Writers: Jemaine Clement, Bret McKenzie & James Bobin
Director: James BobinCast: Jemaine Clement (Jemaine), Bret McKenzie (Bret), Rhys Darby (Murray), Frank Wood (Greg), Eugene Mirman (Eugene), Todd Barry (Todd) & Demetri Martin (Demetri)
Murray hires a new member of the band without consulting Jemaine and Bret, which causes all manner of problems...The last episode of Flight Of The Conchords touches down courtesy of the show's central trio; New Zealand writer-performers Jemaine Clement and Bret McKenzie, and British writer-director James Bobin (Da Ali G Show). It's been an amusing (if strained) dozen episodes, although The Third Conchord finale does provide one of the better storylines -- even if the laughs remain depressingly low...
Murray (Rhys Darby) recruits a new bad member, the bongo-playing Todd (Todd Barry), without consulting Jemaine and Bret, although he's convinced the Conchords are on the cusp of greatness and just that little extra push. Of course, diminutive Todd turns out to be an oddball with bad ideas for songs (including one where Jemaine just has to "arf!" like a dog), and soon causes great disharmony.
However, Conchords obsessive Mel (Kristen Schaal) becomes smitten by Todd, who actually shows her some affection, and Murray tries to keep the peace -- even after Todd launches into 10-minute bongo solo (which is bizarrely well-received by a crowd), and muses on renaming the band "The Crazy Doggz".
Jemaine and Bret have had enough and decide to oust Todd without Murray knowing, leading to Jemaine fighting Todd in public. Unfortunately for Bret, Todd bizarrely manages to convince him that Bret is the one holding the band back from success, and is consequently fired instead (leading to a fun Footloose parody called "Angry Dance" .)
With Bret gone, Jemaine and Todd begin practicing together and, despite a strained working relationship, try to make the best of it. Meanwhile, Bret starts a rival band with a "keytar" player called Demetri (Demetri Martin), with Murray talked into managing both bands: The Flight Of The Conchords (Jemaine/Todd) and The Original Flight Of The Conchords (Bret/Demetri).
Unexpectedly, both bands seem to have mild success (certainly a more receptive crowd response than we typically see on the show), and Murray becomes quite pleased with his dual management skills. But it's clear that Jemaine and Bret are unhappy with their new band mates -- as Todd is riddled with bad ideas and Demetri annoyingly copies Bret's "look".
The twist comes when Todd and Demetri decide to split and start their own band (The Crazy Doggz), and we jump forward in time... to find they've become hugely popular with a novelty record called "Doggy Bounce" (a Macarena spoof.) The episode ends with Mel having shifted her musical loyalty onto the Doggz, and Murray having become a rich and successful band manager, now that the Doggz have dominated the world and regularly sell-out 90,000 capacity stadiums in South America.
The Third Conchord ends with manager Murray driving off in his expensive sports car, now committing most of his time to Todd and Demetri, leaving Jemaine and Murray to break into a reprise of the Footloose-style angry dance...
I was glad the finale storyline was more involving and entertaining than usual, and the final 5 minutes certainly acted as a neat end. Of course, with a second season confirmed by HBO, it's inevitable that Murray's success will be short-lived --so things will be back to the status quo before too long. Still, it was interesting to see that splitting Jemaine and Bret resulted in a level of musical success, but the two friends were unable to function personally.
There weren't many memorable jokes, exactly, although the general humour with annoying newcomer Todd, the Conchords' division, and the rise of a rival band, were all laced with amusing moments. The musical moments have grown infrequent in the latter-half of the season, and the finale is particularly low (as Brett's dance is just instrumental and the "Doggy Bounce" track wasn't lyrically strong -- which was obviously the point!)
Ultimately, this was a fairly strong ending, but did nothing to really inspire me to watch season 2 -- particularly now the Flight Of The Conchords' stage act has been 95% transferred to the small-screen. Maybe this will inspire a more focused and cohesive run of episodes next season, as this 12-episode series was essentially a one-note idea and a handful of jokes, stretched to breaking point and sprinkled with songs.
The show entertained me enough to make me catch the next episode, although it was more out of blind hope the show would suddenly click and begin cranking up the comedy. It never really captured my imagination -- although I found Darby particularly enjoyable as Murray, and Clement and McKenzie are an oddly engaging double-act.
And yes, some of the songs were thankfully more entertaining than I'd expected from the earlier episodes. I've never been a fan of music-comedy acts (Tenacious D leave me similarly cold), so perhaps this show was never going to make me a convert... but it was amusing enough, and at least something different.
I'll definitely give season 2 a shot -- if only to to see if they've taken note of season 1's failings, and been inspired to really make the show take on its own life. They can't just hang songs and old comedy routines on a 30-minute sitcom format again, can they?
11 December 2007
BBC Four, 9.30 pm
