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Rooster<\/a><\/p>\n Angry, Like An Angry Person<\/p>\n \n Season 1<\/p>\n Episode 4\n <\/p>\n \n Editor\u2019s Rating<\/p>\n 4 stars<\/p>\n ****\n <\/p>\n \n Photo: Katrina Marcinowski\/HBO\n <\/p>\n Love, er, lust is in the air at Ludlow College. Both Katie and Greg get lucky after attending Walt\u2019s cocktail party. Who knew a stuffy academic mixer would be such a hotbed of flirtation! Does Walt put some sort of aphrodisiac in the drinks to encourage hookups and stir up drama? I honestly wouldn\u2019t put it past him. But the members of the Russo family are so ready to \u201cget back out there\u201d that they don\u2019t need much prompting.<\/p>\n In embracing the drunken chaos of the college atmosphere, Rooster seems to finally be finding its legs. This episode really worked for me, as it showcased a lot of interesting character pairings, got both Katie and Greg out of their respective funks, and even had Greg doing Edward 40-Hands<\/a>. I truly love it when older adults get to go back and reconnect with their younger selves by partying like it\u2019s (actually) 1999 again. (See also: Hacks<\/a>, Old School, etc.), And this episode delivers.<\/p>\n \u201cAngry Like an Angry Person\u201d pretty much spans a single day on the Ludlow campus. We see Greg teaching, encouraging his students to write what\u2019s \u201cin them.\u201d It\u2019s a weird thing to tell them as they\u2019re literally handing in the assignments that they\u2019ve already written, but decent advice overall. On the other side of campus, Walt gives Sunny similar advice, telling her to \u201clive her life with authenticity.\u201d This is decent feedback, but it leads her to post a picture of herself with her hands scooped into a heart in front of her belly and a cringey caption of \u201cBaby Loading\u2026. 25 percent.\u201d Sure, live your authentic life, but it seems like a really terrible idea for Sunny to post this information on a public social media page if she\u2019s actively seeking internships. Sorry, that\u2019s just how the world works, kids. At least keep it in the \u201cClose Friends\u201d green bubble, girl. After some prompting, Archie reluctantly \u201clikes\u201d the post, proving that he is absolutely not into any of this fatherhood stuff \u2026 and, honestly, probably not really into his relationship with Sunny anymore, either.<\/p>\n Just as Katie is about to start teaching her first class back from her suspension, she sees Sunny\u2019s post and her brain short-circuits for a second. Her frustration morphs her into a very fun professor for a moment as she introduces two famous artists that were also dirtbag creeps \u2013 Paul Gauguin and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. Her students (and we) delight in her candor. Katie (like her father) definitely gets her groove back a bit here, endearing us to her as someone we\u2019d want to spend time with. Later, the scene in which she attempts to flirt with the very hot bartender at the campus lounge is hilarious. In her try-hard attempt to look coy, she flails her hand about and accidentally smashes her martini glass on the bar. It\u2019s a moment of cringe, but Carly Clive also manages to make it very funny because she does it without an ounce of pity for her character. Dylan sees this and takes pity on her, bringing her along to Walt\u2019s party.<\/p>\n Walt\u2019s gathering is a place no one wants to be, but where everyone ends up. In order to get Greg to attend his party, Walt stalks him down at the library \u2014 seriously, how did Walt know where he was? \u2014 and he proceeds to shut the entire library down so that Greg has zero other options. Greg dutifully heads over to the party, but flees moments later after he insults Walt\u2019s wife, who is swanning around the party in a loud kimono. As he crosses campus, Greg ends up running into Tommy, who invites him to a keg party. After a tiny bit of convincing, Greg says yes.<\/p>\n The sequence where Greg lets loose with Tommy and his friends is a total blast. Of course, Greg\u2019s penny-tossing skills translate to beer pong, and because he\u2019s a kind and charismatic guy, he has no trouble fitting in with the dudes as they get hammered before they head out to a frat-themed party. It feels important to note that Greg really isn\u2019t recapturing his youth here. Remember, he\u2019s never been to college! Instead, he\u2019s experiencing all of this for the first time. The camaraderie with the students feels genuine and needed. And, while Steve Carell could have chemistry with an empty keg, these kids sparkle and shine in his presence. It\u2019s starting to become apparent that Rooster shines brightest when Greg is interacting with the students of Ludlow. There\u2019s probably something to be said here about art imitating life as these young actors grew up watching Carell on The Office and are probably looking at him with real reverence, but there\u2019s also an excitement and energy that the collective group brings to these scenes that makes it feel like we\u2019re also in on the fun.<\/p>\n However, once the group heads out to the big party, things start getting a bit dicey for Greg. They run into Officer Rory Scovel (okay, I don\u2019t know his official character name, so he\u2019s Rory until further notice), and he accuses Greg of spray painting \u201cFOR KATIE\u201d all over campus. We know that Katie\u2019s student Zoey is the perpetrator of these rebellious crimes, but Greg does seem to be a likely candidate. Officer Rory lets Greg go, but the combination of the walk and thinking about his daughter\u2019s predicament has bummed him out. Once he gets to the party, he demands that the DJ play R.E.M.\u2019s \u201cEverybody Hurts\u201d as he sings along from the center of the room. Tommy gently kicks him out, but not before telling him that he\u2019s a townie and one of his parents is a faculty member. (Who is it?! Let\u2019s all speculate in the comments!)<\/p>\n Also, Tommy imparts a little parting advice to Greg: \u201cThis is college, and in college you get to reinvent yourself.\u201d This counsel is a bit different than the \u201cwrite what\u2019s in you\u201d and \u201clive your authentic life\u201d missives that the older men convey to their students earlier in the episode, but it\u2019s a good reminder that we only have one life, and we can always try out new things in the service of living our best lives. Is anyone else loving Maximo Salas as Tommy? His shaggy, sweet persona is a perfect foil to bring Greg\u2019s hangdog insecurities to the surface, and I hope their friendship continues to blossom.<\/p>\n Greg takes Tommy\u2019s advice and finally accesses his inner Rooster. He drunkenly strides back to Walt\u2019s party with the intent of picking up Dylan, but he finds her with a hot, young date instead. The exchange between the two of them, with Greg telling the guy to \u201ctake care of our girl\u201d and Dylan responding \u201cWhat?!\u201d is one of the true laugh-out-loud moments in the episode. Danielle Deadwyler is revealing herself to be quite the queen of hilarious line-readings. Here, she delivers with a single syllable.<\/p>\n With Dylan preoccupied, Greg heads to the bar and spots Cristle. They immediately lock eyes, down their drinks, and sprint to Walt\u2019s office where they do it on his desk. Cristle hates Walt as much as she\u2019s horny for Greg, and it seems like the encounter is a win for both of them. The next morning, Greg wanders across campus in his rumpled suit. Did \u2026 did he spend the entire night with Cristle in Walt\u2019s office? No matter, this is his first real walk of shame, and the grin on his face is worth a million bucks. Brought on by depression, uncertainty, and a conflicted sense of self, this man had a dry spell for five whole years, and he\u2019s finally starting to emerge from his shell.<\/p>\n Greg isn\u2019t even fazed when he runs into his daughter carrying not one but two coffees. Both father and daughter quietly agree to ignore whatever it is the other one is doing and go their own ways. But Katie heads home and we find that \u2014 gasp! \u2014 Archie is in her bed. We all saw that coming, right? Is this cheating? Maybe! Should Katie feel bad for sleeping with her husband? Ummmm. Is Archie\u2019s car totally vandalized, even though he parked it around the corner? Sure is! And that karmic retribution feels fitting for a coda to this episode about finding out who you are in a college setting: Greg is the new big man on campus, Katie is still finding out who she is, and Archie is a total himbo.<\/p>\n \u2022 I love how they have Greg reading Zadie Smith at the top of the episode. The man really is opening his mind and embracing all aspects of the college experience!!<\/p>\n \u2022 At one point, Greg trips and goes into the \u201cWalk Like an Egyptian\u201d dance to cover for his near-fall. This lands him in the behavioral committee for a third time. Save for Cristle\u2019s thirsty comments to Greg, I don\u2019t find these asides funny. Now that Cristle and Greg have hooked up, I kind of hope we never have to see him in that room again.<\/p>\n \u2022 There\u2019s a running story in the episode about Tommy using AI to write his story for Greg\u2019s class. Greg is adorably na\u00efve about AI being used to complete work, and he (and Dylan) give Tommy a second chance to submit something he\u2019s actually written. AI is putting a crimp in higher education, especially for writing<\/a>, so I hope that the show circles back to this idea at another point in time.<\/p>\n Sign Up for the Vulture Newsletter<\/p>\n Entertainment news, for the pop-culture obsessed.<\/p>\n Vox Media, LLC Terms and Privacy Notice<\/p>\n