Go On returned last week with a fun episode featuring guest spots from two sportscasting legends, Bob Costas and Rich Eisen. It was a solid return, but this week pushed the show into another category: cute romantic comedy.
And who doesn’t love a rom-com? Nobody, that’s who. “Gooooaaaalll Doll” starts with Ryan just wanting to have a girlfriend. Not a girlfriend girlfriend, but a platonic female friend. He enlists his assistant Carrie, one of the recurring characters that I’d love to see more, so that they can watch Real Housewives, listen to Katy Perry and watch sad movies while drinking white wine.
All of this is great until he realizes he is ready to date. A group meeting reveals a new twist: they have a goal doll that they paint a face on part by part for each goal they achieve. It’s a quirky addition to help tie this episode together, but in all honesty it wasn’t needed, and the episode was put together well enough that it didn’t need the help.
He is introduced to Carrie’s hot friend Hannah, who also catches the eye of guest star and snowboard/skateboard extraordinaire Shaun White. A “feud” between the two occurs, but not really. The Go On writers are going a good job of making guest stars relevant to the plot, but not forcing us to watch non-actors act.
Ryan scores a date with Hannah to a black tie event, but she bails to go on a date with Shaun White. Carrie suggests she be his replacement date and for a second it seems like she honestly has feelings for him. However he ruins a budding romance by ditching her and winning Hannah back to take her to the event.
Meanwhile, the rest of the episodes deal with the group’s goal dolls and specifically Yolanda’s goal of reinventing herself into a fun slut at her new job at a hospital that Sonia also works at. It’s a little troublesome that the show seems to like to pair these two up a lot. They’re no Troy and Abed and it does feel as if the show is trying to recreated a good buddy team to provide some over the top humor. I say just stick with a lot of Ryan and keep the group together as a whole.
The episode shakes down to Ryan realizing that though he may be ready to date again and he grew a shield to getting hurt so easily that he still needs to keep his friends closer. He chooses a night in with Carrie over a night in bed with Hannah after realizing her hurt his friend. The two have a semi-intimate moment – more of an awkward, cute glance really – and the episode ends on a high note.
Go On is easing back into things, but it definitely looks as if they found their niche.