Show: Men of a Certain Age (TNT)
Episode: “Go With the Flow” (Season 1)
Premiere Date: Monday, January 11th, 2010
Rating: 3 out of 4 Stars
Quick Synopsis: Leg cramp!
Review: Men of a Certain Age has been a dislike, dislike, like, dislike, didn’t even watch, decided to watch again journey through the episodes so far.
The first two left me wanting to smack my head against the wall, they moved so slowly. The third was a lot of fun and left me hoping this was what the series was going to be like. The fourth sent me right back to where I was with the first two, so I didn’t even watch the fifth one. A .250 batting average may be decent in baseball, but for me to keep watching, a show has got to do a whole lot better.
Then last night I saw that tonight’s episode was the one on the screener disk marked with a TBD as to airdate. So, I decided to watch. I am so glad I did. I haven’t laughed that hard at anything in quite some time.
This episode was like an expertly written joke that builds and builds to a fantastically funny punch line. The whole episode is exactly that.
The story telling was great, with Joe, played by Ray Romano, recounting his blind date to his two friends over breakfast. It being his first date in 20 years and him being who he is, it makes for a great, if long, story. The date also happens to be with guest star Sarah Clarke (24), who was perfect in this part.
In the case of this episode, the slow pace of the show worked in its favor. As Joe tells the story, we get to see what is taking place. We already know that Joe has a black eye, but we don’t know how it happens. The way the story plays out only heightens are anticipation of finding out.
The leg cramp first appears in the episode when one of Joe’s employees doesn’t want to load the truck at work. It reappears when his son doesn’t want to go up to bat during his baseball game. It last appears in one of the funniest scenes I have seen in a while. When Joe jumps up and heads for the bathroom yelling that he had a leg cramp, I broke out laughing so hard that I almost fell over and could feel the blood rushing to my face.
That scene along with some advice from Terry, played by Scott Bakula (Star Trek Enterprise), that didn’t work for Joe the way it does for him was just too good.
Still don’t know if I can recommend the series, but I can definitely recommend that you watch this episode. Yet, it was enough to get me to watch at least one more and maybe even go back and watch the previous episode. I want the show to be more like this episode and the third episode of the series, as the cast is great and, as is the case with this episode, the writing can be amazing.
What did you think of the sixth episode of Men of a Certain Age season one? What did you think of how the episode unfolded? Did you laugh as hard as I did? Let me know in the comments.
How did he get the black eye?