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First Airdate: March 27, 2009
Written by John Enbom, Rob Thomas, & Paul Rudd
Directed by Fred Savage
Party Down episode 2 is as much of a mission statement for the series as the pilot was. The pilot set up the characters that we will be following throughout the run of the show, but this is the episode that truly establishes the format in which those characters will be interacting with the world. Namely, the conceit that every episode will be taking place in a self-contained setting with completely different featured players. It was very important for this episode to nail the change of setting, otherwise audiences would have become too disoriented by the constant shifting background of the series and fall off before the arc of the season could really get cooking. There’s really no evidence that this didn’t happen anyway, considering the low viewership of Party Down at the time, but it’s certainly not the fault of “California College Conservative Union Caucus,” which is an excellent sophomore episode.
This episode follows the Party Down Catering gang to an event held by the local college’s conservative youth club, which is going to feature a special guest appearance by then-governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. Club secretary Jeffrey Ells (Josh Gad, introducing another Party Down speciality – the Big Get guests that are either currently or about to be big stars – this is a littler get, sure, but still noteworthy after the first episode’s lack of a major cameo) is preparing a gift for the governor that includes a personalized briefcase, a flag from one of their club members in the armed forces, and a box of Cuban cigars, which incites debate among the ranks, who are worried they will be seen as supporters of communism.
Each episode I want to try and break down the goals that each character has, to better understand the way that the crisscrossing farce of each teleplay functions, as well as mapping their arcs across the series. The only character who doesn’t have a clear-cut goal in this episode, instead adapting to the needs of everyone else’s storylines is Kyle (Ryan Hansen), getting the short end of the stick for the second episode in a row. Roman (Martin Starr) also has a particularly simplistic goal; namely, to sneak the script for his brainchild Terror Bird into Arnold Schwarzenegger’s gift. These two will eventually grow into the type of live-action cartoons that thrive in TV sitcoms, delivering one-liners without really having psychological depth, but the show is still putting in the work to set them up enough for them to settle comfortably into those roles.
Constance (Jane Lynch), like Kyle, is a reactionary character. Her goal seems primarily to be to protect minorities from being oppressed by the group, though her well-meaning efforts go inevitably awry. However meager her plot, Lynch gives it her all. She was sure of her character before, but now she has put pedal to the metal and easily swings the MVP title for this episode. In this episode she’s juggling multiple different tones, sometimes within the same scene, sometimes within the same line. In addition to fueling scenes with Constance’s signature D-list braggadocio, Lynch shows a more tender side to the character, especially in her interactions with Hansen, with whom she has a twisted maternal bond. Her quick, earnest response when he drags her into a debate about how tall a bird would have to be to be to actually strike terror is by far the standout moment here. Or maybe the offhand way she delivers the line “I love spitting” later on. Or maybe it’s her enthusiasm about fucking up her boss’s grocery order. You know what? She’s just excellent. She especially excels in any two-hander scene with Ken Marino. Speaking of…
Ron (Ken Marino) has several goals here. First, to meet Arnold Schwarzenegger. Second, to prove to these successful young people that he too is a success. This episode is where Ken Marino fully splits from the Michael Scott model that the Party Down pilot had him on, fully embracing the side of the character that is a simpering idiot, something that is harshly highlighted by the fact that the people he is sucking up to are decades younger than him. He gives the second-best performance of the entire episode, effortlessly portraying the character’s dimwitted anguish and at one point pouring an entire Shakespearean monologue’s worth of emotion into one hissed delivery of the word “liar.”
Our obligatory will-they-won’t-they couple, Henry (Adam Scott) and Casey (Lizzy Caplan) doesn’t have as much of an opportunity to be funny in this episode, though they both provide a more important service. Both of their storylines best embody the overall theme of the episode, which is the sheer youth of the club members forcing them to consider the potential that they had at that age and wonder if they squandered it. Casey is still struggling to decide whether to keep up her comedy career or move to Vermont with her shitty husband, and Henry is just looking for a life raft to give him purpose. The way they bounce off one another in pursuit of these goals lays the track for their inevitable romantic entanglement, so their usual sarcastic barbs – while present – are at a minimum.
Party Down‘s function, at its purest level, is to set its wacky characters loose around a new type of group, let them pinball around, and see how they react to what they find. When that primary function can serve the secondary function of uniting the theme of the episode across all the characters, that is when it is truly firing on all cylinders. This episode does do that, though it still hasn’t quite figured out how to juggle all six main players at once, which is why it’s not an all-time classic. However, it’s a damn good start for a series that is still barely out of the gate.
Rating: A-
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.