The Lone Gunmen Season 1 Episode 5

When your attention wanders before the teaser is even over, you know this is going to be an episode to remember.





I think the most depressing thing about this episode is not its hit-the-viewer-over-the-head brand of subtlety (a saxophone-playing, charismatic womanizer running for office, who just happens to be named Jefferson? Yes, please, let's make this obvious to even the meanest level of intelligence.), nor the cliche of ridiculously ill-equipped grown men having a mewling baby thrust at them and having to fumble their way through taking care of it, which was stale at about the same time this episode's namesake came out; no, the most depressing thing about this episode is that it tries to be so earnest about the democratic process in between bouts of fart jokes, leaving both its heart and - forgive me - colon weighed down with excess hot air.





While the rest of the episode was, at best, boring, and at worst exasperating - did Senator Jefferson really have to name his kid William? William Jefferson? Get it, get it? - the ending was just absurd. So, what, after a few minutes in the Senator's presence, the Gunmen are whole-heartedly rooting for him? Ooo-kay. I think Carter was going for "heart-warming" here, but failed by a couple of degrees.





On the other hand, Frohike making use of a whoopee cushion is always comedy gold, as is Jimmy attempting to figure out how to use a bottle of glue.

There are exactly two things to like about this episode. One, the baby is very cute. Two, Jimmy actually manages to be funny at times, instead of just plain stupid. Otherwise, this episode is a bit of a snore.





The Clintonian candidate is depicted so hamhandedly that it drags much of the episode down. Yes, I get it, he's supposed to be a hip, witty caricature of everyone's favorite BJ-seeking President, except the depiction is neither hip, nor witty, nor even particularly insightful. It's just dumb and rather embarassing, especially when you consider that Chris Carter himself wrote this episode. Talk about slumming....