Is there a show on TV more heartwarming than Ground Floor? As the show continues its terrific second season, I’ve consistently asked myself this question, and have been hard-pressed to find a better answer. There certainly isn’t a more charming show on television, a comedy more confident in its ability to boil down stories and characters to their absolute essences without losing the emotional components that make them both so appealing. In a nutshell, Ground Floor is simple and knows it; but that doesn’t mean its content or lazy. Rather, it’s quite the opposite – and “Love and Basketball”is a great example of why.
Look at the two central conflicts of the episode: a competition between two people in a relationship, and a courtship. Dig one layer deeper, and you’ll find all the tenants of a classic, multi-cam sitcom episode, told in the effervescent, Ground Floor style we’ve come to adore; a climatic scene that encourages physical performance, ancillary characters who provide venues to meaningful resolutions, and a whole lot of goofy humor. “Love and Basketball” is very much a classically-composed episode of comedic television; yet within that foundation lies the beauty of Ground Floor.
See, what makes Ground Floor great is not its dramatic constructions: for all intents and purposes, those stories are stock sitcom tales the show mostly follows from point A to point B each week. Within those stories, however, Ground Floor fills out its world and gives it life with character details and interactions; this season, the addition of Lindsay has proved to be a boon for the show, giving a place for Harvard to direct his energy, and adding a much-needed feminine energy to Remington Trust so noticeable in season one whenever Jenny was upstairs, or Brody’s ex-girlfriend was making a hilarious appearance (Anna Camp will appear again this season, by the way). She’s softened Harvard’s character a bit, and brought her own, awkward comedic energy to the table, a welcome replacement from Tracy’s pointless appearances in season one (sounds cruel, but there’s a reason she’s not around anymore); she makes for a wonderful counterpart to Briga Heelan’s performance as well, especially when the show puts their two characters together (something we don’t get this week, but something that has been great all season long).
The addition of Lindsay is but one of the many details that help make “Love and Basketball” the fun episode it is: coming on the heels of such a world-shifting episode as last week’s, Ground Floor pushed back overall plot and allowed this episode to exist in a vacuum, where business was pushed aside for relationship development. We get more of Threepeat trying to appeal to Mansfield (“He called me a man!”), Derrick acting as a conduit for other characters (which is still a little disappointing, because it leaves his own character weightless), and the always fun – and more importantly, never bitter – competition between Brody and Jenny, always a spot for great conflict on the show.
“Love and Basketball” goes so light on plot, in fact, it makes for a bit of a jarring turn with the episode’s surprising closing moments, when Mansfield offers Jenny a “scholarship” to go back to college. One thing that’s nice to see is that Ground Floor isn’t staying married to its immediate world; having already pushed characters into new places at the beginning of the season, it would be expected that the show would settle in for a ten-episode season. Yet Brody’s already back upstairs, Lindsay and Harvard are dating, Mansfield’s business is in jeopardy, and Jenny’s going back to college; though it often appears to be a classic comedy in the vein of adhering to its initial world and character roles, Ground Floor continues to challenge itself this season by pushing characters in new directions without upsetting the show’s well-developed balance of story and interpersonal drama and weekly external conflicts.
The closing moment is really a beautiful thing, both because of the performances by the three actors involved, but also how well it represents the show as a whole. While Ground Floor is a sitcom interested in conflict, it’s also a sitcom even more interested in resolution. Brody’s ex in season one, Brody and Mansfield this season, Harvard letting go of Jenny… Ground Floor is very much a show about growth and co-existence, which lends a different tilt to scenes featuring arguments or comedic insults than other shows that feel much more cold and bitter telling the same stories (and in some cases, even the same jokes).
That dedication to meaningful resolution is where Ground Floor‘s heart shines the brightest, especially because the show knows not to linger on them longer than they need to be. Could Brody and Mansfield’s disagreement have lasted all season long? Sure; but instead, why not bring them back together earlier, and show how much these guys really love each other? Decisions like that – and episodes like “Love and Basketball”, paired with last week’s episode – are great examples of what make this show the wonderful little gem that it is.
[Photo via TBS]
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