It’s been tough knowing just where Review is trying to take us. Written after watching the first four episodes of the show, my initial review called it “Comedy Central’s most narrative-driven series in years.” But thanks to a couple of weeks that felt aimless, I started to question that early assessment, or that Review really had a plan at all.
That changed in the final moments of “Marry, Run, Party,” whose birthday party scene hinted at an unexpected redemptive arc for Forrest MacNeil. Of course, on a show that’s been as punishing as Review, it could just be another setup for MacNeil’s humiliation, but it was enjoyable to see nonetheless. Except for its host’s hilariously worsening car situation, Review’s story hasn’t progressed a lot since MacNeil kinda, sorta killed his father-in-law in space and I appreciated this surprising bit of plot advancement.
Last night’s episode also benefitted greatly from having Maria Thayer’s anarchic Eliza tie its segments together. Review can feel weirdly abrupt and disjointed when it doesn’t have a clear thread running throughout, and its nightmarish inversion of the Manic Pixie Dream Girl trope was downright inspired. Arrested Development satirized the same subject years ago with the developmentally disabled Rita Leeds, but Thayer’s gun-toting, polyamorous felon felt like a much more logical (not to mention funnier) real-life manifestation of the MPDG.
Before last night, the most plausible conclusion to the season was MacNeil straight-up dying—the fate of the protagonist in Review’s spiritual predecessor, The Metamorphosis. “Marry” suggested a far rosier outcome was possible for its host, but we’ll see if Andy Daly and company can do deliverance nearly as well as they’ve done damnation. In the words Eliza, “Good luck with your weird show.”
You can now watch every episode of Review for free on Comedy Central’s YouTube page. You should do it.