Best Friends Forever’s second episode was a little less grating than the first half hour… but unfortunately, that’s the biggest compliment I can give ‘It’s Raining Friends’, which – like the pilot – relies too heavily on caffeinated banter, obnoxiously loud physical gags, and a whole bunch of misplaced relationship drama.
First of all, the relationship between Jessica and Lennon borders on juvenile. Don’t get me wrong – I have no problems with friends being crazy together, but the unhealthy nature of their relationship really just makes them annoying characters. They live their lives in the past, they spend half their scenes screaming at top volume and speaking super fast-paced. Worst of all, they bowl over Rav without so much as a thank you, forcing him into something he clearly didn’t want to do, all in the favor of Lennon sheltering Jessica’s feelings – which of course, are all over the place since she’s so erratic emotionally (like any girl who gets dumped, duh).
Jessica’s character is really what annoys me about this show, though. She’s been portrayed as a weak female, ready to move from coast to coast at the suggestion of a friend (or as we learn in the past, for a man). Even though she spent no time with her husband for the three years they were married – and he mailed her divorce papers by FedEx – she is deemed (for plot purposes of this episode) to be an open book of stereotyped emotion…. from the friends guarding her from reality, her need to listen to sad love songs, taking long, candle-lit baths to deal with depression – it’s all very pathetic, and when you add on the fact she’s clearly dependent on her friends to help coddle her, it becomes sad. It’s an odd character choice for an actress essentially writing her own part (her and Lennon are the creators and co-writers of the show).
‘It’s Raining Friends’ places everyone in Rav’s bar for a party Lennon orchestrates to give her friend ‘a moment of happiness’ on her wedding anniversary. Cause you know, without a distraction, she’d probably kill herself or something (at least that’s what BFF wants us to think). There are a couple amusing moments throughout the party (Joe carrying pork in a ziploc bag in his back pocket, Lennon’s speech in Spanish) but those few gags didn’t save it from the very predictable ending, where Rav stops being mad, Jessica gets to turn down her ex-husband to show her ‘strength’ (though she was about a half millimeter from giving in).
BFF also suffers from some structural problems, and I think this might have to do with the improv writing approach Lennon & Jessica take to writing their scripts (long story short, they were part of the same improv group). The show’s tone is always shifting: it opens with comedy, gets dramatic, goes comedic, then gets serious, back to comedy, and then closes on a warm moment. It’s an all over the place approach that really shows what the writers are uncomfortable with: comedic exchanges between Lennon, Jess and Joe are snappy and fast-paced, with clear direction, while the more dramatic moments of the show slow things down to a crawl (I’m thinking of the scene outside with Peter and Jess) and the show grinds to a halt as these strong comedic actors are trying to inject some grounded emotion into the moments.
I’ll give the show credit: it’s trying to weave a back story into the cast of characters, but it’s all over the map, and for the most part, doesn’t have much going for it except as a device for the show to say “ok, these guys all knew each other, but three years passed, so they only know each other kind of.” I appreciate a comedy trying to tell a bit of a story, but when the comedy isn’t funny and the characters aren’t fleshed out, it’s hard to connect to the cast and feel invested in the different emotional and comedic payoffs.
In other words, I don’t think BFF is going to find itself a long-term audience. It’s too spastic in both the tone of the scripts, and the execution of different scenes. Having two leads that are just annoying and counter-productive together (and are supposed to be best friends) doesn’t help, and the males on the cast are just there to be simple minded and talk about meat, sex, and ‘liking things the way they are.’ It’s certainly not the worst show I’ve seen this year, and with some tweaking, it could improve greatly. Unfortunately, with only four episodes left to air, there isn’t a whole lot of time.
Grade: D
Other thoughts:
– I can’t get over how weak they’ve written Jessica’s character.
– the meat in your mouth jokes fell really flat in the beginning. Did not open well for the rest of the episode to follow.
– “Change is hard, but it’s how you bloom.” As much as the show wants to insert its philosophy into dialogue so we believe it, we need to SEE it. having Jessica walk away from her cheating ex husband two weeks after he dumps her is not ‘growth’, it’s simple common sense.
– seriously, why are all the male characters so lame? Joe feels like a cheap clone of Andy Dwyer.
– Lennon, please stop singing. Please.
What did you think of ‘It’s Raining Friends’? Better than the pilot, or worse? Feel free to share your opinions of BFF in the comments section below!