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30 Rock returned to the UK this week on Comedy Central, debuting season 5 with a delightful double bill. I hadn’t quite realised how much I’d missed Liz Lemon’s quirky-yet-frighteningly-recognisable character traits or Tracy Jordan’s paranoid delusions until this hour of pure comic joy.
First up was ‘The Fabian Strategy’, which served to settle us back in and remind us of where we’d left things off – Liz was in a “relationship” (she doesn’t like that word) with [male] pilot Carol (Matt Damon), Jack was together with a pregnant Avery (Elizabeth Banks), Kenneth was fired and working for – quelle horreur! – CBS’ Late Show with David Letterman and Tracy was missing him so much that he kept hallucinating his presence at every possible opportunity, giving Jack McBrayer some bizarre scenarios to excel in. Jenna got the chance to be put in a producer’s role, and sort of demonstrated her abilities as a down-sizing cost-cutting mastermind – who knew?
Meanwhile ‘When It Rains It Pours’ saw Liz revelling in her newfound confidence that effortlessly attracted men – unfortunately, it also attracted cheating rumours with Ritchie, the editing guy (played by Paul Giamatti). Tracy, meanwhile, desperate to make it to his wife’s third birth (he’d missed the first two for very legitimate reasons – “cooking a French bread pizza” and “forgot”), jumped in the first cab he could find, and inadvertently ended up participating on a trivia game show, while Jack, realising he may not see his future son (or what turned out to actually be a daughter) grow up, made an instructional video on how to get through life as a Donaghy. This feature proved to be a highlight of the episode, with 30 Rock showcasing itself at its abstract silliest. Finally, Kenneth secretly returned to NBC, running errands in disguise – because really, we all know that place would fall apart without him. At least we now know his absence isn’t permanent!
Both episodes capitalised on their collection of high-profile guest stars, with Matt Damon’s clingy and Liz-Lemon-clone Carol being especially entertaining, given how serious his roles usually are. The best way to finish up is with some of my favourite lines of the night:
- Tracy (to Kenneth): Why don't you come back home to TGS and pick the peas out of my fried rice... and the rice. I just want carrots.
- Carol: I'm in Lambert-St. Louis and I can see the Arch from here. No wait, that's a half burned down McDonald's.
- Dot Com: Also we took Tracy's cell phone, his wallet... Tracy: ... and my mood ring! And I don't know how I feel about that.
- Jack: The Harry Potter theme park is a huge hit with both anglophiles and paedophiles.
- Kenneth: I'm real happy here at CBS. They gave me a tote bag. With The Mentalist on it!
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