The show opened with Liz shouting, “Where are Tracy and Jenna?” I found myself expressing the same sentiment throughout the entire episode. Tracy and Jenna showed up at the beginning, dressed in a smock and a girl scout outfit, proclaimed, “Hey LL Sorry we haven’t had time to get into our costumes yet” and then fell into the background.
This was really a Liz and Jack episode, which is less exciting when they hardly interact with one another. The show has overplayed Liz’ ridiculous desire to be liked by her staff. Initially, it was an interesting plot line, constructed quite differently than Michael Scott’s incredible need to fit in with his staff on The Office. Liz’ perspective came from her being the only normal member of her staff, among horny, immature male writers and the needy and self-obsessed Jenna and Tracy. Yet this time, who was she impressing? The handlers on set who we’ve never seen before? Arriflex…er, Chris has quite the nerve “booing” Liz when she wins their lottery – nice of her to fund it in the first place! – and is enraged that she doesn’t accommodate her dry colleagues, and the lactose-intolerant dry ones to boot. What has this world come to?
Jack, in a more realistic story line, laments over the end of his era with GE. He was an innovative executive there, having developed the trivection oven. When Jack noticed that the microwave division had its greatest profit margin after he left, Liz points out that he put the people there in the first place. However, when he visits the plant where the microwaves are made, the engineering nerds don’t even recognize him, confusing him with the deliveryman (who looks an awfully lot like Alec Baldwin).In a related plot, Kenneth temporarily dies from hypothermia.
Notes & Highlights
Original Author: Scott Eidler