It was the best of times, and it was -- well, not the worst of times, but definitely the not-best of times -- on 30 Rock Thursday. The A-story, with Liz's latest foray into the outside world? Awesome. The heavy-handed Iraq/baseball metaphor? Eh.

(Spoilers accomplished, right after this.)

Sending Liz outside the cocoon of TGS has always been a good source of comedy for the show, and Thursday's episode was no different. Liz, smart and funny though she may be, is, let's face it, a complete dork. Witness her attempted party talk with Jamie the coffee guy: "Speaking of music, how about that Gnarls Barkley? That guy's great. Have you seen his official web site?"

Pretty much at every turn, the story line yielded gold, from her opening "Give it up, you're talking to an ultrasound" line to the ending revelation that Liz looks an awful lot like Beth, Jamie's mom. In between, the story gave us lines like "He looks like Zac Efron -- that's a thing, right?" and Jack's pep talk about the benefits of being with someone younger.

And oh my goodness, Frank. Judah Friedlander probably had more to do in this episode than in any previous one, and he pretty much killed it. There's been just enough of the coarse, crass Frank in the past to make his attraction to Jamie work, and Friedlander did well by not going too over the top with his gay-for-Jamie-ness. The circumstances might have been different, but I think we've pretty much all acted the way he did around a crush.

A sampling of Frank lines: "Maybe I am [gay] for that little peach. I want to kiss him on the mouth and hold him." "I bought you a sweater. It's a slim fit ... and it wasn't even on sale." "We're just two straight guys who want to enjoy each other's bodies." And, it wasn't really a line, but his hip-shake in front of the mirror while wearing a tight, striped tank top might have been the funniest thing in the entire episode.

Less funny was the Jack-and-Tracy-coach-baseball subplot. It started out promisingly, with Tracy tossing off a couple of great lines ("Dijonnaise is a boy's name? Pardon me," and "You know at the first practice they asked me what the sun was?") and Jack trying to figure out which biography of Winston Churchill would best inspire the Knuckle Beach kids.

But about the time they pulled down the Jefferson Davis statue, the Iraq parallels started landing a little too heavily for my taste. Maybe it was Jack dressing like MacArthur, or the "Fun Times Accomplished" banner, but the lack of subtlety kind of turned me off a little. Although I can't really be bothered too much by a plot that allows a bedraggled Kenneth to say "They won't listen, especially when I tell them not to hit me with my own shoes."

And if you agree not to mention Jenna and her even younger boy-toy, then I won't either. Although the wheely-shoe gag was kinda funny.

Some good lines and other niceties from this week's episode:

• Jack: "Let me guess -- meatball sub with extra bread, bottle of Nyquil, TiVo Top Chef, a little Miss Bonnie Raitt and lights out." Liz: "No, I have something to do tonight." Jack: "Then you won't mind me telling you that Casey gets voted off tonight." Liz: "You monster!"
• Liz's nerdlinger reaction to Jamie calling her sexy -- "Sexy? You are. Shut up."
• Jenna, explaining that rules are made to be broken: "I had my no-sex-with-Asians rule, and then one day you walk into the Sharper Image, and there's Kwan."
• Jack, upon seeing Liz out: "Did you take an Ambien with your Franzia and sleepwalk here?" And then meeting Jamie: "Where'd you meet, Amber Alert?"

What did you think of tonight's 30 Rock? Did you think the Liz story was a far, far better thing than the baseball story?

Comments

also loved the Ellen reference.

Christin | Nov 29, 2007 9:39:45 PM | #

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I absolutely loved tonight's episode! I agree the "A-story" was much better though.

Robbie | Nov 29, 2007 10:20:11 PM | #

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The pulling down of the Jefferson Davis statue was wrong in more than one way. First it showed no respect for property which is not your own. Two it shows a gross ignorance on who he was and what he stood for. We label people and things w/o knowing a the complete story. Goes right along with our right now attitude. Do not bore me with info. Should a rainbow flag have been trampled and burnt, or a statue of MLK Jr. the noise would have been deafening. Inform yourself before you leap to conclusions.

Vernon R. Hastings | Nov 30, 2007 8:45:56 AM | #

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Vernon,

You have got to be kidding me.

Corey | Nov 30, 2007 9:34:16 AM | #

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Great episode. Vernon, lighten up.

Tracey: "meetings, practice...what is this, a marriage?"

Matt | Nov 30, 2007 9:59:14 AM | #

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beans of an episode

Elijah "Motherfucking" Trichon | Nov 30, 2007 2:18:14 PM | #

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Vernon is right - if it was any of those other items he mentioned defaced it would be the ones telling him to calm down that would be screaming like banshees about it. Interesting.

DaisyRose | Dec 1, 2007 8:57:16 AM | #

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Yeah, I agree with Vernon and DaisyRose. We don't know what Jefferson Davis was really like. Do we really know the complete story about anyone, even Saddam Hussein? I'm sure Saddam Hussein stood for many things besides torture and murder, much like Jefferson Davis stood for many things besides slavery and states' rights (to allow slavery). Those kids should not have been pulling down that Jefferson Davis statue, much like American soldiers should not have been pulling down that Saddam Hussein statue in Baghdad. And I also agree with Vernon that information and facts are boring. Instead we should trust our gut instincts and if we simply believe it enough, it will be true. That's "The Secret."

Ed | Dec 3, 2007 12:27:22 PM | #

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See I thought the complete opposite. The B-story was pure gold from the banner to Jack telling Kenneth to apologize to Tracy for Jack's plan not working with Kenneth in charge. The non-subtlety is what made it work for me.

Doug | Dec 3, 2007 5:14:29 PM | #

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You know what? Depending on the context, it's very possible that the majority of the audience of 30 Rock would laugh at the circumstances Vernon mentioned. It's called "satire." Also, like it or not, the collective cultural consciousness of who Jefferson Davis was and what he stood for has been filtered down over the years into "that dude who was in charge of those other dudes who liked having slaves." I don't believe this is a symptom of a "right now attitude" (as an aside: our what exactly?), it's symptom of how human beings approach the world, which is by segmenting it in ways we find convenient and sensible. This is scarcely a result of how our society approaches life; it is much more a demonstration of how human beings have consistently approached the world.

Also, you find the bit with the statue bothersome but still watch the show? Do I want to know what you thought of that episode in season one with the red, white and blue swastika pinwheels?

If I didn't already feel like I was devoting far more time to this comment than it merits, I would go on a fun little diatribe about why comedy is funny and how absurd it really is to take offense at FICTIONAL characters not respecting property. However, I've got a statue of Millard Fillmore to deface. That dude irks the hell out of me. Not sure why, either.

Anna | Dec 4, 2007 8:20:41 PM | #

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Do you all know that this is a fictional tv show?

TB | Dec 4, 2007 8:59:08 PM | #

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