Rules of Engagement – Acapelicans say what?

It’s been quite some time since I’ve been able to just sit back and enjoy the comedy of an episode of Rules of Engagement. But regardless of what I hope to still see from the show, I’m a fan of the characters plain and simple.

Which is what allowed me to enjoy last night’s episode so much. Yay! You know, I can embrace the meaningless humor too … it just has to actually be worth embracing in the first place.

Audrey’s job interview was funny. Actually, it could be a great opportunity for her to get in on the ground floor of a potential windfall. She’ll make a decent salary now, but probably get most of her perks in the form of stock options; those could set her and Jeff up for life given the right circumstances. I’m actually surprised we didn’t hear Jeff, who’s in finance, talking about that.

I loved that the company got its start with the money that one of the founders made selling his Ritalin, but I didn’t buy that the two of them could/would be so clueless as to the actual “business” side of their business. You bring in someone like Audrey — although, really? — because you don’t understand the details, but the sheer fact that you were driven to start a business in the first place means you’d be engaged to a certain extent.

Then again, with their level of spaciness Audrey could clean the company out … so there’s that.

Whereas Audrey’s friend Liz (Wendi McLendon-Covey) was awesome back when Audrey told her that Jeff had a thing for her, here she was just annoying. Anyone who could make Jeff leave a full beer behind in the apartment has no place on the show. She is funny when she’s getting awkwardly personal — I loved when she told Audrey she imagines that Audrey and Jeff have a vigorous physical life together — but the character was a tad too overblown to work on any regular basis.

It’s been a long time since Timmy and Russell haven’t disappointed me. And I will say that the sheer volume and class of gay jokes between them last night was unpleasant … but Timmy singing in an a cappella group? It makes so much sense, and what was great about it was how bad they were. And Timmy’s timing on his solo was all over the place.

Of course none of that mattered when Russell joined the picture. I actually thought we’d get good jokes from him about Timmy’s group; he struck out on that in the end, but who’d have imagined him a singing wannabe? Nice!

As with the group singing I was surprised the show went to so little effort getting Russell’s lip syncing to look decent, but it certainly was funny in theory. And it was great how, once he got his dream out of his system, Russell went right back to his old self and started making fun of Timmy. If only the jokes were better, but it was fun.

Adam and Jen were off as usual, but you can’t have it all, right?

Clacked by Aryeh S.
on Feb 08, 2011 @ 13:00 EST5EDT