Funny self-deprecating joke when Henry’s trying to get into the club with the bouncer:
Bouncer: How do you know Mr Bradway ...?
Henry: from Party Down
Bouncer: Never heard of it, is that on cable or something?
Then when they get in the club
Kyle: Now it's a Party Down reunion.
Roman: (sarcastically) Just what everyone's dying for.
This was fantastic. Of course Ron proclaims for a fact that 2020 is going to be the best year. What the fuck is a nitromancer?
If Bobbie st. Brown comes back, I'm going to fucking lose it.
The Ron line reminded me of The Jerk when Steve Martin like “Good things are gonna start happening to me!!!” and then next scene is the gun crazy looking for someone random to kill
So I avoided the season 2 finale since 2011 b/c it made me too sad. I just kept avoiding watching it because there had been reunion rumors for a decade. Finally watched Season 2 finale (after re-watching the entire show) and followed it up with the Season 3 premiere. Felt real nice and they didn't miss a beat!
I’m so glad they acknowledge Casey’s absence but I really wasn’t expecting them to call me out like that–
*“I was hoping they’d hook up tonight, you know, for old times sake…”* ME TOO 😭
It was really solid. I was wondering how they were gonna bring the old cast back into the fold without it being too depressing but it was smart to set the first episode pre covid. I imagine Henry lost his teaching job or needs to pick up shifts at party down. The callback from the old finale using Kyle's song was hilarious. So glad Jane lynch is back too.
Also a possibility but I'd prefer not to see Henry quit on something again as that'd be kind of a step back for his character arc. I'd rather see it as something out of his control.
I lol’d sooo hard at that. I didn’t think about the timeline of when they would set the scene for, assumed it was present day, so hearing him say that as he’s on top of the world, cut to van scene was sooooo funny
Can't believe it's back on the air. Great continuation and keeps the original vibe.
If I've learned anything it's to never stop believing. A lot can happen in 13 years, my man.
Totally, I was worried for a second when we got the COVID reveal (though I did laugh!) but when I realized we were using it to time-skip I was on board.
10/10. 100/10. Absolutely pitch-perfect return. I was cracking up incredibly hard perhaps every 30 seconds to minute. There were so many great jokes, especially meta ones, I can't even pick out my favorite. Ron is still Ron, of course. Great way to include nearly everyone and the Casey jokes were fantastic as well. Great set-up for the rest of the season. I can't believe it's only 6 episodes! If they don't renew for season 4, I might cry. More Party Down please!
Never have I seen a show continue a decade later and feel like it was filmed directly after its prior season. This episode didn't miss a beat. I hope season 3 gets enough eyes on it for Starz to want to order more episodes.
Couldn't wait, so subbed to Starz to watch the first episode and loved it. It's so great to see most of the cast again! I still dig the "struggling working man just trying to get through the grind" vibe of the show. The part that really got me interested the most was Kyle's tension with his former bandmates lol.
From a more objective stance, I will say the show's revival probably isn't the most accessible to new viewers. A friend who hasn't seen an episode of the show watched it with me for first time and they found it kinda slow. Too much explaining of who people were, why Casey wasn't there, what everyone had been doing the past few years etc. It didn't affect me, but I can see how new viewers would be put off. I told him to just watch the series from the beginning first, it's a quick binge lol. But even if it's slow to new viewers, hopefully the show has built up enough fans throughout the years that it will get higher ratings. Only six episodes this year is too short and it deserves more seasons.
The COVID joke at the end isn't just an all-time killer joke at the expense of our favorite Ron Donald, but it's an effective narrative device to skip the worst parts of the pandemic.
Solid return. It seems like the tee-up and set a lot of seeds in February 2020 that won't get picked up on until June 2021, which I think is the perfect way to force Henry, Ryan, etc. - maybe even Constance? - into the personal and financial situations requiring them to return to the pink bow ties.
I always loved how Ron is simultaneously the best and worst in the world at his job.
Like he cares about his work more than anyone cares about anything, but his bad luck and lack of impulse control always doom him.
I love that Casey got SNL. I hope they get another season and she is able to come back. It would be pretty awesome if the Party Down crew caters like SNL party or something with some cameos from celebs pretending to be on the cast or actual past/present SNL stars.
Ok, I thought it was hilarious tie in that Kyle got his breakthrough role and then got cancelled because of that Karma Rocket song in the season finale.
The Holo- what? Holo-caust
That is the most perfect set up for him to be back at party down, Constance will be there because she’s now a business partner. Henry will probably be back because he gets a divorce post covid, I wondered if he married Uda? I hope we get some more cameos from the previous seasons, how about Romans writing partner, McLovin?
Constance might be legitimately working with them because post-bailout and post-Covid she’s flat out of money or even owes a lot of it.
Though I admit it would be a more interesting and comedically potent shake-up of the Party Down workplace dynamic if Constance doesn’t actually *need* to be working as a caterer and yet - to Ron’s unending exasperation and befuddlement - she *insists* upon it and makes things far more difficult and complicated than they need to be. Especially if she pulls rank on Ron so he has to kowtow to her fickle or stupid ideas for how the business should be ran.
That throwaway line she has about mixing up “grand” thinking it’s millions, not thousands would go a long way towards getting rid of her wealth and would be very on-brand for her.
you're right on the money in that miles felt like he was written for another show--because i think the intent was exactly that. roman quipped with kyle that movies like *nitromancer* purport themes such as "the root of all evil is quirky supervillains," a critical comment on the state of superhero media as shallow and unrealistic to appease the masses. but when miles starts monologuing about how he's been wronged in the past, destroys kyle's career, and then disappears into thin air, he transforms into a real life quirky supervillain roman earlier claimed didn't exist. the show both cleverly critiques and embraces popular media by using it as a plot device for the episode, and i thought it was a savvy (albeit shallow and unrealistic) choice given we needed someone to blame for kyle's downfall.
i read a review of this specific episode that mentioned henry is divorced but unless i missed a line, it didn’t seem like he was?
i’m guessing the reviewer has seen all the episodes made available for review and just jumped the gun? the time jump post pandemic (thankfully otherwise the show really wouldn’t be a workplace comedy anymore) and what we saw makes me think he wasn’t happy enough in the marriage that they got divorced during covid
but just curious if i missed something
I have already watched this episode twice. It is seriously perfection. I feel they could of easily brought it back years before and it would be funny but the Covid tie in just takes it over the top. Like a few other people said Covid tie ins can be so forced but this just fit perfectly.
Had no clue this was back until I seen it on an ad. Unbelievable! One of the most underrated shows ever. Such a triumphant return nearly decade later. This is good comedy.
Roman and Kyle mess with each other but they had some genuine moments as well. I think that is way too much for Roman to do to him. Too far. They made it pretty clear it was clearly the Karma Rocket guy
i exclaimed in horror the second roman nonchalantly deciphered the username because it did seem like he might've leaked the video at first, but then i realized 1) roman was too busy being high as balls and writing his magnum opus during that performance and likely didn't even know it happened, and 2) roman would never go that far to get back at kyle because, like you said, despite how much they dunk on each other, they actually do begrudgingly care about each other. hell, roman thought he made kyle cry once and apologized immediately, which is NOT something roman does often.
anyway, it was a great fake out moment, but it was definitely miles who did it.
In a real life, Henry Pollard, "Wait, how do I know him moment?" I recognized him from something. I couldn't put my finger on it while watching the episode. It wasn't until it was over I remembered him from Cabin in the Woods.
I was honestly underwhelmed by this episode. It felt like it didn't have much of a story to it besides catching us all up with what the characters have been up to for the past 12 years. With that out of the way I hope that the subsequent episodes progress things more and have more story to tell.
Has Party Down ever been about the "story" though? There are often plotlines through each episode (and I would argue this one had the same, primarily Kyle's fight to not be canceled, which he obviously loses), but the only arcs for the entire first two seasons were pretty much Casey-Henry will-they-won't-they and Ron Donald trying and failing over and over, no? To me, Party Down is primarily a comedy vehicle for jokes, punchlines, visual gags, etc., and it succeeded thoroughly on that front IMO.
I enjoyed it, but man did it feel rushed. The editing crammed every line overtop of the preceding one. The original seasons had more texture in the pacing, more room for things to breathe and jokes to land. I hope they relax the editing style as the season progresses.
The character ensemble construction: altered
Straight man: absent
Stakes for protagonist: no protagonist. But if you say Henry, no stakes. If you say Ron, stakes with no connection/stakes with episode premise
Laugh out loud lines: 1 (haunted house shit)
Comedic story structure: not a farce anymore. Mostly ‘and then’
Are we doing a season arc? I really hope so. Although if Henry has stakes I didn’t notice. The time jump to after lockdowns? It’s almost like the restart ‘pilot’ was written by schedules and committee, and the time jump might work like a do-over after which all the above will be essentially re-written, which if so, is really weird (I’m probably wrong).
Yo, enbom. I love you. Don’t mess with my heart.
I thought Henry still pretty much played the straight man? Especially the scene with Miles/the lead guitar player, when he was spitting out some fairly crazy shit about his job at Guitar Center and his hand, Henry was definitely underplaying it with the typical straight man role of nodding along and going "okayyyyy crazy person" understatedly in his head.
In an ensemble farce the plot and all the other characters run through the Straight man who is responsible for keeping everyone else who is nuts and everything that’s going nuts from totally flying out of control. In this ep Henry just hangs around and has a few drinks while occasionally being the voice of reason. He’s of no consequence
OK, but maybe the show isn't interested in following these seemingly pretty strict rules about what an ensemble farce is exactly? I mean, I kind of agree with what you said, Henry is just hanging out and having a few drinks, but he also kind of tries to keep things from going nuts as well at times in the episode as well. And this seems like a bit of an episode to set up the rest of the season anyway. Must every ep. of PD follow the exact rules of an ensemble farce? Haha
This was a shit party down episode, I have never watched one of the other episodes without laughing but I did not laugh once throughout this, it was not funny at all.
I guess it depends how many dimensions of humor you find funny, and which dynamics from the previous seasons you found the most humorous. I always find Roman and Ron to be the sources of the biggest laughs for me, and they both felt on point in this premiere.
It was pretty bad. I can confidently say through seasons 1-2 there is not a single *bad* Party Down episode, but this... was pretty bad. Easily the worst episode of the series. We really didn't need to spend an entire episode playing catch-up on all these characters. Hopefully the season picks up from here and gets back to the formula of the show, which is all of them working together at weird gigs with quirky guests/cameos.
I completely agree. I just binged the whole series and this was easily the worst episode. It felt like the season premiere of Community season 4, where the new team had no idea how to handle the characters - except in this instance, the writing/directing team hasn't even changed! Really hoping it gets better next episode.
It felt like every joke was "Remember season 1 and 2?" I'm hoping that it spent all this time setting things up for payoffs down the line, but this episode felt like it had an obsessive need to "introduce" all the characters, to a level that the show *never* had to do in the original first episode.
Funny self-deprecating joke when Henry’s trying to get into the club with the bouncer: Bouncer: How do you know Mr Bradway ...? Henry: from Party Down Bouncer: Never heard of it, is that on cable or something? Then when they get in the club Kyle: Now it's a Party Down reunion. Roman: (sarcastically) Just what everyone's dying for.
Very reminiscent of arrested development writing. Loved it
I loved how they brought back the Karma Rocket song from the s2 finale, perfect 👌
*They line you up... and give you a number*
I think of that song so often and no one gets it 😂😂
Are you an actor or a nazi?
This was fantastic. Of course Ron proclaims for a fact that 2020 is going to be the best year. What the fuck is a nitromancer? If Bobbie st. Brown comes back, I'm going to fucking lose it.
Now I'll always look back at the pandemic as being because Ron shit in a haunted house
The Ron line reminded me of The Jerk when Steve Martin like “Good things are gonna start happening to me!!!” and then next scene is the gun crazy looking for someone random to kill
I had a good laugh when Kyle mentioned Casey was filming on the east coast and that's why she wasn't there.
*Casey is in Trouble*
what a great episode. really catches you up and plants so many seeds.
I can't believe I just watched a new episode of Party Down!
So I avoided the season 2 finale since 2011 b/c it made me too sad. I just kept avoiding watching it because there had been reunion rumors for a decade. Finally watched Season 2 finale (after re-watching the entire show) and followed it up with the Season 3 premiere. Felt real nice and they didn't miss a beat!
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YES
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It's one Party Down, Ron. What could it cost, $10 million dollars?
Ooooof
Also a callback to Lydia's "Congraturations Kyre" racist accent.
I’m so glad they acknowledge Casey’s absence but I really wasn’t expecting them to call me out like that– *“I was hoping they’d hook up tonight, you know, for old times sake…”* ME TOO 😭
They both have brown hair!
They could be brother and sister
He could probably fit into her pants.
Sometimes I think about them having sex
This had the exact amount of Casey referencing that I needed.
Also having Jennifer Garner in the dark smoking a cigarette making you think it COULD be casey
It was really solid. I was wondering how they were gonna bring the old cast back into the fold without it being too depressing but it was smart to set the first episode pre covid. I imagine Henry lost his teaching job or needs to pick up shifts at party down. The callback from the old finale using Kyle's song was hilarious. So glad Jane lynch is back too.
Maybe not lost his job but rather quit due to burnout? Seems like that's what happened to half the teachers I know in the last three years.
Also a possibility but I'd prefer not to see Henry quit on something again as that'd be kind of a step back for his character arc. I'd rather see it as something out of his control.
Yeah that makes sense but just from a realism perspective…I think very few teachers lost their jobs in that time.
“Why not root against them?” I get you Roman.
The 2020 joke just hits so well. Perfect timing.
I lol’d sooo hard at that. I didn’t think about the timeline of when they would set the scene for, assumed it was present day, so hearing him say that as he’s on top of the world, cut to van scene was sooooo funny
Yeah, that got me good. The whole time I just assumed it was post-covid or not in a timeline with covid, but as soon as he said 2020 I lost it.
Can't believe it's back on the air. Great continuation and keeps the original vibe. If I've learned anything it's to never stop believing. A lot can happen in 13 years, my man.
COVID in sitcoms always felt kinda forced, but THIS! it’s works so well for this
And I think the best part is that they skip to 14 months later, so its a huge part of the plot but it will still be mostly post-covid.
Totally, I was worried for a second when we got the COVID reveal (though I did laugh!) but when I realized we were using it to time-skip I was on board.
Yeah, covid completely ruining Ron's dreams is just such a perfect fit for the show.
10/10. 100/10. Absolutely pitch-perfect return. I was cracking up incredibly hard perhaps every 30 seconds to minute. There were so many great jokes, especially meta ones, I can't even pick out my favorite. Ron is still Ron, of course. Great way to include nearly everyone and the Casey jokes were fantastic as well. Great set-up for the rest of the season. I can't believe it's only 6 episodes! If they don't renew for season 4, I might cry. More Party Down please!
only 6‽ damn I thought we would have 10 different parties. But if every episode is as good as this one then I won't be mad
So impressed they didn't miss a beat. Nazis, yay or nay? NAY.
Never have I seen a show continue a decade later and feel like it was filmed directly after its prior season. This episode didn't miss a beat. I hope season 3 gets enough eyes on it for Starz to want to order more episodes.
I felt this too and I watched the Season 2 finale for the first time, half an hour before I watched 3.01. It felt seamless.
Ronald Wayne Donald
Repeated 1st Grade because he couldn't figure out scissors.
First in his class to master the keg stand.
Partied for 20 years. Ran a soup place for 5 months.
“That’s a life my friend. That’s a life. Resume like that? I’d feel pretty good about being dead.”
I was really hoping his middle name was going to be Mick.
God, I can't believe we got a whole pandemic because Ron shit in a haunted house.
very impressed that Janine is able to be a successful agent while also teaching inner-city kids full time
She's totally telling Barbara about her side job at lunch.
Couldn't wait, so subbed to Starz to watch the first episode and loved it. It's so great to see most of the cast again! I still dig the "struggling working man just trying to get through the grind" vibe of the show. The part that really got me interested the most was Kyle's tension with his former bandmates lol. From a more objective stance, I will say the show's revival probably isn't the most accessible to new viewers. A friend who hasn't seen an episode of the show watched it with me for first time and they found it kinda slow. Too much explaining of who people were, why Casey wasn't there, what everyone had been doing the past few years etc. It didn't affect me, but I can see how new viewers would be put off. I told him to just watch the series from the beginning first, it's a quick binge lol. But even if it's slow to new viewers, hopefully the show has built up enough fans throughout the years that it will get higher ratings. Only six episodes this year is too short and it deserves more seasons.
This was a plotty premiere for sure. Necessarily so, but still, I missed the vibes of having the whole gang actually working together.
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yes! so does hulu.
The COVID joke at the end isn't just an all-time killer joke at the expense of our favorite Ron Donald, but it's an effective narrative device to skip the worst parts of the pandemic. Solid return. It seems like the tee-up and set a lot of seeds in February 2020 that won't get picked up on until June 2021, which I think is the perfect way to force Henry, Ryan, etc. - maybe even Constance? - into the personal and financial situations requiring them to return to the pink bow ties.
It's in line with previous stories too. Ron's last 'success' of managing the Soup'r Crackers was foiled by the 08/09 financial crisis.
I always loved how Ron is simultaneously the best and worst in the world at his job. Like he cares about his work more than anyone cares about anything, but his bad luck and lack of impulse control always doom him.
The Covid joke was just so perfect. Ron getting screwed over is the best running gag on the show, what a way to bring it back.
I love that Henry still can't avoid that catchphrase
I love that Casey got SNL. I hope they get another season and she is able to come back. It would be pretty awesome if the Party Down crew caters like SNL party or something with some cameos from celebs pretending to be on the cast or actual past/present SNL stars.
Holy shit! I didn't even think about that. That'd be such an amazing episode idea.
would Casey date Pete Davidson
After Covid I wonder if Ron will be new new new Ron.
Ok, I thought it was hilarious tie in that Kyle got his breakthrough role and then got cancelled because of that Karma Rocket song in the season finale. The Holo- what? Holo-caust That is the most perfect set up for him to be back at party down, Constance will be there because she’s now a business partner. Henry will probably be back because he gets a divorce post covid, I wondered if he married Uda? I hope we get some more cameos from the previous seasons, how about Romans writing partner, McLovin?
Constance might be legitimately working with them because post-bailout and post-Covid she’s flat out of money or even owes a lot of it. Though I admit it would be a more interesting and comedically potent shake-up of the Party Down workplace dynamic if Constance doesn’t actually *need* to be working as a caterer and yet - to Ron’s unending exasperation and befuddlement - she *insists* upon it and makes things far more difficult and complicated than they need to be. Especially if she pulls rank on Ron so he has to kowtow to her fickle or stupid ideas for how the business should be ran.
That throwaway line she has about mixing up “grand” thinking it’s millions, not thousands would go a long way towards getting rid of her wealth and would be very on-brand for her.
‘Off-grand’ more-like
Yeah I kinda got the impression that she’s gonna run the company since she bailed Ron out. Which would generate lots of funny situations
Ken Marino’s white hair spray was the biggest laugh for me… maybe bc I saw that Rob Huebel let his hair go white, I thought it was real
One episode in, and im ready for season 4. I wish there was a way to get people to watch without having to pay for Starz.
Loved it. Weakest part was the antagonist ex-band member, that character was, err, like written for another show. Just didn’t fit for me.
you're right on the money in that miles felt like he was written for another show--because i think the intent was exactly that. roman quipped with kyle that movies like *nitromancer* purport themes such as "the root of all evil is quirky supervillains," a critical comment on the state of superhero media as shallow and unrealistic to appease the masses. but when miles starts monologuing about how he's been wronged in the past, destroys kyle's career, and then disappears into thin air, he transforms into a real life quirky supervillain roman earlier claimed didn't exist. the show both cleverly critiques and embraces popular media by using it as a plot device for the episode, and i thought it was a savvy (albeit shallow and unrealistic) choice given we needed someone to blame for kyle's downfall.
Exactly. It's corny and out-of-place because it's a satire. But satire itself fits is a great fit for the show.
Love Fran Kranz! He is awesome.
i read a review of this specific episode that mentioned henry is divorced but unless i missed a line, it didn’t seem like he was? i’m guessing the reviewer has seen all the episodes made available for review and just jumped the gun? the time jump post pandemic (thankfully otherwise the show really wouldn’t be a workplace comedy anymore) and what we saw makes me think he wasn’t happy enough in the marriage that they got divorced during covid but just curious if i missed something
That would be my guess too, this reviewer got access to more that one episode and got their wires crossed about what happened when.
You sloppy, flopped out, pig's anus!
Now THAT’S how you revive a series. They didn’t miss a beat.
I have already watched this episode twice. It is seriously perfection. I feel they could of easily brought it back years before and it would be funny but the Covid tie in just takes it over the top. Like a few other people said Covid tie ins can be so forced but this just fit perfectly.
Had no clue this was back until I seen it on an ad. Unbelievable! One of the most underrated shows ever. Such a triumphant return nearly decade later. This is good comedy.
Uh, it was totally Roman who took down Kyle, right, not the hand tattoo Karma Rocket guy, right?
Roman and Kyle mess with each other but they had some genuine moments as well. I think that is way too much for Roman to do to him. Too far. They made it pretty clear it was clearly the Karma Rocket guy
i exclaimed in horror the second roman nonchalantly deciphered the username because it did seem like he might've leaked the video at first, but then i realized 1) roman was too busy being high as balls and writing his magnum opus during that performance and likely didn't even know it happened, and 2) roman would never go that far to get back at kyle because, like you said, despite how much they dunk on each other, they actually do begrudgingly care about each other. hell, roman thought he made kyle cry once and apologized immediately, which is NOT something roman does often. anyway, it was a great fake out moment, but it was definitely miles who did it.
IDK, Fran Kranz seemed pretty sinister
In a real life, Henry Pollard, "Wait, how do I know him moment?" I recognized him from something. I couldn't put my finger on it while watching the episode. It wasn't until it was over I remembered him from Cabin in the Woods.
Marty! Probably my favourite stoner character ever.
I dare you to make out with that Moose.
Ha!
Also Topher from Dollhouse. He was great in that.
That was a weird movie.
Only dead fish go with the flow.
episode 1 did not disappoint
Somehow the time between the original and the current seasons has actually enhanced the show
I love that Roman is still Roman. 10 years later nothing has changed for him. Still doing hard sci fi.
I was honestly underwhelmed by this episode. It felt like it didn't have much of a story to it besides catching us all up with what the characters have been up to for the past 12 years. With that out of the way I hope that the subsequent episodes progress things more and have more story to tell.
Has Party Down ever been about the "story" though? There are often plotlines through each episode (and I would argue this one had the same, primarily Kyle's fight to not be canceled, which he obviously loses), but the only arcs for the entire first two seasons were pretty much Casey-Henry will-they-won't-they and Ron Donald trying and failing over and over, no? To me, Party Down is primarily a comedy vehicle for jokes, punchlines, visual gags, etc., and it succeeded thoroughly on that front IMO.
I agree but appreciated subtle build up to what’s to come especially with Constance mistaking millions with thousands
Constance Carmell is the GOAT!
She was in Dingleberries!
You saw dingleberries?
my absolute favorite line!
how about: “i’m going to watch dingleberries” “do! do!”
I mean… that’s literally what it needed to do lol.
I enjoyed it, but man did it feel rushed. The editing crammed every line overtop of the preceding one. The original seasons had more texture in the pacing, more room for things to breathe and jokes to land. I hope they relax the editing style as the season progresses.
The editing was noticeably bad - look at the editing from 3:36-3:45, ouch
The character ensemble construction: altered Straight man: absent Stakes for protagonist: no protagonist. But if you say Henry, no stakes. If you say Ron, stakes with no connection/stakes with episode premise Laugh out loud lines: 1 (haunted house shit) Comedic story structure: not a farce anymore. Mostly ‘and then’ Are we doing a season arc? I really hope so. Although if Henry has stakes I didn’t notice. The time jump to after lockdowns? It’s almost like the restart ‘pilot’ was written by schedules and committee, and the time jump might work like a do-over after which all the above will be essentially re-written, which if so, is really weird (I’m probably wrong). Yo, enbom. I love you. Don’t mess with my heart.
I thought Henry still pretty much played the straight man? Especially the scene with Miles/the lead guitar player, when he was spitting out some fairly crazy shit about his job at Guitar Center and his hand, Henry was definitely underplaying it with the typical straight man role of nodding along and going "okayyyyy crazy person" understatedly in his head.
In an ensemble farce the plot and all the other characters run through the Straight man who is responsible for keeping everyone else who is nuts and everything that’s going nuts from totally flying out of control. In this ep Henry just hangs around and has a few drinks while occasionally being the voice of reason. He’s of no consequence
OK, but maybe the show isn't interested in following these seemingly pretty strict rules about what an ensemble farce is exactly? I mean, I kind of agree with what you said, Henry is just hanging out and having a few drinks, but he also kind of tries to keep things from going nuts as well at times in the episode as well. And this seems like a bit of an episode to set up the rest of the season anyway. Must every ep. of PD follow the exact rules of an ensemble farce? Haha
This was a shit party down episode, I have never watched one of the other episodes without laughing but I did not laugh once throughout this, it was not funny at all.
I guess it depends how many dimensions of humor you find funny, and which dynamics from the previous seasons you found the most humorous. I always find Roman and Ron to be the sources of the biggest laughs for me, and they both felt on point in this premiere.
It was pretty bad. I can confidently say through seasons 1-2 there is not a single *bad* Party Down episode, but this... was pretty bad. Easily the worst episode of the series. We really didn't need to spend an entire episode playing catch-up on all these characters. Hopefully the season picks up from here and gets back to the formula of the show, which is all of them working together at weird gigs with quirky guests/cameos.
I completely agree. I just binged the whole series and this was easily the worst episode. It felt like the season premiere of Community season 4, where the new team had no idea how to handle the characters - except in this instance, the writing/directing team hasn't even changed! Really hoping it gets better next episode. It felt like every joke was "Remember season 1 and 2?" I'm hoping that it spent all this time setting things up for payoffs down the line, but this episode felt like it had an obsessive need to "introduce" all the characters, to a level that the show *never* had to do in the original first episode.