Andy Daly’s Review is a brutal, relentless series, filled with misery, existential dread, death, soul-searching and pure awkwardness. Thankfully, it’s also one of the funniest, sharpest shows on television. It’s a shame, then, that — after a brief three-season run — it’ll all come to an end with this abbreviated three-episode swan song. But as long as it goes out on top, that’s what matters most. And if the next two episodes are as richly, spectacularly, uncomfortably glorious as this season premiere, “Locorito; Pet Euthanasia; Dream,” we’re in for a hell of a wrap-up, one that won’t come without pain — both for our main reviewer’s tragedy and from our own gut-wrenching laughter.
Incredibly, Forrest MacNeil (Daly) and conniving producer Grant Grunderschmidt (James Urbaniak) both survived the bridge fall that threw them face-first into the river. Like Forrest’s disappearance between seasons 1 and 2, the details pertaining to their survival remained shadowed in mystery, although it’s clear that the ever-chipper Forrest sees his survival as a blessing, not a curse, and that he’ll continue the “very important” work that is the show-within-a-show, Review. Upon his lawyers’ insistence, Forrest now has unlimited veto power, which could allow him not to review anything that’ll cause him (or anyone around him, for that matter) any serious harm. Of course, in typical Forrest fashion, the persistent host isn’t going to veto anything this season. Instead, he believes he’s blessed and that he should take every opportunity he’s given.
It’s only fitting, then, that Forrest is challenged just as much as he was before, and with the ramifications of his previous reviews still haunting him, like his divorce and his self-defense murder, his job isn’t going to cut him a break anytime soon. For instance, even seemingly simple tasks, like eating the Locorito, takes a turn for the worse when it appears the franchise chain that sold the food item-in-question went belly-up between its submission and Forrest’s review. This results in Forrest eating a six-month-old food item, which doesn’t treat his digestion well, nor his ongoing murder conviction either.
And that’s without delving into a review which requires him to put down a pet, which results in one of the most heartbreaking moments of the short series thus far involving a lizard named Beyonce (and another lizard named Deyonce too). But even when Forrest’s life becomes a darker and darker recess of self-inflicted (and review inflicted) sorrow, his outlook remains almost unwaveringly persistent, which might soon change in the limited number of episodes to come. Indeed, it seems as if we’re saying goodbye to Review just as we started to know it, especially as its premise theoretically could go on forever and ever and ever. But Daly is a smart man, and he knows when enough’s enough. Yes, Review is a show that could go on forever, but should it go on that long? Probably not. Pain is as temporary as it is eternal, and Forrest’s mistakes have a pesky habit of haunting him over and over again — just like they do in his dreams this week.
Plus, I neglected to mention that Forrest’s tussle with Grant resulted in the producer getting paralyzed from the waist down, which makes his living situation a little weird as he now resides in his lonesome basement, guided only by his misguided idle thoughts. Nothing ever comes easy for Forrest, but where he believes that makes stronger, it only makes him weaker, more deprived and hopelessly empty — much to his own chagrin. And even when Forrest finds himself awoken by the destruction that comes in his wake, he can’t help but listen to the call of his series, hoping it’ll eventually guide him straight. But, of course, it likely won’t, but we’ll find out where Review will ultimately take him.
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