Every week Man Seeking Woman brings us a new episode that seemingly lives or dies on how successful its fantasy sequences are. Most of the time, they are solid at worst, giving viewers a fun time for the week, but when they are great, so is the show. This week’s episode, “Sizzurp,” has the show still deliver some sequences, but steps back from the surrealness a little bit to give fans what is, probably, the most “real” episode in the season thus far. While this could worry some people, it’s not very apparent until the episode finishes and one realizes that Man Seeking Woman can carry itself fine even without going over-the-top to exaggerate things.
The episode opens with Cupid (Jorma Taccone) getting a divine intervention from Zeus and his other family members. He has a horrible problem with codeine, and after talking out his feelings a little bit, he agrees to conform and go to rehab. As a sign of good faith for his family, Cupid decides to shoot an arrow at one of the most beautiful girls in the world, Whitney (Friday Night Lights alum Minka Kelly), making her fall in love with Josh, one of the most not-so-average guys. The opening of the episode was hilarious, and I absolutely loved Jorma Taccone’s take on gangster Cupid who loves clubbing and sipping on his sizzurp. This fantasy sequence wasn’t as integrated compared to other weeks, but it was still hilarious and set the entire episode in motion.
Josh and Whitney, who is absolutely gorgeous and out of Josh’s league according to societal standards, end up dating. Mike sees her and freaks out; he is upset he didn’t find her first (I guess to give her the old spiral eyes), but is happy for Josh, calling him an “American Hero” for landing this girl. With that begins the episode’s second fantasy sequence that isn’t as much of a surreal moment. Josh takes Whitney around to everyone that’s ever doubted or picked on him to show off his new girlfriend, including people like the childhood bully, his sister, and past girls that didn’t like him. Josh feels on top of the world until he arrives at work where his boss immediately starts hitting on Whitney and nearly Wolf of Wall Streets her away from Josh (“You’ve never rode in a plane?!”) That joke was used in a subtle but great way, and it was fun to see it re-used. This entire sequence wasn’t as in your face compared to ones in past weeks’ episodes. It was a much more real moment with Josh showing his new girlfriend off to everyone he can think of, but the bounds of who he encounters start to stretch. The sequence doesn’t have any fake stretch of the imagination happening, but is more an extension of reality.
Sadly, as would happen with most insecure guys, Josh starts getting paranoid and the sequence takes a turn for the worst. Now as he and Whitney walk down the street, Josh worries that any guy who speaks to her or compliments her is instantly trying to steal her away from him. Things get even worse when her ex-boyfriend, Tanaka, a time traveling Asian space alien, arrives at Josh’s to see Whitney while he’s in town. This is a pretty uncomfortable moment for most men, and they can either face the moment with extreme confidence or get jealous and worry, like Josh. Despite Whitney claiming she wants Josh and Tanaka to be friends, Josh can’t get past the idea that Tanaka is just trying to sleep with her again. The three are having some wine and chatting but Josh is the odd man out when the other two talk about old times and inside jokes. Rather than playing it cool and letting conversation flow naturally, he tries to force his way into their reminiscing, and it becomes pretty awkward. Whitney sends him out for another bottle of wine, causing Josh to imagine the worst will happen: that he will be heated on right when he leaves the room.
He returns to find Tanaka giving Whitney a massage, which puts Josh over the edge. He is losing his mind, and it leads to him getting punched by Tanaka. He goes to his sister for advice, and she compares his relationship problems to a time when he had a jacket he loved that ended up not fitting anymore. The jacket might have been perfect, but it wasn’t perfect for Josh. He sadly gets it and realizes it might be best to break up with Whitney. He meets her in the park to cut things off only to instantly regret it ten seconds later and go to fix everything. In the episode’s last fantasy sequence, which is another slight exaggeration on real life, Whitney is already engaged. Josh walked all of 20 feet away before turning around, and in that short space of time, Whitney had gone through another serious relationship and after that ended up engaged.
I really enjoyed tonight’s episode and would call it very solid. “Sizzurp” displayed that Man Seeking Woman can survive without going over-the-top with its surreal moments and still deliver a good episode. It was really enjoyable to have some more realistic moments that weren’t too much of an extension from reality. The opening that featured the Greek Gods was a funny way to set everything in motion, but didn’t have a huge relation to the episode otherwise. Tanaka was hilarious simply because there was a time traveling alien on the show; however, the two other fantasy moments really communicated the points “Sizzurp” was trying to make. Not bragging too much because it will only bring more, and possibly unwanted, attention to yourself and what you have, as well as not immediately giving up on something that is near-perfect just because it’s tough for a moment. Last night’s episode of Man Seeking Woman was a great blend overall and continued providing the laughs, so hopefully next week can continue running with the success.
[Photo via FXX]
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