I’m now on my third disc of The Job: The Complete Series, and this show keeps getting more un-politically correct (and yet still funny) with each episode. The behavior gets stranger, the ethics are pretty much out the window, but I can’t stop myself from laughing. Here’s my take on the next six episodes:
“Gay”
When Mike (Denis Leary) sees Frank (Lenny Clarke) leaving a known gay club with another man, he fears his longtime friend might be in the closet, and he and Tommy (Adam Ferrara) decide to investigate. What happens next is an embarrassment all around, as Mike tells Pip (Bill Nunn) that were he gay, he might sleep with Ruben (John Ortiz), leading Ruben to avoid Mike at all costs. This is ground that’s been treaded a lot more in the decade since The Job aired, so it feels older than it is, but it’s still funny in its awkwardness, even if I knew every beat that was coming.
Meanwhile, Jan (Diane Farr) goes to purchase a bathroom scale for her high-strung mother, and Pip insists on handling the situation, only for Jan to find out that the discount scale she bought and gave to her mom contains drugs. The funniest scene of the episode is of Jan’s mother being interrogated by airport police about the cocaine found in her luggage, and being irate about missing her flight back to Florida. It might only be a few seconds long, but it’s absolutely perfect. It made me wish Jan’s mother would be inflicted on her colleagues.
“Vacation”
After swiping gear from his cousin’s firehouse to make a bust (which is funnier when you remember that many of the people on this show went on to take part in Rescue Me), Mike is sent to Florida for a week. He can’t stay out of trouble there, either. He’s convinced that a fellow hotel guest (Stoney Westmoreland) is a criminal, and schemes to bust him as well as to keep a hotel employee from getting too close to his girlfriend Toni (Karyn Parsons). Faking a family emergency in order to accomplish the latter may be one of the most tasteless things Mike has done.
“Vacation” has its predictable moments, like Mike getting a horrific sunburn because he takes a four-hour nap on the beach, but it has some good laughs out of those parts. Watching him try to make multiple phone calls and spy on his girlfriend while in obvious agony every time he moves is funny in that “it’s hilarious because it’s not happening to me” sense. This is one of those episodes where I found myself laughing at Mike, and not with him; he’s far from perfect and the show encourages us to recognize his many flaws. It’s not asking us to love him, just to tolerate him.
“Neighbor”
When Mike thinks a neighbor might have an interest in his wife (Wendy Makkena), he assigns Ruben and Al (Julian Acosta) to spy on her, while everyone else laughs at his behavior. The humor in this bit comes from Ruben and Al being busted by an overly concerned citizen who thinks they might be child molesters. I have no idea how Julian Acosta can act so well without saying a single word, but this is another episode where I actually got what Al was thinking just with his facial expressions. That’s talent.
In other news, Tommy is determined to locate Robert de Niro‘s missing dog, if only so that he can meet his idol. His pursuit of the canine is a disaster, as the dog they find destroys his almost brand-new car and tries to attack them both…and turns out not to be de Niro’s pet after all, rendering the whole experience for naught. This was another chance for Adam Ferrara to perfect that endearingly earnest look. I found myself rooting for Tommy even as I was also aware the situation would end badly, just because his character is for the most part so damn likeable (if sometimes totally clueless). The poor guy gets his car trashed, gets attacked by a dog, and still can’t catch a break. Someone needs a hug.
“Boss”
As if Mike’s problems with his wife the episode before weren’t enough, this episode sees him worried that his girlfriend is cheating on him with her boss, while everyone else points out how much of a hypocrite he is. Pip just laughs as Mike insists that it’s okay for him to lie to his wife and the mother of his children, but that he never lies to his girlfriend. By episode’s end, Toni admits that she did sleep with her boss, saying that she justified it as making things even between them. It’s a surprisingly serious scene, until of course Mike does something to ruin it, because Denis Leary is perfect at that.
After Frank overhears a tip during a surveillance operation, Frank and Tommy borrow money from the police evidence room – and their colleagues – to bet on horse racing. As one might expect, this goes very badly for them. It’s reminiscent of the scheme from Office Space with much worse results. And Jan and Ruben face off over a dead guy’s apartment, not unlike the Psych episode “Heeeeere’s Lassie”, just without the Shining references. These are the kinds of plot points that make me go, “Really? How could they possibly be that ill-behaved?” but then I stop and realize this whole show is built around people that are missing at least a marble, maybe more than one.
“Dad”
Frank’s apparent stalker turns out to be his long-lost son from Seattle. Frank promptly botches their entire reunion, letting slip to his son that he wanted the mother to have an abortion, and generally making him feel unwanted. Still, it’s hard not to feel a little tug on one’s heartstrings as Frank finally admits that he left his son behind because he knew that he was incapable of being the father the kid needed. Lenny Clarke does a great job of nailing that scene without making it too dramatic.
Meanwhile, Jan faces the possibility that she might have cancer, and her decision to confide in Mike proves to be a bad one, as soon it becomes public knowledge. It’s an interesting plot point because it’s sweet in a twisted sort of way: Pip convinces Mike that he has a “moral obligation” to spill, and everyone on the squad is genuinely concerned for Jan’s health, which is nice. At the same time, it’s obvious that Mike can’t keep a secret and Jan has every right to be ticked off at him — especially since he admits that all the situation did was remind him that he hasn’t slept with her. He might have meant well in the beginning, but this is another episode that reminds us that Mike can be a real piece of work the very next moment.
And now, some memorable quotes…
“McNeil, where do you get balls big enough to impersonate a New York City firefighter?” — the boss (Keith David)
“If I can’t trust the girl I’m cheating with, who can I trust?” — Mike
“I don’t know…Satan?” — Pip
The more I watch of The Job, the more I liken it to a runaway train. It started off with some bite but generally not that bad, and with each ensuing set of episodes, I find myself more and more surprised that something got by the ABC censors. It’s as if once the show got on the air, the writers just went for broke and raised the stakes as the episodes went on.
I don’t have a particular problem with it, but I’d be curious to know how many complaints ABC got about this show, especially since it aired a decade ago, which can seem like a whole other world in entertainment as tastes and boundaries change. I’m sure the feedback on this was as classic as the show itself.
Now for the (sadly) last disc…see you next week!
Check out previous entries in my The Job Virgin Diary.
Clacked by Brittany Frederick 
on Mar 27, 2012 @ 12:00 EST5EDT
