This might sound shallow, but it needs to be said: Steve Carell has never looked hotter than in Rooster\u2018s latest outing. It\u2019s partly because the show finally allows Greg to step out of the whole \u201cI\u2019m a sad old dude\u201d vibe to have some fun and gain confidence, and Carell runs with the opportunity to be free. So far, he\u2019s played Greg as awkward and pragmatic, which fits his post-divorce journey. But in \u201cAngry, Like An Angry Person,\u201d he embraces being pushed out of his shell. First, his daughter encourages him to go on a date, and later, while trying to help a student, he ends up attending a frat party, gets high, and, by the end of the night, hooks up with someone unexpected. In other words, Greg has an essential college experience.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The only problem is that Greg is not a student. He\u2019s a professor who blurs boundaries with someone he teaches, even if it\u2019s for noble reasons: to help Tommy (Maximo Salas) because he\u2019s late in submitting an assignment. Greg has told those in his class to file an essay emulating the style of their favorite author. Tommy, the same kid who tricked Greg into buying beer in the premiere<\/a>, chooses our very own Rooster, so to speak, and writes his paper in Greg\u2019s style. Except Archie (Phil Dunster) is convinced Tommy is using AI to do it. To prove his estranged son-in-law wrong, Greg takes an extra interest and sits with Tommy in the library so they can put pen to paper together, and so he can hopefully motivate Tommy to focus on college work. And later, after running away from a party at Walter\u2019s (John C. McGinley) house, Greg reunites with Tommy, who takes him to a party.\u00a0<\/p>\n It\u2019s only a small gathering at first, so Greg indulges in rounds of beer pong, smokes weed, and leaves a fun impression on the boys. (Michael Scott would\u2019ve been so proud.) The shenanigans escalate when Greg hops over to a proper frat blowout with them. I\u2019m talking loud music, lots of college kids, neon colors, drugs, alcohol, the works. Greg, who\u2019s already pretty high by this point, quickly reaches a sulking state and, as Tommy\u2019s friend puts it, \u201cmurders the mood.\u201d Hey, that\u2019s what happens when you request the DJ to pivot from Lady Gaga\u2019s \u201cAbracadabra\u201d to R.E.M.\u2019s \u201cEverybody Hurts.\u201d In a span of one night, Greg experiences the highs and lows of being free. As fun as it is to watch Carell here\u2014and it really is\u2014Rooster still doesn\u2019t comprehend the meaning of boundaries between teacher and student, making it a little tough to buy into.\u00a0<\/p>\n Yes, it\u2019s often wholesome, as seen when Tommy actually bonds with Greg over their shared experiences. In their own way, they\u2019re both outsiders struggling to fit into this strange world. Tommy reveals he\u2019s a local and only got into Ludlow because one or both of his parents work there, and now he has to compete with smarter and richer people. Greg, of course, is here for the sake of his daughter and has to follow a learning curve himself. So it\u2019s nice to see these two disparate people find common ground. That\u2019s usually the Bill Lawrence M.O., so the emotional beats hit. It\u2019s when you start applying logic that Rooster threatens to fall apart, like when Katie (Charly Clive) hangs out with a couple of her students and basically gossips about her broken marriage with another professor at this college. Girl, don\u2019t do that!\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Look at how everything goes down between Katie and Archie just in this episode. She seeks a fresh start after seeing Sunny (Lauren Tsai) announce her pregnancy to the world. So for Walter\u2019s party, she puts on her finest dress and heads to the bar for some liquid courage. Over a dirty martini, she tries and fails to flirt with a hot bartender. Luckily for her, he\u2019s also at Walt\u2019s house serving drinks, and Katie fares much better when she\u2019s being herself there. Clive continues to win me over with each passing episode, and I\u2019ve realized a lot of the credit goes to her on-point facial expressions, like the reaction to Sunny\u2019s post or the realization that, despite claiming he wouldn\u2019t attend, Archie is commanding the room at Walt\u2019s party. Once again, he lies to her and tries to woo her all in the same night. And just when you think common sense will prevail, the episode ends with the reveal that Katie and Archie slept together. I repeat: Girl, don\u2019t do that!\u00a0<\/p>\n It\u2019s frankly unnerving (but not surprising) that Archie doesn\u2019t just have his job at Ludlow after getting a student pregnant, but that it\u2019s normal for him to be employed at the same college where his estranged wife and father-in-law also work. Boundaries are not Rooster\u2018s, or probably academia\u2019s, strong suit, huh? It\u2019s why all that the interim dean does while witnessing Greg and Archie yell at each other is a whole lot of nothing. That\u2019s also why Sunny is at her mentor Walt\u2019s home for advice on what internships to take, but they\u2019re conversing in his hot sauna instead of, I don\u2019t know, an office. It\u2019s also why the board keeps dismissing the complaints against, of all people, Greg. Wait until they hear about how he accidentally inspired two of his daughter\u2019s students to spray \u201cFor Katie\u201d graffiti all around campus.\u00a0<\/p>\n Anyway, the episode ends with Greg, inspired by his final conversation with Tommy at the party, returning to Walt\u2019s bash with a newfound conviction. He belongs here, damnit, and he\u2019s going to prove it to everyone else and to himself. So he almost hits on Dylan (Danielle Deadwyler) again, expressing regret about saying no to her before, but she reveals she\u2019s got a date. But Greg\u2019s walk and cool sunglasses are enough to impress Walt\u2019s assistant, Cristle (Annie Mumolo). So the two hastily rush to, yes, Walt\u2019s office and just go at it. This may not end well for the people involved, but at least Greg sleeps with someone his age! Hopefully this twist also gives Mumolo more than a single line or two per installment.\u00a0 Let Greg Russo hook up more.\u00a0<\/p>\n Stray observations<\/p>\n \u2022 The episode title refers to how Tommy describes Rooster in his take on Greg\u2019s protagonist.\u00a0 Saloni Gajjar is The A.V. Club\u2018s TV critic.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This might sound shallow, but it needs to be said: Steve Carell has never looked hotter than in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":354622,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[156,111,139,69,437],"class_list":{"0":"post-354621","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-new-zealand","10":"tag-newzealand","11":"tag-nz","12":"tag-tv"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/354621","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=354621"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/354621\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/354622"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=354621"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=354621"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=354621"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n\u2022 Lodging an official complaint that this episode had very little Robby Hoffman and Rory Scovel. Only one scene for each of them? Do better, Rooster.\u00a0
\n\u2022 When Katie\u2019s student tells Greg, \u201cI appreciated you taking the fight to the male oppressor,\u201d my eyes rolled so far back into my head.\u00a0
\n\u2022 Here are the types of walks not allowed on Ludlow\u2019s campus, according to the official rulebook: Crip, clown, Scooby, Quasimodo, and, of course, anything to do with The Bangles\u2019 \u201cWalk Like An Egyptian.\u201d\u00a0
\n\u2022 \u201cYou can\u2019t write it if it\u2019s not in you.\u201d Honestly, a lot of Greg\u2019s advice to his students is pretty spot-on.\u00a0
\n\u2022 Also, after not knowing who she is<\/a>, Greg is currently reading Zadie Smith\u2019s 2000 novel White Teeth.\u00a0<\/p>\n