Director: Timothy Busfield
Cast: Amanda Peet (Jordan McDeere), Bradley Whitford (Danny Tripp), Matthew Perry (Matt Albie), Nathan Corddry (Tom Jeter), Sarah Paulson (Harriet Hayes), Steven Weber (Jack Rudolph), Timothy Busfield (Cal), D.L. Hughley (Simon Stiles), Nate Torrence (Dylan), Lucy Davis (Lucy), Julia Ling (Kim Tao), Columbus Short (Darius), Ayda Field (Jeannie Whatley), Simon Helberg (Alex Dwyer), Camille Chen (Samantha Li), Diana-Maria Riva (Lilly Rodriguez), Edward Asner (Wilson White), John Goodman (Judge Robert Bebe), Raymond Ma (Zhang Tao), D. David Morin (Finney), Jennifer Lee (Flight Attendant), Jah Shams (Office P.A), Jay Paulson (Deputy Boone) & Michael Kostroff (David Langenfeld)
Jack pleads with Judge Bebe to let Tom return to work for Friday's live show, while the situation between Matt and Harriet hots up..."The show must go on," comments Matt. But, while Nevada Day Part 2 is a mild improvement on Part 1, it doesn't justify this story being divided in two. Events continue directly from last week, with the plot's limpness exposed by the absence of Part 1's "flashback reveals" -- meaning the central plot about Tom Jeter's arrest just runs around in circles.
The only notable enjoyment stems from Studio 60, where Matt (Matthew Perry) is making contingency plans to film Friday's show without his missing cast members. In particular, nervous replacement Dylan (Nate Torrence) has some nice comic scenes, as Matt engineers people's fake reactions and lies to boost his confidence to star alongside Harriet (Sarah Paulson) in a sketch.
Harriet herself also gets interesting development, as her devout religious views seem to include homophobia... well, until writer Aaron Sorkin loses his nerve and explains her "prejudice" as a simple misunderstanding. It's a shame really, as having a homophobic character was the most interesting development on the show in weeks! Oh well, it was fun while it lasted.
Jordan (Amanda Peet) looks to be in for a rough ride from network bosses soon, if Jack's warnings to Danny are to be believed. But we knew this last week, so it's nothing revelatory. She'll either cause ratings to nosedive with her recent, unmarketable, high-brow acquisitions; or cause a television phenomenon for them. I'm guessing the latter, as Studio 60 is always preaching against "dumb television", so her decisions will likely be vindicated.
Nevada Day Part 2 does give us two fun performances to savour; from guest star John Goodman as Judge Bebe, who's given more scenes to steal in Part 2. Goodman's "smalltown bumpkin" is a joy to watch,as he subverts the city slicker's expectations of him with relish.
Jack Rudolph (Steven Weber) also goes up in my estimation, proving himself an honourable man beneath his corporate swagger, particularly when he stands up to Bebe and impresses Danny with his loyalty, in a great scene with the Chinese businessmen.
It's an episode of small, good moments, all separate from the thrust of the main story. Tom Jeter's predicament just becomes tedious to watch unfold, not helped by a pat resolution appealing to US patriotism. It transpires that Tom was caught speeding in Nevada because his brother was leaving for his third tour of Afghanistan. It's not explained exactly why he was in a rush, but... well, that's the only explanation we're getting. It's okay to break the law if you can prove a link to the war on terror, see? If you have a family member going to Iraq, feel free to tear-up the road at 120 m.p.h, kids.
Am I the only one who finds Sorkin's ability to twist everything back to politics, a teensy bit annoying now? It seems he'd be happier writing something political outright, instead of shoehorning post-9/11 commentary into a sketch show satire.
Overall, this is basically a 20-minute resolution to Part 1, stretched to a full episode. I'm still trying to fathom how Part 1 could be based on a story by Mark McKinney, while Part 2 is based on a story by David Handelman and Cinque Henderson! Was McKinney unable to think up a satisfying resolution to his idea? There is definitely a disjointed feel between the episodes, which would have been tolerable if it were condensed into one snappy instalment.
Enjoyable diversions all come from the subplots back at Studio 60, although a terrible storyline for Lucy (Lucy Davies) should have been cut. Here, Lucy writes a weak sketch to vent frustrations over a romantic break-up, but her character is so peripheral we don't care about any of it! Oh, and who told Davies to talk in that prim, clipped manner... as if she's arrived from England, circa 1954?
13 September 2007
More4, 10.00 pm
