Something people need to take note of when tuning in for Man Seeking Woman is that it’s going to tackle some very real issues, funny or not. Josh is going through a horrible period in his life that is unfamiliar and nearly always frustrating. Tonight’s third episode of the series, “Pitpull,” was definitely a step down from the prior two, slightly lacking the show’s trademark surreal moments and giving us an average plot. However, that doesn’t mean the show didn’t have it’s moments, and it did, because there were still plenty of times I found myself laughing. “Pitbull” once again tries to make a very real and normal situation more lighthearted, and succeeds in doing so, but the entire episode overall didn’t deliver the same big payoff through its goofy sequences like the other two episodes did.
The opening sequence was playfully solid again with Josh getting the itch to go home for some alone time with his hand after walking through the city and seeing a bunch of attractive women. As he gets home and sets the mood, his hand comes to life (voiced by Sarah Silverman), with literal eyes and a mouth, and raises some questions about their relationship. She wants more out of life than just being his instrument. After a brief stint about how she wants to learn sign language and experience other men than Josh, his hand literally detaches from his wrist with a simple pop and is the next woman to leave him. The scene was funny and to the point, accomplishing what it was meant to and not trying to do anything more, which is what made it so great.
The rest of the episode is dedicated to Mike attempting to take Josh to a club where he promises to find him a girl that will take him home. Mike is ready to go, but Josh is, understandably, afraid to go try and hit on women where he will more than likely be rejected. He keeps making excuses as to why they can’t go: they need to pre-game and pound a six pack, fill their stomachs with some made from scratch Mexican cuisine, or complete a 10,000 piece puzzle. He even suggests they read David Foster Wallace’s long and grueling novel, Infinite Jest. The quick clips of Josh and Mike doing all of these things were hilarious, and I especially loved Josh pulling out Infinite Jest before finally entering the club. Another nice touch to the episode was the club bouncer reading the “Puzzle Aficionado” magazine and recognizing Mike and Josh from the cover.
In the club, Mike is instantly a natural at talking and flirting with women, while Josh instantly begins struggling and having a horrible time. Josh gains a glimpse of hope when a girl agrees to let him buy her a drink but immediately loses it when he pays the bartender, turns around, and she’s gone. Mike comes over and tries to help Josh out by explaining his process of hitting on women in what I think was the best part of the entire episode: Spiral Eyes. Mike says he flashes Spiral Eyes and it instantly hypnotizes women into being attracted to him, thus making the entire process of hitting on them no problem. Mike assumed this was a power all men have, claiming that a wizard visited him when he hit puberty and taught/ granted him the power of the Spiral Eyes. Albeit a small moment in the show, this literal adaptation of men having no fear and total confidence was brilliantly played out by both Jay Baruchel and Eric Andre, who continues to show his talent once again.
A girl eventually chooses Josh to be her man for the night, and they continue to slam drinks until the bar closes, next moving to another electronic club where more drinks are consumed along with some drugs. In the end, Josh looks like he’s going to get lucky as they head back to her place, but when the moment comes, he discovers that his “manhood” has disappeared. The idea behind this literal sequence was clever; having Josh literally lose his junk to represent the classic “performance issues” that happens to “everyone” after a long night of partying. Josh panics and retreats to the bathroom to call everywhere he’s been that night in hope that his private parts are out there somewhere. He eventually gets a little bit of luck, as it’s found in the bathroom at the first bar he went to, but he won’t get it back until the next morning.
The final sequence started off clever, but felt very drawn out and repetitive after awhile. I liked the idea behind it but got a little bored with the long scene of Josh on the phone in the bathroom. Compared to the war room scene in “Traib” and seeing the troll and Hitler in “Lizard,” the final sequence of “Pitbull” felt like it was lacking payoff or grandeur. The episode still had amazing comedic elements, as I mentioned with the Spiral Eyes taking the cake for best moment in the episode; yet, it was just a small moment in the overarching plot. This episode of Man Seeking Woman wasn’t bad, but the big surreal sequences that make the show so great dropped the ball in “Pitbull,” and hopefully, next week, the series can make a strong bounce back.
[Photo via FXX]
Follow Us
