And we’re back up again.
The fluctuating quality of FUBAR continues to wriggle and squirm like an electrified snake as we reach the halfway point of the season and I have to say, I’m a little surprised how much the laughs vary from episode to episode considering that every single episode up until now has been directed by the same person. However, a switch in the director’s chair seems to have given the show another (probably brief) catch of breath at it shrugs it’s shoulders at attempting anything new and just goes back to the basic stuff that sometimes worked in the first season.
However, just how long can the season keep this up for? After all, having the alternating hit/miss rate of the Shatner Star Trek movies can’t be doing the show any good critically speaking and as a visibly tired Schwarzenegger seems to be getting slower by the episode, surely the showrunners must have been using this halfway point to be figuring out how to bring this thing to an end.
After his latest run-in with Greta his old flame turned enemy, it seems that the CIA have finally cottoned on to Luke’s steamy past with the super spy and are now questioning his loyalty. Defending her father from such under the table accusations, Emma nevertheless feels that his actions may have been compromised – especially after his last face to face with the German agent was accidently broadcast to his horrified wife, Tally. Certainly not helping his case is that under the influence of a truth serum, Luke revealed the locations of the last two power plants she needs to shut down and so the team have to spring into action to try and thwart her depending on which one she chooses first.
Meanwhile, the family drama continues as a self-written comic that Carter posted on line might have been the reason that the team’s cover was blown in the first place, but before Emma can fully focus on her ex-fiance’s pain, she still has to contend with the bizarre advances of captured henchman, Chips, who the team need to interrogate. Of course, if there’s an interrogation to be done, that means good old Norm is back in the saddle, but matters are made all the surreal when it turns out that he and Chips are actually well acquainted.
Still, Chips finally gives up the goods and and the gang manage to figure out where Greta is going to hit next – but as she’s planning to crash a satellite into it, everyone heads over to the Cotto Space Force Base to commandeer a space shuttle to run some much needed interference. However, despite all the usual kerfuffle that occurs whenever these guys go on a mission (stealing a tank, blowing up an expensive car – you know, the usual), thing go slightly more south than usual when Barry ends up stuck on the shuttle just as Aldon and Roo fire the rockets…
While I would hardly claim that FUBAR ever had what you’d call glory days, the better episodes of the first season tended to ensure that everyone had something to do. Barry was doing far more than just sitting on a sofa, tapping away on his lap top, Carter had some slight but tangible drama as his relationship with Emma gradually eroded and even Tally has a little more meat to chew on than just sitting on the sidelines while feeling the pangs of jealousy. Well, it seems that despite a status quo change that seemed to go absolutely nowhere, FUBAR has decided to go mostly back to its old habits and as a result, manages to actually perk things up a little. The secret, as I’ve already stated, is that it’s finally doing its side characters a little bit of justice by actually having them impact the story – I mean, it’s hardly groundbreaking, but when your basics have become as inconsistent as FUBAR’s has, it can only be a benefit.
While it’s cool to see Tally be confronted by Dr. Pfeffer that her marriage is ostensibly over and Carter finally be knowledged by Emma (crazy how underutilised Jay Baruchel has been in this show), the real upscale is that Barry has been allowed to come out and play after spending three whole episodes doing staggering amounts of nothing. Literally, every single plot thread the dude had which didn’t involve tapping on keys and delivering exposition has stalled – his relationship with Tina has hardly been mentioned (quite a big deal when you realise she’s a double agent) and last season he was actively getting involved in the missions. Well, now that the supporting cast is now suddenly relevant again, it’s actually helped the show feel noticably lighter on its feet as less of the show feels like so much agonising filler. However also helping in that respect – and I can’t believe I’m saying this – is the return of Tom Arnold.
Yes, even though I made a sizable point in my last review that FUBAR needs to rein in the True Lies references, the return of Tom Arnold’s Norm, the mild-mannered interrogator for hire, is a weirdly refreshing return. Better yet, the fact that Chips and Norm are old business associates manages to make the seriously odd henchman funny once again as the two swap good natured banter as he’s drilled for information. Of course, the momentum carries over to the “action sequence of the week” feel of the show (even though the entire season was dropped all on the same day), and with Barry rounding out the team, things feel a bit more balanced. In fact, the weird sensation that FUBAR is trying to be something of a series-long tribute to Arnold Schwarzenegger as the show finds an excuse to bundle him behind the controls of a tank which is what his role was when he served his one year stint in the Austrian army (FYI, he crashed it) and while Arnie has been looking fairly long in the tooth this season, the sight of him driving a stolen tank while chewing on a massive cigar is just so fucking right.
This doesn’t mean that FUBAR has suddenly become a must watch (in fact, I think my rating may be a little over generous); the Tina/Farkas thread that finally reveals that the latter isn’t the arch villain Dante Cress is filler of the highest order and a side scene that shows the main antagonist slap Greta on the wrist for failure by murdering one of her more favoured underlings seems a bit too mean spirited to fit within FUBAR’s rather jolly aesthetic. But now that we’ve got the season’s first, genuine, cliff hanger that works, hopefully this is a sign that the show is starting to regain its action/comedy legs.
With Barry about to accomplish what so many of his pop culture idols take for granted (going to fucking space), is this a signal that FUBAR is similarly about to enter the stratosphere , hardly, but at least it contains the promise of actually getting better. However, if the next episode fits the pattern established by the season so far, I think I might have to abort the mission.
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