I’m embarrassed by it. I was lashing out. I wasn’t even articulate.
It doesn’t matter
Or funny, which is worse.
Okay, so what the **** happened to this show? Because, sure, season two hasn’t been quite up to the levels of season one. The writing hasn’t been as sharp or as consistent. Still good and all, but not up to the first season. So, I was hoping that this, the final episode of season two, would manage to get up there next to some of the season one episodes, that the show might truly recapture its greatness. And instead, I got . . . this? Like what is this even? This is the worst episode of a television show I’ve ever seen. I mean, is this a joke?
So, the quick premise is that a gonzo comedian who voices and controls a blue animated bear starts going in a political direction and soon his anarchic style and his obnoxious tone gain him the support of a disenchanted electorate and he becomes a real power in an ongoing election campaign. There’s a premise in there somewhere as our current political world more than indicates, but this episode is just really bad. I’ve talked a lot about how great lead performances have helped this show a lot and I have to say that Daniel Rigby gives one of the worst performances I’ve ever seen as the main character. When he’s not controlling Waldo, he shambles about mumbling to himself and I know he probably thinks he’s giving a great disaffected performance, but he’s not, he’s just sleepwalking. And when he is controlling Waldo, he’s worse! Waldo’s voice is incredibly grating and I understand that he’s supposed to be a figure of juvenile humor, but still, I feel like the scene of him swinging his penis around goes on for about a minute and do we need that? I guess that’s a problem here really is that the end of the day Waldo just fails as a character. The episode asks you to take a leap: could Waldo, a beloved comedic character, actually become a powerful political figure? But hang on a minute, I’m still trying to take the leap that Waldo is either beloved or comedic, because I found him to be absolutely dire. I mean, name a funny thing he says in this episode. Name a funny joke. Give me your favorite Waldo punchline. I bet you can’t. Because he is the least funny character this side of a ******* Holocaust movie. So essentially this episode is me sitting through forty minutes of someone trying and failing to be funny, which is one of the most exhausting things in existence. Things are not helped at all by the constant reaction shots of everyone in the audience pissing themselves with laughter. I mean, guffaws of laughter this Waldo guy gets. And I’m sitting there stone-faced. Sighing every minute or so.
Maybe I’m being too harsh, right? Hmm. No. No, I’m not. This is one of the worst things I’ve ever seen on television. Full-stop. Black Mirror just went through the looking glass. 0 stars.
tl;dr – terrible episode wraps up season two with profoundly dire results; a brutally bad lead performance and one of the most annoying television characters ever. 0 stars.