Friday, October 26, 2012

Get Happy

Funny F*ckin' Friday
****½

Linda's request for an allowance to individualize her work space results in all the employees being divided into cliques based on assigned interests.

The review for "Goodbye, Mr. Chips" can be read here.

It's no secret that Linda (Andrea Anders) is dissatisfied with her working situation, in regards to both the job itself and the atmosphere created by those she works for. In an effort to take a stand, she submits a number of suggestions anonymously, but her determination does not go unnoticed and she quickly becomes the face of sweeping changes made to boost company morale. While this makes her, at first, rather hated amongst the staff, they come to appreciate what has been done and welcome her into the fold as a friend, only to later turn against her once more, as mobs tend to do.

The biggest issue for Ted (Jay Harrington) in this narrative is the fact that not everyone likes him; he's told that he has a "near unanimous" approval rating from his subordinates, and very quickly decides to track down those who dislike him and change their opinion for the better. Told that his worst demographic is older men, Ted goes out of his way to befriend them, to spend time with them outside of work in an effort to win them over, and while he is often portrayed as the level-headed one, the straight-man of the office, it makes absolute sense that this would be one of his neuroses. Ted prides himself on being a good boss, and that means having every last employee appreciate the work he puts in want to see more of him in the workplace.

Known for constantly twisting a good idea into something more structured and ill-representative of what it was originally intended for, Veridian Dynamics takes Linda's suggestion of personalized cubicles and chooses for identities with which it's employees can fit. Overnight these people's work spaces are transformed into shrines for the Green Bay Packers, cats, space, and classic cars, without a second thought as to how the employees feel about these topics. Linda takes offense to her assignment as a "cat person," thinking that the company believes she'll die alone surrounded cats who will eat her corpse, until she comes to believe that the company's saying that she exhibits the traits of a cat, being quick, smart and independent. This thinking catches on throughout the office, creating cliques of people that won't mingle with their former friends, eventually causing dissension among the ranks and creating an outcast of Linda when she finally gets everything back to normal.

When Veronica (Portia de Rossi) is going around the office giving unwarranted praise, it's only Lem (Malcolm Barrett) that takes objection. Lem rejects Veronica's compliment, claiming that it means nothing because she has no understanding of what she's praising, and his opinion here is incredibly valid and understandable. What bothers me about this storyline is that Lem then goes on to work harder, determined to earn Veronica's praise by presenting his best work, and when he finally accomplishes something that he feels is deserving of reward, he learns that she will no longer be handing out praise and he destroys it in a fit of rage, nullifying his earlier belief that his work should be for his work and not for accolades.

As Ted is trying to befriend the older men he lets himself be used for a number of simple tasks, such as cracking their backs at their request and carrying heavier items that might hurt their joints. It gets to a point where Ted finds them having a party in his office and he finally makes the decision to break off ties with them, realizing that he can either let himself be taken advantage of so they like him or can be the uptight guy that they hate; Ted never struck me as the kind of man that would have let himself get taken advantage of in the first place, and he's clever enough that I think he could have found some sort of middle ground in his relationship with these employees.

Everyone was absolutely on-point in this episode, from Rossi's strained happiness to Harrington's determination to be adored. Barrett does a great job of showcasing Lem's need to earn praise, making hilarious use of the repeated "damn it" at the close of his story, and Anders turns what could easily have been an outrageous storyline into something of pure hilarity. The standout performance in this  episode is by day player Merrin Dungey as fellow cat-person Sheila, showcasing a good comic timing with her ability to deliver lines that must have been absurd on-paper but seemingly natural from her.

Gail Mancuso directs this episode and manages to normalize what could have been a very off-the-wall story, playing on the quirks of her characters just enough to push them to where they needed to be here. The only real issue to take with the episode at large is Veronica letting her hair down in an effort to be more approachable, as this kind of undermines her management style form previous episodes wherein she needed to be unapproachable in order to maintain her authority. There's a little too much focus on the power that her hair holds, and it kind of implies that, beyond her coif, there's not much to her.

Written by Mike Teverbaugh, this story encapsulates exactly who these people are at their core and what they're willing to do to change their situations. Linda, of course, wishes to be subtle in her approach, and is shocked to learn that she's known as the "suggestion box lady." Linda had tried to remain anonymous, but the only other suggestions in the box were that she stop hogging the suggestion box, making one wonder who suggested that if they had no original ideas to add. Veronica spends the episode trying to be nice to people, trying to create a false connection between them in order to improve their morale and make her employees think that they're making a difference, and while her attempts do work on most people, her straining to think of nice things to say drains her emotionally and effectively destroys her personal morale. Veronica is forced to make a choice between her own happiness and her employees' happiness and, naturally, threatens her employees with disciplinary action should they not feign happiness at all times.

Linda appears to have an overwhelming need to change the system, and while her attempts to do so anonymously backfired, I imagine this trend will continue in future episodes; similarly, Ted's inability to let anyone dislike him could provide any number of awkward situations in coming episodes.

The review for "You Are the Boss of Me" can be read here.

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