Spoilers. It had to happen; after a sterling episode last week, FoTC hits a pothole in the road with "Love Is The Weapon Of Choice" . Although I laughed at many of the jokes and found the ending quite strong, the idea just felt squandered.There's another romantic entanglement for Jemaine (Jemaine Clement) and Bret (Bret McKenzie) this week, when both friends fall in love with a woman called Barbara (or "Brahbrah" as Bret believes), after meeting her in a park. Barbara (Kristen Wiig) is trying to find her missing epileptic dog, Charlie, and her distress inspires the Conchords to write a song to raise awareness of canine epilepsy for a charity benefit.
The episode is essentially a competition between Jemaine and Bret, who are both smitten with the same girl, and try to woo Barbara with time-share restaurant dates and by undermining each other in fronf of her. Barbara sends out conflicting signals, which only confuses matters -- leading Bret to wear Jemaine's glasses (believing Barbara thinks it makes men look intelligent), and for Jemaine to glue a Bret-like beard to his face. All a bit silly, like a bad '80s sitcom.
While irritating to see FoTC trotting out another twist on an attractive lady coming between Jemaine and Bret's friendship, the episode actually floundered for a variety of other reasons. Kristen Wiig (a Saturday Night Live player I'm not too familiar with) was pretty decent as Barbara, but her character was all over the place -- generally not mad enough to justify her patience with Jemaine and Bret's creepy antics, yet occasionally given scenes intended to make her seem even creepier (stealing a dog and pretending it's her own, taking bizarre polaroids of her pet.) Her lazy eye wasn’t the only lazy thing about her character, as Barbara's uneven tone just spoiled a few scenes.
The signature songs were rather forgettable, although RnB ditty "I'm In Love With A Sexy Lady" had some funny lines, but the titular "Love Is A Weapon Of Choice" -- a Meatloaf-esque bit of camp with big moustaches, candles and ninjas, that evolved into a dandyish duel -- was visually amusing, but lyrically unsure and vocally messy.
It was also a shame that the episode's big joke (a charity gig by the Conchords for epileptic dogs, faturing strobe lighting -- oh dear) was ruined by poor directing, as the strobing effect wasn't very noticeable, and it wasn't clear that there was a room full of dogs being affected. The intention of the gag was obvious and predictable enough to make its point, but the next scene was still had to make explicit what had happened through dialogue.
On the plus side, I really enjoyed the last scene's conclusion -- with Murray (Rhys Darby) again playing dad to the Conchords, making it clear to Barbara that Jemaine and Bret's incompetence was becase they both fancy her. The reveal that Barbara thought the Conchords were gay felt disappointingly cliché, but quickly rescued itself when Barbara opted to date Bret over Jemaine "if he's straight" -- leaving Jemaine unpredictably rejected as Bret got the girl. And, yes, learning that Barbara's name really is pronounced and spelt "Brahbrah" made me giggle for most of the end credits. An episode of good moments, desperately in need of better songs and extra polishing.
22 February 2009
HBO, 10pm
Writer: Paul Simms
Director: James Bobin
Cast: Jemaine Clement (Jemaine), Bret (Bret McKenzie), Rhys Darby (Murray) & Barbara (Kristen Wiig)
