User blog comment:ThatGuy456/A Guy's Thoughts: Season 6 - Richard's Rise/@comment-9300845-20190807015646/@comment-30307603-20190807031024

Ah, thank you! I'm glad you liked it so much.

In regards to Season 6's satire, I'm with you there. It was definitely one of the season's biggest flaws and I would be amiss to not bring that up when talking about what it did poorly. Season 6, in general, has been hit-and-miss in trying to be for a lack of a better term "trendy." While there has been the occasional diamond in the rough such as "The Schooling," a lot of satirical episodes this season either meander ("The Intelligence", "The Awareness") or just aren't great ("The Web", "The Revolt"). Honestly, when using the word "pop culture," I was trying to blanket memes, references, and satire under one umbrella to remain brief, but looking back, it clearly doesn't convey the meaning I want; I will append that later— it won't change too much since the larger Season 6 isn't even the focus.

"The Job" certainly did a lot of things right, and recontextualizing Richard's character was no exception. I would argue that his portrayal in "The Job" is much like how Season 6 handled him, with sincerity being the focal point and whatnot. It's a shame that the writers were never able to find their groove with until Season 6, however. It was because of those less than stellar entries prior to Season 6 that I was always somewhat hesitant to fully embrace Richard. He would have these good episodes, but in the midst would have a stinker or two that would just put a bad taste in my mouth.

I can see where you're coming from in regards to "The Founder" and "The Slip." "The Founder" is an episode I've grown to like with each subsequent viewing, but "The Slip" is something I never thought of as remarkably amazing. Still, both episodes do a great job in making Richard work even if he is falling back on the traits that make a somewhat divisive character in the first place. I'm completely on you with the "tragic family man" take though; Richard truly shines when the writers embrace that.

Yeah, I have more character essays that I want to do provided time allows me, so be on the lookout.

Not my fault he changed the URL on me literally two hours after I finished this.