30 ROCK

S05E19 - "I Heart Connecticut" (B)
                               or:
"The One Where Pete Has an Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge"

          What's this?  A new 30 Rock....that's actually kind of good?  Well, I'll be damned.  Most of what made this show for me was the unusual amount of screen time dedicated to Pete, who has always been one of my favorite characters on the show.

          Liz Lemon is hell-bent on finding Tracy, Kenneth in tow, following the pizza box lead from the last episode.  The A-story is light on jokes, heavy on plot (as heavy as this show gets), but is enjoyable, nonetheless.  In the end she finds Tracy, who's been hiding in her apartment, and convinces him to revert back to his crazy, old ways, which is terrific news for the show.
          Jenna's storyline is predictable and intolerable, as usual.  She's starring in an indie-film Saw ripoff, which started as a rom-com project for NBC and has gone through several permutations before becoming torture porn.  The film is being shot in Connecticut, utilizing a tax bonus for filming within the state, only the deal falls through once the kind people of Connecticut discover the subject matter of the film.  So they try to make a pro-Connecticut film, via set decoration, until they receive further interference from Wal-Mart, who wants to make the film family friendly.

           But the truly great part of the episode is Pete's story, in which a much put upon man stakes a claim at glory....all in his head.  One of his underlings (Rob Riggle) on TGS openly mocks him during a crew meeting.  A dispute over the lunch venue with the writers leads to an arm-wrestling match with Frank, which he wins handliy.  As it turns out, Pete's paternal duties have left him with an insanely powerful right deltoid.
          Wanting to silence his dissenters in the crew's ranks, Pete challenges the insubordinate to an arm-wrestling mach, hoping to humiliate him publicly in order to regain (or gain) the respect of the rest of the crew. But, in an act of pity, Pete decides to throw the match, as he discovers that his opponent is just as put upon as he.  So Pete bows out gracefully, only to find that he's just lost the original match against Frank.  Ambrose Bierce would be proud.


Potent Quotables

• "We produce more failed pilots than the French air force."
• "The worst part is being able to see the candy."
• "You know what your wife told me in the shower this morning?  You're a good guy."

Tags: 30 Rock Didn't Suck This Week, Tina Fey, Alec Baldwin, Tracey Morgan, Scott Adsit, Judah Friedlander, Jane Krakowski, Jack McBrayer, Rob Riggle, NBC Thursday, Nipples.