30 Rock

I say one of the worst ever, but this may be the very worst episode of all-time for this great series. A few Tracy Jordan lines were funny, but as a whole this was just a mess. The flashback scenes were poorly done and made absolutely no sense. I have no idea what Jack was doing at all, and they managed to make Will Forte seem unfunny, something that I thought was virtually impossible.



30 Rock has had some great episodes this season, some have been less than stellar. This one was just downright terrible though. Save yourself the half hour and skip this one.

This episode should be put in a dictionary next to the word "filler." 30 Rock is usually superb at giving us great episode after great episode, but I've felt completely underwhelmed lately. The season started off strong and faded off, and with so many other shows producing quality comedy, it's a bit disappointing to see 30 Rock give us sub-par episodes.



I can't say I enjoyed any of the plots here... Liz is having doubts about her relationship with Carol, so she turns to Jack, who suddenly has gotten tired of talking with her after five seasons.. sort of contradicts what he said about him needing someone to mentor. Either way, Liz turns to Kenneth to spill her problems, and in Jack's words and in the words of the title, creates a chain reaction of mental anguish. Liz's problems bring to light Kenneth's repressed problems and Kenneth's problems bring to light Jack's own father issues. It's a fun idea but it's executed poorly.



Then you have a plot with Tracy's forty-three year old son, which is two years older than Tracy himself. I always thought that was a hilarious recurring joke, about Tracy having a son who's older than him, but the son was used in a really lame way, with Jack trying to convince Tracy not to let the son/older guy leech his money anymore to make really crappy ideas. Jack seems to be rushing around a lot in this episode, not really doing anything of real importance.



I think what it comes down to is this: 30 Rock needs a superb idea to really jump-start everything again. So far, the episode ideas have been somewhat poor, leading to boring plots and wasted opportunities for the characters. While 30 Rock seems to be dwindling down, other comedy shows are flourishing. Hopefully, 30 Rock can improve a bit, because it's one of my favorites.