Week in and week out, Franklin & Bash has maintained a certain quality of episodes. This week’s episode was no exception. They included most (not all, unfortunately) of my favorite characters, and they constantly produce episodes that have both dramatic and comedic value, which is not easy.
This week, Jared and Peter sue a strip club owner (versus their old pal, Karp) and eventually move to unionize all of the strip…er..exotic dancers in the city. Throughout the course of all of this, Jared becomes a Duke after receiving a title as payment for legal services, and they devote the rest of the episode to luring Karp back to the firm. I know, I was as shocked as you are that the boys wanted old fish boy back, but they’re right: Archenemies make you work harder.
The biggest thing missing from this episode for me was Swatello. She and Jared’s romance has been one of the more compelling running story lines, and it’s even MORE than one season long. Although, apparently Jared has other women on his mind currently (like Peter’s MOM!!!!!!) but we’ll get to that .
I was a big fan of the over-arching “bring back Karp” story line. It really worked well inter-twined with the other stories, and made for good drama that Karp was currently working a case against the boys. Stanton also seemed a tad more normal after his weird cello-teacher thing last week. I just thought it was a more realistic plot for Stanton to want to bring Karp back and do paperwork better than Peter and Jared, than to sit alongside a cello-teacher in court.
Last week, I touched on the strength of the show’s guest stars, and they really upped the ante this week. First off, as judge, we have Cheers veteran John Ratzenberger, who of course had been a judge on the show previously. I wish it had been George Wendt, but I probably would’ve just kept screaming “NORM!!!!” instead of paying attention to the show. Then, the bully strip club owner was played by Dexter alum James Remar, who just does fantastic work. This character wasn’t much like Henry Morgan, but Remar handled it beautifully and I expected nothing less.
Finally, on the guest star front, Jane Seymour returned as Peter Bash’s mother. We Franklin & Bash fans are pretty used to seeing her, but we (or at least I) was not ready for the scene at the end with Jared. That’s why you shouldn’t drink too much, folks. You’ll kiss your best friend’s mom. Otherwise she was brilliantly used, including by Damian as his mediator for his negotiations to return to the firm. Always lovely seeing Dr. Quinn.
There are only four more episodes of the season, and I would really like to see some resolution to the Swatello/Franklin story. Of course there will have to be something resolving the obvious fallout of tonight’s final scene. I’d also like to see Karp jumping right back in alongside F&B in court. There’s just something about it that makes sense, and since we can’t have Pindar…we’ve got to have something. Oh, and something with Rob Lowe. We gotta have Rob Lowe.
As great as the banter was in this episode, I only had one favorite quote:
“Wanna be a duke”- Anita, to Jared
Overall, another strong episode. Funny, light-hearted, but it keeps you engaged in the dramatic elements. What more can you ask for in a show? What did you guys think? Let us know!!
[Photo via TNT]
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