Workaholics: “Wedding Thrashers” (Episode 5.09)

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Even though this season of Workaholics has been about Anders, Blake and Adam growing and learning more about themselves, it remains unlikely that we’re ever going to see any huge changes in this series and in their usual formula. Are these three ever going to get their own places, or get their first girlfriends at the young age of 25 or evolve in any real long term way? Nah, not very likely. This is to Workaholics’ benefit and to its detriment. Every episode of strange choices resets itself after each half hour, but that also never really allows for any long-term character development. What “Wedding Thrashers” attempts to do is show us what one of these life-changing moments would be like for these characters, without the long-term dedication to this idea. It does it in a surprisingly effective way.

After almost starting a fight due to some “backupuncture” at a bar—basically just throwing a dart at Adam’s back—Adam, Blake and Anders meet Hillary Winthrop, a beautiful woman who for some reason has taken a liking to Adam. It turns out that Hillary’s father is Ted Winthrop, the “king of Rancho,” and they all have a fun night of drinking together. At the end of the night, Hillary invites Adam to be her date to her sister’s wedding and leaves with her friend Jackie.

While Blake and Anders think it’s a great idea to go to the wedding, since if Adam and Hillary end up together, they’ll all probably get to live in a mansion, retired and playing video games with butlers, Adam doesn’t like the idea. In Adam’s mind, going on a wedding date basically means the end of single Adam forever, thus breaking up the group. In order to get Adam to go to the wedding, Blake and Ders have to complete all the events on Adam’s childhood bachelor’s party list, such as shoot a shotgun into a refrigerator, drink with pilots, cut down a tree and, hardest of all, get a lapdance on a Gravitron ride.

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While this could be said of most Workaholics’ episodes, “Wedding Thrashers” seems primarily about allowing these three to just have fun. This is most obvious during the episode’s two montages—the first with them doing some incredibly fun drinking, and the other with Adam finally getting his lapjob on the Gravitron. Sometimes the best thing that an episode of Workaholics can do is let these three have a lot of fun and just allow us to tag along.

When the three finally get to the wedding, Hillary’s true motivations come out. Her attempt to find the most disgusting boyfriend she could find—Adam—has led her father to finally be accepting of her real relationship with Jackie. It’s clear from the beginning that Hillary has some ulterior motive and yet it’s not that cruel when she does reveal what is really going on. I mean, c’mon, it’s hard to get a more fitting bad boyfriend example than Adam.

Odds are we’re never going to see any of these three get married on this show, or have any other big life-changing moment, but it is fun to watch them play around with that idea. Even though Adam is sort of bad boyfriend material, what with vomit-smelling armpits and throwing his back out fugging his Fleshlight, there is a sort of sweetness to knowing he wouldn’t want to go into a relationship based on lies and would basically give the relationship his all. “Wedding Thrashers” gives us a glimpse at a possible future for these three, while continuing to show us their fun, never-changing personalities. It succeeds at being great in both aspects.

Ross Bonaime is a D.C.-based freelance writer and regular contributor to Paste. You can follow him on Twitter.