Spoilers. After last week's nadir, thinks perk up a little with "Wingmen". It's the penultimate episode, although FoTC's lack of an overarching plot means nothing important happens to set-up next week's finale. Season 1 had a sense that the Conchords were chasing dreams of success with their music, but season 2 has been more knockabout and unfocused. This was also another episode that played it safe, with another romantic misadventure...Bret (Bret McKenzie) has fallen in love with Savannah, a girl who works at their local pet store, but his attempts to talk to her always results in him clamming up and opting to buy some goldfish instead. With the apartment slowly filling with unwanted fish, Bret decides he needs "wingmen" to help guide him -- so Jemaine (Jemaine Clement) and Dave (Arj Barker) bestow their inconsiderable knowledge of women, make Bret wear a sexy kilt, and wire him up with a walkie-talkie to remotely guide him through his next encounter.
Needless to say, it doesn't work, so Bret escalates his efforts and is soon rooting through Savannah's garbage with expert stalker Mel1 (Kristen Schaal) for information he can use to his advantage, and riffing on a sitcom idea to have Jemaine pose as a mugger he can protect Savannah from during a pre-arranged street attack.
This week's only subplot was terribly weak, with Murray (Rhys Darby) blaming his demure co-worker Greg (Frank Wood) for a lack of sandwiches at a diplomatic meeting, then trying to patch things up with the comically deadpan Greg. While I'm glad Greg has become a notable character this season (not unlike the similarly reserved Toby in the US version of The Office), this storyline felt very flat and didn't really go anywhere interesting. Greg's sole purpose is to be amusingly pokerfaced and accepting of any tribulation and injustice, but those are traits it's nigh impossible to get much mileage from. He's best left as a quick treat, a la Milton in Office Space.
The songs were interesting this week. The first arrives almost immediately, with Bret recounting his day in song to Jemaine with the aide of a guitar. The fact here was no flashy music video to overshadow or distract from the performance actually helped you focus on the lyrics and tune, and while I still didn't find it gut-busting (I'm predisposed to shrugging at most "comedy songs", sorry), the lyrics were pleasingly clever and silly. The second song, "I Told You I Was Freaky", was a more traditional Concords affair with surrealism and costumes; probably one of the season's better efforts, but most memorable for its after-song punchline when the music video goings-on slipped into the "reality" of the show (Jemaine left smeared with honey and money on his bed; a body-painted Savannah blended against the wallpaper.)
Overall, "Wingmen" was amusing in parts and the songs were of higher quality than usual for season 2, but the storyline was on-rails. Most FoTC episodes ensure everything reverts to the status quo by the end -- so it's hard to get invested in the romantic storylines, particularly. We know Bret's going to get tantalizingly close to dating Savannah, only for it to blow up in his face, from the very first scene. Maybe FoTC should have been slightly more serialized in nature -- for example, whatever happened to Brabra the dog-obsessive who decided to go out with Bret awhile back?
14 March 2009
HBO, 10pm
Writers: Jemaine Clement, Bret McKenzie & James Bobin
Director: James Bobin
Cast: Jemaine Clement (Jemaine), Bret McKenzie (Bret), Mel (Kristen Schaal), Rhys Darby (Murray), Frank Wood (Greg) & David Costabile (Doug)
1. I've only just realized that Mel's boyfriend Doug is played by David Costabile, the bearded bad-cop in Damages!
