User blog comment:Mattalamode/A Season 5 Retrospective Review: The Problem Child/@comment-26215750-20171111113859

Hey, look, I'm late *again.* Don't worry, I'll make up for *everythinggg.*

First of all, I just want to compliment you overall on the magnitude of this review. It's a greatly put-together summary that is backed up by a lot of examples, hence why it has gained notable traction (you deserve itttt,) so without wasting time, I'll indulge in my thoughts about Season 5 (SORRY ZOE/MATT, I'M UNORIGINAL AND I NEED TO COPY YOUR/MATT'S FORMAT):

The Characters:

Ah, the characters, the thing that made TAWoG a different experience than just a "cartoon sitcom." Them being all fleshed out in their own right and relatable makes for a perfect, and I really mean perfect, blend of comedy and poignancy. So for me, season 5 accomplished that to a varying extent. You have the trademark episodes that set a big precedent for the entire season early on ("The Choices",) and then later on you have some episodes that just borderline fail to utilize the characters, and it consequentially felt awkward to watch said episodes ("The Worst".) And in all honesty, In terms of the side characters' development, though, it's done alright, but with some, as you stated, characters like Darwin remain in the same comfort zone they've always been. In all honesty, a couple of things I'd give Season 2 credit for is how it managed to achieve a nice balance between exploring the main cast and the side characters in the scope of forty episodes, so going into Season 5 along with the previous seasons in mind, you can tell why the show is more lenient towards its main cast - all of the interactions have already been explored. Like it or not, that much is true.

In summary, this season's means of using the characters had some ups and downs, but to say that a whole season is "bad" on the merit of its characters (albeit, I do often say that TAWoG would not be the same with only the humour backing it up,) would be a preposterous claim.

The Storytelling

One thing I'd like to point out about this is how original most of the episodes feel in regards to their narrative. You have an episode like "The Choices" that, from an outside perspective, ascertains to a completely niche level of storytelling. I don't know if it's just me, but episodes like that and say, "The Nuisance" and "The News" all feel so original in their execution.

In regards to the Rob arc, I cannot disagree there. As a sucker for teary character culminations, this felt like a slap in the face. I didn't care a single bit personally that Penny or Darwin  were neglected in the episode, the way they molded Rob into comedic foil (again) after he turned out to be something more than he lead onto, it just felt so regressive for the show's only major antagonist.

The side arcs, though, are sadly just one-offs that ravel in already-explored dynamics (with the exception of "The Matchmaker",) and as you said, they perfomed better than most of the cental arcs (the aforementioned Rob arc.)

Overall, this season feels a bit lackluster, with some episodes purely retreading on old territory, and with others tarnishing the reputations of arcs that you thought the writers were over with.

The Humour

The thing that sucks in people the most is, of course, the humour. In terms of the overall evolution of the show's humour, each season has been getting progressively better, up until the middle of Season 5, where the bane and hate of the season came. The unnecessary focus on pushing through political messages for the sake of crowdpleasing is known to everyone, yet some of the season's other comedic episodes are blindly ignored ("The Guy", "The Code" and many others) and overshadowed by the aforementioned titans that are consequentially representative of the season.

Now, I don't want to start a debate for "The Line" here since that's a story for another day, but this is a case where the referential humour nicely coalesced with the characters (and I mean all of them,) and it added a delightful feeling of diversity that worked creatively with the gags.

Other than that, I can see why the humour would need to be "Americanized," but that shouldn't excuse a multitude of episodes downright falling flat on their respective faces. It felt like a trial and error process without any backlash received directly from the fans/reviewers.

In the end, this season was a strange mesh in regards to comedy that I wouldn't brandish as a failure, but as an attempt at episodes centered around the interesting world of edgy social commentary.

Conclusions and Concessions

This season is definitely one of the most experimental (as mentioned before,) ones if we're on about the intricacies that make TAWoG special. The three examples you stated were staples of the season that made it diverse and fun as heck to watch. One moment you're crying your eyes out, and the next you're laughing at the clever jabs at bootleg products. It's that realisation that kinda makes me, at least, go easier on the season. You can tell that there's a large amount of effort put into each episode, heck, even "The Worst" has some moments that you can tell are genuinely thought out.

And now hopefully I've made up for the 3 days in which I was too lazy to write a comment! Great review, keep going, I'll try to post more, bye!