I’m a waiter like Einstein was a patent clerk
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First Airdate: April 10, 2009
Written by Rob Thomas
Directed by Bryan Gordon
“Investors Dinner” is is a transitional episode of Party Down, which is about as fun as it sounds sometimes, but bear with me. It’s following the model that the previous three episodes established, pitting our six caterers against a group of people whose lifestyles force them to examine something about themselves. This time the event is a fête thrown by Tony Carolla (Daran Norris) as he attempts to wine and dine the upper crust and raise funds for a development project in Mexico.
The episode introduces its intentions early on when a prop gun from the show Baretta is brought into the picture. This scene seeds the theatrical farce that the entire episode is slowly boiling toward in its third act. This scene also typifies another element of the episode when Lizzy Caplan’s clunky line about knowing what happens when a gun is introduced in the first act is salvaged by Ryan Hansen’s terrific himbo delivery of “First act of what?” That element being that this is finally the moment where Hansen’s character Kyle comes into his own.
The overarching theme of “Investors Dinner” is success, but more specifically the appearance of success and how frequently that can be an illusion. At first Kyle is awed and empowered by the fact that a rich young finance bro like Kellum (Ryan Devlin) finds him interesting, but his turnaround when he sees Kellum taking the first opportunity to humiliate Constance because he considers her beneath him is the emotional centerpiece of the episode. He might be dumb and hot, but Kyle cares about the people in his life, and that revelation unlocks the heart of the character. Hansen’s subtle work in allowing us to watch Kyle’s ego deflate like a balloon is thrilling.
It’s no surprise that Ryan Hansen’s best performance yet is brought out by his character’s proximity to Jane Lynch’s continually effervescent Constance. She isn’t given the spotlight this time, but every time she shows up she nails the hell out of lines that just shouldn’t work, including reciting improvised dialogue about a cow discussing her milk-filled teats. While she isn’t the standout here, she does get the chance to show off a new side to her character as well, really highlighting the pathos of Constance’s worldview, and the place where her self-confidence shades into naïveté.
On to the main event: The “success” theme of the episode doesn’t quite deepen the character of Ron, who we have seen chase success for four episodes now, but it does allow him to come front and center and show off the excellent character work he’s honed since the pilot. His stiletto-sharp delivery of “I’ll go medieval on your ass… hole” is the culmination of several episodes’ worth of barely restrained mania. “Investors Dinner” sees Ron get the closest he’s ever gotten to achieving his dreams before ripping them away at the very last second, and leaves him on a precipice that will define his character for a season to come.
Roman, unfortunately, still hasn’t been given a huge moment to come into his own, but with so many characters getting meatier roles this episode, it was natural that somebody’s arc would suffer for it. Henry and Casey’s romance is also in full-on character development mode, which of course means they have never been more boring. Their rat-a-tat banter is still present, especially in the mid-credits stinger scene and their exchange about the pancake lady, but they are both saddled with the worst lines of the episode, perhaps of the series as a whole. I’ve already mentioned Casey’s Chekhov’s gun reference that belies a lack of confidence in the viewing audience, but Henry’s retort of “mean, mean man” after being bullied by a rich asshole is - frankly - atrocious. It’s a placeholder line that clearly got missed when the script was polished and should never have been included in the final cut.
Saddling the couple with these desperately unfunny lines right at the moment where their characters are most drama-forward is a huge mistake. Comedy has been put on the back burner in favor of character-building across the board in this episode, but in the other cases it actually works. Although it doesn’t lead to an episode that feels particularly fun to watch in the moment, it’s doing what it needs to do to set up its greatest moments down the road. Season 1 has had a rather slow start, which is frankly a little deflating on this rewatch, but we must begrudge any and all shows their growing pains, especially if these pains feature Jane Lynch’s consistently perfect Constance Carmel performance, if nothing else. And Party Down season 1 does have plenty else.
Rating: B+
Brennan Klein is a millennial who knows way more about 80's slasher movies than he has any right to. He's a former host of the Attack of the Queerwolf podcast and a current senior movie/TV news writer at Screen Rant. You can find his other reviews on his blog Popcorn Culture. Follow him on Twitter or Letterboxd, if you feel like it.
First Airdate: April 10, 2009
Written by Rob Thomas
Directed by Bryan Gordon
“Investors Dinner” is is a transitional episode of Party Down, which is about as fun as it sounds sometimes, but bear with me. It’s following the model that the previous three episodes established, pitting our six caterers against a group of people whose lifestyles force them to examine something about themselves. This time the event is a fête thrown by Tony Carolla (Daran Norris) as he attempts to wine and dine the upper crust and raise funds for a development project in Mexico.
The episode introduces its intentions early on when a prop gun from the show Baretta is brought into the picture. This scene seeds the theatrical farce that the entire episode is slowly boiling toward in its third act. This scene also typifies another element of the episode when Lizzy Caplan’s clunky line about knowing what happens when a gun is introduced in the first act is salvaged by Ryan Hansen’s terrific himbo delivery of “First act of what?” That element being that this is finally the moment where Hansen’s character Kyle comes into his own.
The overarching theme of “Investors Dinner” is success, but more specifically the appearance of success and how frequently that can be an illusion. At first Kyle is awed and empowered by the fact that a rich young finance bro like Kellum (Ryan Devlin) finds him interesting, but his turnaround when he sees Kellum taking the first opportunity to humiliate Constance because he considers her beneath him is the emotional centerpiece of the episode. He might be dumb and hot, but Kyle cares about the people in his life, and that revelation unlocks the heart of the character. Hansen’s subtle work in allowing us to watch Kyle’s ego deflate like a balloon is thrilling.
It’s no surprise that Ryan Hansen’s best performance yet is brought out by his character’s proximity to Jane Lynch’s continually effervescent Constance. She isn’t given the spotlight this time, but every time she shows up she nails the hell out of lines that just shouldn’t work, including reciting improvised dialogue about a cow discussing her milk-filled teats. While she isn’t the standout here, she does get the chance to show off a new side to her character as well, really highlighting the pathos of Constance’s worldview, and the place where her self-confidence shades into naïveté.
On to the main event: The “success” theme of the episode doesn’t quite deepen the character of Ron, who we have seen chase success for four episodes now, but it does allow him to come front and center and show off the excellent character work he’s honed since the pilot. His stiletto-sharp delivery of “I’ll go medieval on your ass… hole” is the culmination of several episodes’ worth of barely restrained mania. “Investors Dinner” sees Ron get the closest he’s ever gotten to achieving his dreams before ripping them away at the very last second, and leaves him on a precipice that will define his character for a season to come.
Roman, unfortunately, still hasn’t been given a huge moment to come into his own, but with so many characters getting meatier roles this episode, it was natural that somebody’s arc would suffer for it. Henry and Casey’s romance is also in full-on character development mode, which of course means they have never been more boring. Their rat-a-tat banter is still present, especially in the mid-credits stinger scene and their exchange about the pancake lady, but they are both saddled with the worst lines of the episode, perhaps of the series as a whole. I’ve already mentioned Casey’s Chekhov’s gun reference that belies a lack of confidence in the viewing audience, but Henry’s retort of “mean, mean man” after being bullied by a rich asshole is - frankly - atrocious. It’s a placeholder line that clearly got missed when the script was polished and should never have been included in the final cut.
Saddling the couple with these desperately unfunny lines right at the moment where their characters are most drama-forward is a huge mistake. Comedy has been put on the back burner in favor of character-building across the board in this episode, but in the other cases it actually works. Although it doesn’t lead to an episode that feels particularly fun to watch in the moment, it’s doing what it needs to do to set up its greatest moments down the road. Season 1 has had a rather slow start, which is frankly a little deflating on this rewatch, but we must begrudge any and all shows their growing pains, especially if these pains feature Jane Lynch’s consistently perfect Constance Carmel performance, if nothing else. And Party Down season 1 does have plenty else.
Rating: B+
Brennan Klein is a millennial who knows way more about 80's slasher movies than he has any right to. He's a former host of the Attack of the Queerwolf podcast and a current senior movie/TV news writer at Screen Rant. You can find his other reviews on his blog Popcorn Culture. Follow him on Twitter or Letterboxd, if you feel like it.
Categories: television
