“30 Rock” was just as stupendous as it always is this week, somehow finding new comedic ground to break after three-and-a-half seasons of award-winning comedy. Is there anything Tina can’t do?
Well, apparently she can’t find someone with a convincing Boston accent.
I’m not from Boston, and I don’t pretend to have an intimate knowledge of the accent, but even my untrained ears can spot a shoddy Bostonian accent. I don’t have any grudge against Julianne Moore at all…I have a grudge against her accent. Why give her the accent if she can’t do it well? It boggles the mind. Luckily for us, it sounds like we won’t be seeing her for a while (thanks to Jack’s concise response of “I’ll wait. Not forever”).
In other news, Tracy had just enough screen time to optimize his hilarious character without being the main focus of the episode. His personal vendetta against John Hancock (“a dude that has the most hilarious last name I’ve ever heard”) was perfect for his character.
Liz’s common enemy of Dale Snitterman and our subsequent discovery that he was a real guy was pretty funny, despite the fact that you could see it from a mile away. It’s shocking that “30 Rock” can take something clearly done before and still make it great. This is the reason why it wins so many Emmys.
Probably my favorite scene in the episode was Kenneth and Cerie’s attempt to buy Moore’s house. I think it’s just personal preference, but I love it when people way over-explain themselves in scenes. It’s hilarious, since it’s so different from real life. The actual humor of it comes from the fact that Moore’s character doesn’t bat an eye at the ridiculous depth of explanation Kenneth goes into, trying to cover every single possible question she may have. His ridiculously forced voice inflection is funny as well, which is hard to translate in script form:
Moore: Are you here for the open house?
Kenneth: Hello! We are here from a different town for the open house, because we are interested in purchasing a house in this area.
Moore: I’m Nancy, the owner. [extends hand for handshake, Kenneth awkwardly kisses it.]
Kenneth: I am Silas Merrimount-Peppercorn, and this is my first wife, Moronica.
Cerie [in regular, American affectation]: It’s nice to meet you. I’m British.
Kenneth: My wife and I have disparate levels of attractiveness, because I am a successful inventor.
Moore: Well, I gotta be honest, I was wondering… well alright, it’s a three-bedroom, and uhh…partially-finished basement…
Kenneth: Partially-finished? I’ll take it!
So there isn’t much to say without being my regular, gushy, “30 Rock”-adoring self. It was a fantastic episode, besides Moore’s accent. But if that’s the worst fault the episode has, I’d say it was a great episode.
