a whole lot funnier than the "pool" he will later have access to in "Impressions") to the now classic 4 AM phone call to Brendon (which starts the running gag of Jason replacing movie poster faces with his own) to the gift of the blocks, Jason just steals every scene he is in and makes it his own. Of course, Melissa's influence on Brendon is funny as well, even though it seemed like the writers were intentionally or subliminally trying to prevent this from exploding too far. And then there was McGurk's entry to the main story, where he comedically thinks that Brendon's lack of sleep has to do with a drug problem. (the best part being his tale about the "gang" and when he tries to run an intervention via a pamphlet) At the same time, we have this funny little vignette involving Paula asking Erik for help in searching for a job. This bit, which was not only funny (especially since this is Erik's only appearance this season), sort of emphasized how much this show gets its humor from common human problems, yet still is able to invert them for its own purposes. (such as the now classic ending where Paula gets hired to run a weird brain transplant operation!) As for the whole "Mr. Freckles" bit, OK maybe it isn't that funny, but at least it is funnier than a similar plot coming up soon.

DrWeird: Jason's big episode to shine. Good episode, lots of interesting character developement (and was quite funny at the same time).

Without a doubt Jason is the star of this episode. He was great in the opening sequence (it was still funny the 10th time he added a line), his sleepover antics (George) were funny, the 4:00 AM phone call was great (good Jason/Paula dialogue, which doesn't happen often), the blocks...pretty much any scene Jason was in was good in this episode. It also made clear what most people probably thought: Jason is just a nice weird kid looking for a good friend. Melissa increasing her role through Paula was great too, and seemed in character for Melissa. And there's something I liked about the simple ending of Brendon writing himself into the crappy role of a waiter.

Erik only appears once in season two, but luckily he was at his Erikest. Erik had a lot of good bits with Paula and a couple of good one-liners ("Little early for a Cobb Salad!" gets me everytime). Paula had a strong and funny storyline (which doesn't seem to happen in the later season two) and was quite good herself.

Alright, now onto the two McGuirk plots. McGuirk thinking Brendon was on drugs was pretty good, with "The Feelgoods" speech being the highlight. Not a great McGuirk story, but good. But as for Mr. Freckles...bad. No matter how many times I see him, Freckles always comes off as a grossout joke (and a bad one at that). Plus, McGuirk doesn't even work that well off of Freckles and doesn't get any good lines of his own (what I mean by that is, for example: Eddie was a bad joke in "Dad" coming up later this week, but McGuirk worked well off of him, so it evened out). Freckles was really the downpoint of this episode. But there was enough good in this one for me to give it an A-.

Positives: Jason, the Blind Date movie/ending, Erik, Paula and her ending, "Brendon on Drugs"
Negatives: Mr. Freckles(!)

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