Staz’s freshman comedy gives us its best effort to date.
Spoilers for “Meth or No Meth, You Still Gotta Floss” within.
For the first time since “All My Relationships End in Pain,” Blunt Talk returns to the blend of comedy and tragedy that so defines Jonathan Ames ventures – and perfects it. This episode finds Walter abandoning his broadcast in an effort to help Rosalie find Teddy, who has gone missing as a result of his struggle with encroaching dementia. Jim, meanwhile, is left to steer the ship and makes his television debut with the help of Celia and the gang.
“Meth or No Meth, You Still Gotta Floss” is as tight as an episode of television can get, putting both Walter and Jim in brand new positions that challenge everything they’ve been struggling to overcome all season long. For Walter, the decision to put his show on the back burner and just be a supportive friend to Rosalie is a watershed moment. This is the first time we see him transition into the supporting role – the big spoon, so to speak – rather than desperately clinging to his own wants and needs. He’s always been genuine to his friends and colleagues, but at the start of the season it wouldn’t have been surprising to watch Walter leave Rosalie in that parking lot to make it back for the broadcast.
This episode is chock full of touching moments between Walter and Rosalie: Walter’s recitation of Teddy’s poetry in the car, her breakdown in the desert (good luck holding back the tears on that one), and Walter agreeing to stay in the motel room with them. There’s a nice little moment of reflection played by Patrick Stewart as he watches Rosalie and Teddy, as if he’s longing for the same kind of comforts that they are giving one another, and it’s heartbreaking. We know Walter is desperate for that kind of affection and connection.
From a reclusive hoarder (and a guy that begins the episode in an ostrich pillow) to a broadcast TV newsman, Jim makes huge steps forward in this episode as well. The crew in the newsroom is the primary source of laughs here (despite having their own touching moments); Harry’s instant servitude to Jim once he’s put in charge was the best bit in the show. Everything from assuming Jim would want to spike his coffee to encouraging Celia and Jim to spoon like Rosalie and Walter do was hysterical. As a result, Celia and Jim got to share some sweet moments together, along with a suggestion of a future romance to come that I’m completely invested in.
The rest of the Blunt Talk crew got a fair share of attention too, and it was a pleasure to see Romany Malco make a return as network head Bob. His speech about Jim coming out of the birth canal had me in stitches – as he does in every brief scene that he shows up – so I hope we see him more regularly in the future. Shelly and Martin got some fun moments too, like when the crew was rotating chairs and Jim wondered why no one wanted his chair, causing them to quip: “It feels sad over there” and “it’s always moist.”
There were a ton of great one-liners, too: “His eyebrows are losing their mind!”, “Rosalie’s kinda like my nest… or, she was,” “I just wanted to hear your voice, Harry,” and the quote that inspired the title of the episode, just to name a few.
“Meth or No Meth, You Still Gotta Floss” is the perfect episode of Blunt Talk; it’s moving while being consistently hilarious, and every joke and story beat is 100% character driven. These are moments that wouldn’t work without the build-up the characters have received, and that’s a telltale sign of a show that knows its world inside and out.
