mojorecords

This show is so frustrating. It starts out with a decently interesting premise: an agent of some shadowy government agency goes missing and in his last transmission, he inexplicably names two very unlikely, seemingly random people as the ones who can help solve the mystery of what happened. The agency kidnaps those two people and hijinks ensues. We get to learn about their character and see their relationships grow as they complete various missions dealing with paranormal phenomenon. Pretty good stuff.

As everyone else has already pointed out, the show takes an abrupt turn after episode 9. While initially the show had action, suspense, and good special FX, the change got rid of all of that. Instead of going out and investigating paranormal stuff, everyone just sits around and talks about nothing of importance. Very rarely does anything ever involve the overarching plotline, and I hope you didn't care about that original story of the agent gone missing, because that has been completely forgotten about. Everything that made the show at all intriguing was left behind in order to turn it into a VERY mediocre clone of The Office. It's bafflingly boring.

Parks and Rec did The Office better than The Office (neither of which did it as good as the British original). Did we REALLY need another Office rip-off? Let alone in a show that actually started off really strong, with really good writing and a great cast? Why change a show mid-season so drastically?

There's not a total lack of funny moments in the later episodes, and you might even be tempted to think "maybe it's not that bad." And then you watch episode 16, which was clearly made before the changes, and you're reminded of how bad it got. It's a shame that the story was never fleshed out properly, but given how garbage most TV is these days, I think it's still worth watching this show. However, anyone watching it needs to know that they should only watch episodes 1-9 and episode 16. The rest are a complete waste of time.

It's tough to describe this show, which is probably why I feel like all the descriptions that I've read don't quite seem to fit. The way it plays with its premise, it's rather ambiguous as to how the "show within the show" really works: there's reality mixed with television, seriousness mixed with absurdity. The lines are often blurred, which is a strength. It can be a little confusing, but it's one of those premises where sometimes you just have to stop trying to overthink and enjoy it for what it is. They do a good job of easing into the concept and keeping the logic consistent. The writing is very good, the humor is abundant, and the acting is great. This is a great cast, and no character goes to waste. Good pacing, good direction. The episodes fly by. I can see why this might not be for some, but for me it's one of the best new shows I've seen in a long time.

Another emotionally manipulative Bob's Burgers episode. Another storyline that goes nowhere. Another episode with loads of pointless dialog. Another episode that focuses heavily on a side character. Another episode almost completely devoid of jokes. Another episode with a "heartfelt message." Another episode where everyone is written out of character. Another episode that feels like sitting through a boring lecture. All of these problems have reared their heads in the past, most notably with the terrible "Amelia" episode, but season 14 feels like someone is actively trying to sabotage the show to make people forget what made it funny and popular in the first place, because none of THAT is actually in this episode, nor in ANY of the episodes in season 14. Save yourself the time (and the slog) and watch Burgerboss again instead.