Tag Archives: Murray

March 23, 2009 · 2:58 am

Season (Series?) Finale: Flight of the Conchords – “Evicted”

“Evicted”

March 22nd, 2009

While the title above is fairly ambiguous, and HBO hasn’t come out and said what kind of finale this was in the end, the actual content of the episode spoke quite clearly: while this was not the season’s musical or comic highlight, it had that air of finality not just of some sort of season-long storyline but rather the very setup of the show. Offering up a meta-commentary wherein the show’s Bret and Jemaine move closer, albeit more wackily, to the commercialization of the real Bret and Jemaine feels like the way you end this series, not just a season, and coming back from the episode feels like it might not just be impossible, but also inadvisable.

And yet, at the same time, it also captures the reasons why the show is so charming, and why this second season has remained a weekly highlight even when I’ve been disappointed by much of the season’s musical interludes. The show found itself quite the comic voice as it headed into this season, and that’s something it has maintained with startling efficiency. While parts of this episode returned to more simple forms of humour that the show used in its original premise, the supporting characters around it have evolved so much further that it’s an entirely different show, and a better one.

So HBO and the Conchords have a very tough decision to make – is it good to go out while you’re still making people laugh and when you’ve crafted a satisfying conclusion, or do you want to continue to tell the story of the band that starts at the bottom, continues along the bottom, and ends up at the bottom for another season?

I’m still not sure which camp I find myself in.

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Tagged as 1st of November, Bret, Cannibal Song, Cannibalism, Conchords, Custody, Deportation, Divorce, Doug, Entertainment, Episode 10, Eviction, France, Goldfish, Harp, HBO, Illegal Immigrants, Jemaine, Luke Skywalker, Mel, Murray, Musical, New York, New Zealand, Off Broadway, Petrov Yelyena and Me, Pigeons, Sea Chantey, Season 2, Season 3, Season Finale, Series Finale, Sheep, Star Wars, Tatooine, Television, Whore Home, Yoda

March 16, 2009 · 3:08 am

Flight of the Conchords – “Wingmen”

“Wingmen”

March 15th, 2009

At the end of the first act of “Wingmen,” Murray brings Bret and Jemaine in for an entirely unnecessary band meeting: he had, in fact, only called the meeting so he could tell him that there was no need for a meeting. Murray quite wisely noted that sometimes you fall into habits and patterns, and it’s just hard to break them.

For Flight of the Conchords, that pattern is the structure that the show used in its first season, building episodes around songs, and nine episodes into its second season it feels like it is finally falling into a slightly different pattern. There are still songs, but they’re being used less as the meat of storylines and more as points of introduction or conclusion, letting the comedy fill in the gaps. While “Wingmen” wasn’t a comic highlight as far as the season is concerned, the way it used this structure was very effective, and an example of how the show has found new strength in a new structure.

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Tagged as Bass Clarinet, Bread, Bret, Cheap Zoo, Chris Isaak, Diplomatic Immunity, Electric Bill, Entertainment, Episode 9, Freaky, Garbage, Goldfish, HBO, I Told You I was Freekie, Imaginary Date Song, Jemaine, Kilts, Kristen Schaal, Lyrics, Mel, Mugging, Murray, NewZealandTown, Pet Store, Savannah, Season 2, Sitcoms, Television, Top Gun, Walkie Talkie, Wallpaper, wingman, Wingmen

February 23, 2009 · 4:24 am

Flight of the Conchords – “Love is a Weapon of Choice”

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“Love is a Weapon of Choice”

February 22nd, 2009

After last week was, without question, my favourite episode of Flight of the Conchords’ second season, “Love is a Weapon of Choice” has a lot to live up to. Not only did last week’s “Unnatural Love” give us two of the season’s better songs, but it also delved into the wonderful Australia/New Zealand feud that has often underscored the series. It was vintage Conchords, directed by Michel Gondry, so expecting another episode to compare to it is probably unfair.

As a result, it is with tempered expectations that “Love is a Weapon of Choice” succeeds, if not overwhelmingly. Kristen Wiig proves that she fits well into this universe, something that we could have called based on her great work on Saturday Night Live, and while none of the three songs in the episode prove especially groundbreaking they fit into musical genres the show hasn’t often delved into, and were connected well enough to the romantic hijinx of the episode that I’ll forgive the lack of outright quality.

It’s not one that we’re going to remember, but it’s at least one that get a few laughs, a few catchy lyrics, and a commendation for some cleverness.

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Tagged as Anti-Aids, Benefit Concert, Brahbrah, Bret, Canine Epilepsy, Charlie, Comedy, Conchords, Dog Epilepsy, Entertainment, Episode 6, HBO, I'm in Love with a Sexy Lady, Jemaine, Kristen Wiig, Love is a Weapon of Choice, Love Triangle, Lyrics, Murray, Music, Pro-Aids, Review, Saturday Night Live, Season 2, Television

February 16, 2009 · 2:50 pm

Flight of the Conchords – “Unnatural Love”

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“Unnatural Love”

February 15th, 2009

Well, finally.

It’s been a few weeks since I checked back in with Flight of the Conchords, and it’s really out of perpetual mild disappointment: it’s not that the show has become unfunny, but rather that part of its charm has more or less disappeared. The show has felt like it was reaching in order to recreate some of its comic highlights from the first season, with the expanded roles for Murray and Mel not being entirely unwelcome, but the charm of the show came less from the parts and more from how they came together into musically-themed episodes. The first few episodes of the season proved that the show was capable of surviving without the same kind of memorable songs, the same kind of thematic consistency to the episodes, but there was still something missing.

I think that “Unnatural Love” captures it, though: whether it was returning to the love life of our characters (a highlight for much of the show’s best material, including “If You’re Into It”), or the direction of Michel Gondry (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, various fantastic music videos), this one just felt like it was operating on a different level. I actually think that some of the other episodes this season had some sharper comedy, but the songs were so much better here, and the comedy still in plentiful supply, that this is easily my favourite episode of the season thus far.

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Tagged as Australia, Ayers Rock, Bret, Carol Brown, Conchords, Dave, Entertainment, Episode 5, Jemaine, Keitha, Michel Gondry, Murray, Music, Sarah Wynter, Season 2, Songs, Television, Too Many Dicks, Too Many Dicks on the Dance Floor, Unnatural Love

January 26, 2009 · 1:30 pm

Flight of the Conchords – “The New Cup”

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“The New Cup”

January 25th, 2009

It’s been a while since I visited Flight of the Conchords’ sophomore season, having reviewed last week’s premiere back in December when it was streaming online, but I have to say that I think “New Cup” is perhaps a slight improvement on some fronts and a bit of a step back in others.

The show is, largely, back to its old self in most ways here: the Murray/band dynamic is as inspired as ever, and their seasons crackle here. The problem is that the rest of the plot doesn’t, so much: comparatively, the dialogue seems forced and tired, and the prostitution storyline felt off for me. This is a bit of a shift, though, because I found the songs superior to that in the premiere, more tied to the action; it’s just unfortunate, then, that they were tied to the part of the episode that felt the most sitcom-esque and lacked what I view as the fundamentals of the show’s usual charm.

The basics are all here, don’t get me wrong: what other show can spin off of a new cup and suddenly spiral into prostitution, lewd rap songs about genitalia, and a ripoff of Roxanne? The show is still great at showing how the mundane can be exciting, but this felt a bit too exciting for its own good by a certain point.

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Tagged as Band, Bret, Conchords, Dad Guitar, Enetertainment, Episode 2, HBO, Jermaine, Mom Guitar, Murray, New Cup, Newsletter, Prostitution, Roxanne, Season 2, Songs, Sugar Lumps, Super Straws, Television, The New Cup, You Don't Need to be a Prostitute

December 17, 2008 · 1:25 pm

Season Premiere: Flight of the Conchords – “A Good Opportunity”

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“A Good Opportunity”

Season 2 Premiere

Over the summer, I finally got around to watching the first season of Flight of the Conchords, HBO’s wonderfully offbeat and hilarious comedy series from New Zealanders Bret and Jermaine. The first season, using songs from their great back catalogue of hits combined with new songs to stretch out the plot of each episode, was a triumph of comedy, and the very small but very alive world they created makes for the perfect antidote to the testosterone-laden comedies that more recently have dominated the pay cablers.

The second season won’t premiere on HBO until January, but U.S. viewers (and resourceful international folks) are able to catch the full episode on FunnyorDie.com. What you’ll find is the first episode where the Conchords are flying without a net: out of original material from the pre-television era, the second season is already confirmed as their last, the creative output necessary proving as taxing as you might imagine. Even the second season, though, feels different: once the backbone of the show, the music here felt by comparison to be either entirely unrelated or simply perfunctory.

This isn’t a total slight of the premiere, but rather an observation that it is changing: after spending a season developing a show that could support their music, they are now transitioning to music that can support their show. For that reason, unmemorable songs isn’t so much a concern as it is the show’s new reality: in terms of the quest of the Conchords to succeed in the music industry, with their bumbling manager Murray and their one fan Mel, the show has become about plot, specifically how the band more or less lost both of those things in the first season finale.

“A Good Opportunity” is not destined to be a classic, and doesn’t answer every question about how the show will manage a second season creatively, but the machinations of the episode are done in good form and, ultimately, add up to a welcome return for the winners of the Grammy Award for Best New Zealand Artist – or, more accurately, a pencil sharpener spray-painted gold.

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Tagged as A Good Opportunity, Bret, Conchords, Early, Entertainment, Episode 1, FunnyorDie, HBO, Jermaine, Murray, New Zealand, Premiere, Review, Rhys Darby, Season Premiere, Season Two, Television