It's more like what it didn't do, and it's something that might have been true without the new episode but that the new episode made stark for me. The premise of the show rests on the idea that people with wildly different political views can still love and respect each other and work together on the local level, and it's a wacky comedy where goofy extreme characters come into conflict but ultimately are all on the same team. It's essentially optimistic.
However, the gap between its pretend world and what we know is going on in reality is really stark. And yes, the show is explicitly fantastical and absurd (in ways I still find very funny) and full of characters I find delightful. But I can't suspend disbelief about it enough to enjoy it anymore. The characters who want to slow down and sabotage government services aren't actually funny and kind in the real world. The characters who act super selfish aren't actually harmless and loveable.
When they were making the show in its main run, it was still possible to believe that, to have that kind of hope in the basic goodness of everybody if you just got to know them. But by the time they made the reunion episode, they knew better. And you could see the strain. It no longer felt like an offering of "we could be like this." It felt like "let's pretend we're this and everything's ok."
I have had a similar queasiness about the US version of The Office for a long time, even in its initial run. And about all humor written by Colin Jost. It's trying to soothe me to sleep about something dangerous.
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branchandroot
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Date: 2021-01-14 02:40 am (UTC)However, the gap between its pretend world and what we know is going on in reality is really stark. And yes, the show is explicitly fantastical and absurd (in ways I still find very funny) and full of characters I find delightful. But I can't suspend disbelief about it enough to enjoy it anymore. The characters who want to slow down and sabotage government services aren't actually funny and kind in the real world. The characters who act super selfish aren't actually harmless and loveable.
When they were making the show in its main run, it was still possible to believe that, to have that kind of hope in the basic goodness of everybody if you just got to know them. But by the time they made the reunion episode, they knew better. And you could see the strain. It no longer felt like an offering of "we could be like this." It felt like "let's pretend we're this and everything's ok."
I have had a similar queasiness about the US version of The Office for a long time, even in its initial run. And about all humor written by Colin Jost. It's trying to soothe me to sleep about something dangerous.