With no good news on the ratings front recently, Ben and Kate sadly continues to creep closer and closer towards cancellation. Before anybody at FOX thinks about doing such a thing, however, they should sit down and watch tonight’s ‘Bake Off’, an absolutely hilarious, frenetic episode about falling back into old habits, and trying to grow out of them.
At first, ‘Bake Off’ almost falls into two common sitcom tropes: the “rebound” with the ex (Kate and Will), and the plan-of-the-week gone wrong (Ben/Tommy and Rail Mail). But it subverts both of them in interesting ways; with Kate, she begins dating Lance (Luka Jones), something that the audience wouldn’t expect – or expect Kate to be ready for; and with Ben, one of his wacky ideas finally leads to something grounded in reality. And let’s not forget about BJ – her relationship with Maddie finally gets something beyond BJ making fun of her, when Maddie’s behavior inspires what I’d imagine is the first maternal moment of BJ’s life.
Ben’s moment of inspiration for Rail Mall is one of the most satisfying in the whole series – the journey he’s been on since his return home has always been goofy, and full of amusing, long-winded rants from Ben (tonight, it’s his dirty talk on the phone with Vera). By the time ‘Bake Off’ ends, Ben’s taken an idea that is guaranteed to fail (as the first page of their business meeting packet reminds him), and turned it into something viable that doesn’t just feel like one of his pipe dreams.
With Kate, the re-emerge of Will isn’t really surprising (he is her neighbor) – but thankfully, the show avoids the predictable relapse back to the old ex. Like Kate says, they got it right the first time when they broke up, something that speaks volumes to anyone who’s made the terrible decision to rekindle a relationship that didn’t fundamentally didn’t work (like myself). Part of this is subverted, of course, by the presence of Lance, a baker whose calm demeanor and zen-like approach to cooking and life give him a nice yin/yang vibe with Kate.
Even more impressive is how much they are able to humanize Lance in his first appearance – after initially walking out on their first date when Will shows up determined to get Kate back, he comes back after taking a walk and clearing his mind, a rare example of a sitcom taking its characters seriously, and showing that there is such thing as nuance when it comes to a budding relationship – and adults who actually try to avoid unnecessary petty dramas that threaten their happiness.
Plot wise, the BJ/Maddie material didn’t have the same impact, but it was nice to see BJ put herself aside for half a second when she was given the part and Maddie was passed over. It is the funniest material of the episode, with Lucy Punch’s various British inflections going “south” being the single funniest thing the show’s ever done – and Maddie’s British accent taking a close second.
‘Bake Off’ is an episode about small, internal victories: BJ not having to be selfish ALL the time, Ben finally ingesting a healthy dose of reality, and Kate’s confidence in her decision to move on. They hide behind the many, many great bits in the episode, but they are there, and as always, one of the reasons why I love this show so fucking much.
Grade: A
Other thoughts/observations:
– best way to get people to listen to you? Tommy’s advice is great: state the obvious, and wear red pants.
– Maddie selling out on BJ not two seconds after she stood up for her was great.
– Ben and Kate always like to let their characters go off on semi-improvised rants, which extend conversations and scenes to almost uncomfortable lengths at times. One of the reasons ‘Bake Off’ is so great is that all of these extended dialogues are all really funny, and don’t just go to the “it’s funny because it’s super awkward” place (except for BJ’s attempts at being a loving mother, but for her character, it makes perfect sense).
– Steph’s comment in Ben’s garage is an Arrested Development homage: “I’ve made a terrible mistake.” -end scene-
– nobody gets naked faster than Ben.
– the debate between Ben and Tommy over whether the delivery guy was ‘high’ on pills or not was hilarious.
Processed Media 