Liz Lemon thought she was disoriented from those drugs administered at the dentist, but we had to remember her disorientation from an episode that aired a month ago. A quibble, to be sure, and we were actually surprised to discover that her finding a toaster waffle in her DVD player referred to anything but her own wacky ineptitude, but for an episode which found its purest, most effective expression of humor in a fart joke (actually, two companion fart jokes — see the video after the jump!), we were a little disappointed that we had to concern ourselves with the gross concerns of a stale sitcom story arc.
So, Liz blacked out at the dentist’s office and stored a number in her phone under “Future Husband.†In luring the man back to the office — with more of her Jamaican receptionist-lady accent, hooraaaehhhh — she discovers that he has an English accent, taking that to mean he wears no thumb ring. (We hereby declare “thumb ring†the new “soul patch.â€) Despite the fact that he has her under “Future Wife,†their date turns out realistically awful (and by realistic, we mostly mean it reminded us of this). But then the Brit coincidentally returns Kenneth’s wallet and sees Liz, so I hope they can wring more from this than any of us can reasonably expect.
But oh, Jack and Avery Jessup: We were a little touched, possibly by our own hand, when the fit business-news anchor seeded the idea for Jack’s promotion on live TV. Up until that point, we really thought no-nonsense Jessup would dump Jack as he clung to his mentor Don Geiss, despite NBC’s being spun off. (To “Kabletown,†which is a mildly amusing joke for anyone who closely follows the media business. By the way, a Jack Welch guest spot — what freaking demographic are they pandering to now?) We’ve noted the chemistry between Baldwin and Elizabeth Banks, but this episode we came to appreciate 30 Rock’s little end run around the Sam Malone–Diane Chambers trap, where instead of interminably teasing us with the possible consummation of a relationship, we get a semi-realistic taste of dating and relationships. But let’s start again next week — we just farted.