Go On - Season 1 Episode 12 - Recap and Review - Winter Premiere - Win At All Costas
Recap and review of Go On - Season 1 Episode 12 - Winter Premiere - Win At All Costas
One of the things that works about Go On now that it's found its footing is the ease with which it can shuffle around its ensemble without losing much momentum from scene-to-scene. "Win At All Costas" is a high-functioning episode for the series, as it splits the cast into uncommon pairings, while also blending the "workplace comedy" and "lovable goofballs comedy" aspects into a more cohesive unit. In a lot of ways, it's the perfect episode for the return from winter break. It doesn't necessarily induct any new viewers into its formula, but it does allow viewers, new and old, to get a taste of what the show is capable of doing when it's firing on all cylinders. There's a solid blend of humor and heart here, and it makes for a solid pairing with the previous episode that sent us into the holiday season.
The story this week is mostly centered on how Ryan (Matthew Perry) handles being offered a guest spot on the talk show of his hero, sportscaster Bob Costas. "I'd like to believe there's a God - I know there's a Costas," says Ryan, of his idol, and that's really all that needs to be said to establish his hero worship. But the show goes a bit farther, showing a brief montage in which Ryan is shown to have memorized the voicemail Costas left him, and has gone on to annoy his entire workplace staff by reciting it again and again, with Carrie (Allison Miller) sarcastically joining in, at one point. The entire thing ends with Ryan asking Carrie to do him a favor, at which point we cut to Ryan cruising in his car, listening to the now-autotuned version of the voicemail. The sequence is among the show's best comedic setpieces, pretty much throwing any pretense of subtlety out the window in favor of just being as blunt as possible with the point they're trying to make, that Ryan absolutely adores Costas. And it's damn funny.
Credit: Vivian Zink/NBC
However, I wasn't really feeling the aspect of the storyline that involved Mr. K (Brett Gelman), who takes on Ryan as his latest project, hoping to help coax Ryan out of his nerves in preparation for his big guest spot on The Bob Costas Show. It's been established just how weird Mr. K is, and I've figured the fact that we know so little about him is kind of the point, but he's just such an ill-defined character beyond just being quirky. And really, everyone in the group is quirky, but they all have more going on than just that. This is not to disparage Gelman, who does a fine job with the character. He's funny in how attentive he is to Ryan's needs, such as giving Ryan a scalp massage before going on the air for an interview with arch rival Rich Eisen, or bringing Ryan a bagged lunch which is nothing more than a paper bag full of pictures of food. But there needs to be more to the character, I feel. That said, there is some progress made in this respect, as we learn that Mr. K idolizes Ryan in much the same way that Ryan idolizes Costas, which lends a bit of poignancy to the resolution of the arc, in which Ryan apologizes to Mr. K, who Ryan blamed for his eventual meltdown on The Bob Costas Show. It's sweet, but not cloyingly so, and I appreciated that.
Credit: NBC
As for the rest of the episode, there's an amusing subplot in which Anne (Julie White) makes it her mission to attend the quinceañera of Fausta's niece, after Fausta (Tonita Castro) tells Anne that she didn't get an invite because she's a "bitch." White does an excellent job with the character of Anne, essentially going out of her way to prove Fausta right, crashing the quinceañera and telling all the teen girls in attendance that "Life isn't all Justin Bieber and second base." However, the storyline is also pretty sincere in its sentimentality, once Anne discovers that the empty table she's stubbornly commandeered is actually a table left empty for those who couldn't be at the celebration that night. Fausta explains, in Spanish, how much she misses her dearly-departed family members: her husband, two sons, and her young daughter. Riddled with guilt, Anne apologizes to Fausta and the two embrace, as Fausta is less inclined to hold grudges and linger in negativity, accustomed as she is to just how short life can be. It's genuinely touching, and probably the best subplot the series has done so far. I'm glad to see characters forming bonds that have nothing to do with Ryan, and making changes and personal growth beyond the confines of the group circle.
"Win At All Costas" is as solid a half-hour of TV as Go On has had in its first season. Much like the winter finale that preceded it, this winter premiere gives me hope that the show will find sturdier footing, telling more emotionally resonant stories while still delivering sharply-paced comedy that hits far more often than it misses.