’30 Rock’ Recap: Idiots Are People Two

If memory serves, the great Tina Fey once lamented that she only has twenty-two minutes a week to tell her 30 Rock stories, and that this is not quite enough time. That sentiment is unfortunately present in this week’s episode, especially in the case of Jenna. 30 Rock, especially in its Season Three prime, was an unstoppable joke machine with a heroic pace. These first two episodes of Season Six do their best to work back toward that stride—and for the most part, their efforts are successful. However, this week’s episode might overdo it just a bit through Jane Krakowski. Jenna’s storyline sees her asking Kenneth for help fixing a light bulb in her dressing room—a task so mundane, that Kenneth is provoked to ask, “What could possibly go wrong?” before giggling madly.

Over the course of the episode, the pair manages to break a boxful of fluorescent lights, releasing mercury into a storage closet wherein a drunk (and depressed…but, you know, that’s the norm) Pete is taking one of his “secret naps.” As Kenneth’s terror and Jenna’s Machiavellian drive to cover their tracks escalates, the latter spouts out dozens of references to past crimes she has committed or troubling situations in which she has been involved—sometimes back to back. I hate to fault the show for having too many jokes for its audience to keep up with, but at times the dialogue just becomes an overwhelming typhoon of banter. But if this is “Idiots Are People Two”’s biggest problem, then we have ourselves a blessed piece of television.

And it just might be. The stories surrounding Liz/Jack and Tracy/the gay community are both spot on. We pick up immediately from last week—and it is extremely refreshing to get back to the Prime 30 Rock format where larger plots about Liz’s or Jack’s difficult love lives were front-and-center, rather than B-stories—with Jack assaulting Liz for not telling him that she has a new boyfriend (he admits to catching her kissing a guy at the movie theater the night before). Addressing to the sort of toxic codependence of Liz’s and Jack’s relationship, Liz insists that she has not and will not tell Jack about her new boyfriend, Criss (not “Chris,” much to Jack’s disapproval), because he’d only find a way to get in her head and ruin the man for her with his criticism. She does have a point. If we think back, Liz had no problems with either Drew or Carol before Jack put the ideas in her head that they were flawed.

And then we meet Criss: a sweet laid-back hippie-type played by James Marsden. Liz seems perfectly happy with her man—and his penchant for making pancakes with M&Ms in them (in the design of a German flag, at her request…what a strange, silly running joke this show has been working on for years)—until a phantom Jack appears in Liz’s head, belittling everything Criss says and does. Again, he has ruined a man for her, and without even trying.

“Did you know that Snuggles, the fabric softener bear, was gay? He’s dating the Charmin cub! I thought they were babies!” – Pete

But Liz’s problems do not end there. Art imitates life: Tracy Jordan has offended the gay community with a homophobic standup routine. The clip from the in-universe bit in which Tracy offends homosexuals is admittedly not nearly as vicious as what the real life Tracy Morgan said over the summer of last year, but that is to be expected. It’s admirable in its way that the show and its actors are willing to address their wrongdoings in a particularly non-flattering fashion at all.

When the gay community protests NBC over Tracy’s words, Liz releases a public apology, excusing her star as not a bigot, but simply an “idiot.” This sends Tracy into an uproar—he organizes the idiots of the world (with leader Denise Richards…good sport)—to have their own rally, protesting NBC.

“Why not? The Bronx made me dyslexic.” – Tracy

There is something about this plotline, and specifically a comment that Liz makes, that I find particularly interesting. In the berating of Tracy for his standup routine, Liz drops a few of her own bigoted and stereotypical remarks. A confused Tracy points out the hypocrisy in Liz’s behavior. I do believe that this is 30 Rock holding a candle up to itself, as was the theme of Season 5 episode “TGS Hates Women.” While the show and its creator have both been vocal proponents of gay tolerance and gay rights, fans will not be hard-pressed to recall the cavalcade of excessively stereotypical, outlandish gay characters on the series. As Liz easily shrugs off Tracy’s accusations, so is the show able to: yes, it’s different when it’s coming from her/30 Rock, because we are made to understand that it is not malicious. We are not supposed to take these characters with even a grain of salt. And there are notable instances, particularly from back when the show’s tone was drier, of positive illuminations of homosexuality. But still, 30 Rock seems to admit here that it is not entirely innocent of the same kind of thing that Tracy Jordan idiotically spouts on a standup stage.

While Liz might not know how to solve any of her problems, Jenna has a plan to deal with the unconscious Pete/string of rule violations fiasco she has gotten herself and Kenneth into. She calls the only man devious enough to machinate a scheme that would absolve Jenna of any trace of the crime, and the only man prominent enough to deserve a closing theme song about his first name: one Kelsey “Frajer” Grammar, who arrives just in time for an unexpected “To Be Continued.”

*According to this week’s episode, this makes you either a black nerd, a Jet Blue passenger who has fallen asleep with the TV on, a pet whose owner has died, or an idiot.What did you think of this week’s episode? Do you think 30 Rock is back to its glory days of comic timing, or is it pushing the envelope a little? How do you feel about the show addressing one of its star’s real-life offensive remarks? Let us know in the comments section, or on Twitter (@MichaelArbeiter).