Bored to Death season three soldiers on with its latest ‘We Could Sing a Duet,’a fun and emasculating half-hour that sees Jonathan working a case with his doppelganger as George shares an evening with his daughter’s boyfriend and Ray struggles with his responsibilities. You’d be hard pressed to search for meaning in a comedy that makes its living on aimless stonery, but the chemistry of its three leads wins me over every time.
It’s a bit on the nose to see each character struggling with subversion so directly, as Jonathan finds his identity stolen, George struggles with being bested both professionally and at home, and Ray copes with being a ‘Park Slope mom,’but the charm of the entire series lies in each character wishing for more success than they actually have. Ted Danson, Zach Galifianakis and Jason Schwartzman all portray downtrodden so wittily, that all three dovetail well into a coherent whole. Board to Death practically makes its living on creating rivalries for its leads, so I hope we see Brett Gelman’s Jonathan Ames doppelganger again as every bit the detective rival Louis is (or was) literary.
In a way Board to Death also explores the fantasies we all create for ourselves, Jonathan the noir detective, Ray the supremely masculine artist and George a father at the top of his professional field, but channels it through the ridiculous, here in ‘We Could Sing a Duet’with plushies. Something I liked about the earlier episodes of season 3 were the ways Jonathan found himself embroiled in actual hotspots like the murder-mystery of ‘The Blonde in the Woods,’and I might wish for a bit more growth in that area to counter the fantasy. I’m even reminded of the way Breaking Bad or Chuck‘s ineffectual protagonists grew increasingly competent and badass as seasons progressed, and ‘We Could Sing a Duet’dangles a few traces, but ultimately retreats into its more comfortable stoner fantasies.
On the subject of fantasy, Bored to Deaths‘aforementioned rivals have a tendency for cartoonism, here with the returning Richard Antrem (Oliver Platt) now looking to best George in the restaurant business, while Louis Green’s erratic obsession with besting or confronting Jonathan grows increasingly pathetic, newly minted as a busboy and ‘son’to Richard and Sons. The doppelganger Jonathan Ames at least admits to being a caricature hopped up on noir movies, making him a far more tolerable villain.
Given the (no pun intended) aimless manner in which Bored to Death‘s leads purport themselves anyway, we can’t really judge ‘We Could Sing a Duet’for not rolling the plot along. We’re sure George and Jonathan will make up soon enough, just as Leah will take Ray back to find his stride (Olympia Dukakis or no). For our money, the thread that really needs more attention is the search for Jonathan’s real father, but ‘We Could Sing a Duet’creates a harmless enough diversion in and of itself.
And Another Thing…
- Is the emasculator intended to be a caricature of Leah, or his lesbian baby mama?
- My new favorite excuse has become, ‘I was attacked by a homosexual tiger in Brooklyn!’
- Zach Galifianakis boned Olympia Dukakis. There’s a sentence I never thought I’d say.
What did you think?