Go On - Recap: Monica and Chandler, together again
Credit: Justin Lubin/NBC
Recap and review of Go On - Season 1 Episode 20 - Matchup Problems:
Go On is in the process of winding down its season, yet it continues with several of the stories it's set up in previous weeks, particularly as it relates to the show's central friendship, between Ryan (Matthew Perry) and Anne (Julie White). Both are continuing the process of moving on by exploring the singles scene. It's something that the show has been dabbling in since the start of the season, how widows/widowers find the strength to seek new love beneath the immense shadow of the person they've lost. Yet the series has never put Ryan and Anne in direct competition with one another the way "Matchup Problems" does. The competition to score with Talia (Courteney Cox) basically amounts to the first real test of Ryan and Anne's friendship, and the result is an episode that keeps the jokes coming at a fast clip, although the story itself is not nearly as compelling as one might expect, given that it revolves around the show's best pairing. That said, as long as the show brings the funny, I can overlook just about anything.
Credit: NBC
Anne has been going to the cemetery to place flowers on the grave of her late partner, and while there she meets Talia, a fellow widow who Anne feels would be a perfect match for Ryan. When Ryan meets Talia, he gets scared at the prospect of getting shot down by asking her out on a solo date, so he inadvertently invites Anne along on the dinner date. On the date, things get complicated when it becomes apparent that Talia is flirting with both Ryan and Anne. When confronted, she admits that she's attracted to both of them, setting off an episode-long competition to win the mercurial widow's affections. Courteney Cox as Talia is a blatant bit of stunt-casting, putting Matthew Perry and Courteney Cox together for a Friends reunion, yet for two people who were a couple on one of TV's all-time biggest sitcoms, they had a shockingly insufficient amount of chemistry here, which could very well have been the show's way of communicating the characters' incompatibility. Things go much better between Cox and Julie White, as Talia and Anne have a more interesting connection that feels natural and intense, brief though it is. It also results in some of the episode's best sight gags, as Talia tries to sway both Anne and Ryan with her "sexy lip-smacking", which she hasn't exactly gotten down.
Credit: Justin Lubin/NBC
Eventually, Talia picks Ryan, and his shock at being chosen by Talia ("For reals?") is far more amusing than it probably should have been. However, the relationship is not to last, as Talia turns out to be completely off-the-wall, speeding off with him in her high-end car with the stereo blaring, scaring the hell out of him as cop sirens blare in the distance. In addition to Talia's unpredictability, Anne reveals that Talia had actually picked her first, but Anne was compelled to turn her down. Only then did Talia choose Ryan. Anne had apparently caught a vibe from Talia that sent up red flags, giving her the confidence to bail on a potential hookup. Ultimately, though the love triangle threatened the stability of Ryan and Anne's friendship, they wind up better off for having come into conflict in this fashion, as they both come to understand that their loneliness doesn't mean they have to jump at the first opportunity that presents itself. If the love triangle doesn't sound all that substantive, it's because there ultimately wasn't much more to it than this; but I'm not sure there really needed to be. It's a tight, well-told story with enough funny material (Ryan getting the restaurant staff to chant for him, Anne flaunting her "girls", Talia's persistence in getting the "lip-smack" over) that it proved to be one of the more successful storylines of the second half of the season. And it was nice to see Cox and Perry together again, if only to remember a time when NBC wasn't a full-stop mess of a network.
Credit: NBC
The episode also benefited from having only one subplot, which built on similar themes as the A-plot. Yolanda (Suzy Nakamura) has grown despondent in her loneliness, and decides to sign up for an Asian Christians Singles Cruise. Throughout the episode, Yolanda interacts with the group via Skype, and just as she seems on the verge of hitting it off with a buff suitor, Lauren (Laura Benanti) draws his attention, shamelessly flirting with him and showing off her calves. Yolanda becomes convinced she's destined to remain lonely forever, even while Mr. K (Brett Gelman) insists that there's a man in the background in a purple suit who'd be perfect for her. It's the best storyline of the episode in terms of pure comedy, as there are several quaint comedic elements that add color to the episode, such as Fausta (Tonita Castro) psychology analyzing Lauren's flirting ("flarting", as she spells it on the dry erase board), Sonia's (Sarah Baker) explaining cat flirtation patterns, blind George (Bill Cobb) railing on Yolanda for complaining about the lack of visibility in her Skype connection, and Mr. K insisting that the man in the purple suit must taste like grape soda. The story comes to an equally amusing climax, as Mr. K finds his way onto the cruise and introduces Yolanda to the man in purple, and they immediately hit it off (although he gets carried away trying to find Yolanda a new mate when he learns that the man doesn't actually taste like grape soda). The storyline works by tying directly into the themes of the A-plot, and the question of loneliness amid the increasingly desperate search for romance.
Credit: NBC
"Matchup Problems" is a uniformly strong episode, telling two tight, focused stories while liberally peppering in some of the show's typically solid jokes.
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