In “I Brought a Petting Goat!”’s opening scene, Walter explains how sex feels to a curious Harry. He likens it to a red comet, followed by a dark abyss, concluding that it’s all about a total erasure of self. Ever since Walter’s last sexual experience with Death Sentence Suzanne, Blunt Talk has had Walter mostly sitting on the sidelines, allowing the various other character’s stories to take center stage. In doing this, Blunt Talk has built up a corral of characters, once Walter was fully formed, and the first season’s entire cast comes together in “I Brought a Petting Goat!”—which is quite an incredible feat.
It doesn’t necessarily take a lot for a show to create a cavalcade of new characters, but to have almost all of an entire season’s worth intersect and interact in one giant story, giving everyone their own plots, without feeling too packed is insane. On the 33rd anniversary of the end of the Falklands War, Walter throws a substantial party at his home. At first it seems to be a somber affair, but then his adult film director/neighbor Ronnie shows up with a petting goat, Moby is DJing and everyone is high on something.
“I Brought a Petting Goat!” is fascinating in how there’s really no actual plot to speak of, but instead Blunt Talk makes another rare television gamble, allowing the ambiance and flow of the moment to feel like it’s dictating the story. We jump from person to person, getting glimpses of new interactions as various characters we’ve met are changing their dynamics with other people, many of which make perfect sense in hindsight. Apparently, since Celia kissed her last week, Shelly has embraced her bisexuality. So when she meets Herschel, Walter’s sex and love addict sponsor, the confusion of what both of them wants sort of makes these two an interesting new couple. When Martin brings another short, blonde woman to the party, also named Rosalie, the original Rosalie almost immediately finds comfort in Dr. Weiss, whose cocaine-induced facial movements steal the show.
Harry finally hooks up with Sydney, the porn actress he almost had sex with on camera, and Brett Spiner’s Phil has sex with Sydney’s mom, his first romance in the current millennium. Sure, some of these new relationships feel like a pairing off of these characters, but it still works. Ronnie ends up intimately dancing with Walter’s son’s teacher Catherine, and Walter’s boss Bob is now dating Emanuel, the guy who brought up Walter’s circumcision on live television.