Previously: Bipartisanship is dead. Also, zombie space bugs.
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Playing Politics: Living Life in the Shadow of the Budget Showdown – A Critique
Dani: Episode 2 begins with a “previously on Braindead” recap that’s written and sung by the king of geek culture, Jonathan Coulton (the guy whose cover was ripped off by FOX/Glee, sparking a controversy that led to a plotline on The Good Wife and also this gig).
Marines: A recent episode of The OC we recapped featured one of my favorite TV things EVER, episode specific changes to the credit sequence. I went off on a whole sidebar about how much I love it. That said, this might be just as good as that. HOW WONDERFUL. I wasn’t expecting it and it really highlights the variety in tone we get with this show so far. A+.
Dani: The recap song is the best thing ever.
After the song, we find Laurel grabbing a can of bug spray to use on a mongo line of meteor bugs traipsing through her kitchen. She pauses to watch the Republicans and Democrats playing the blame game on TV. It’s Day 4 of the government shutdown, and everyone’s in serious finger-pointing mode.
Laurel sprays the crap out of the meteor bugs, but they’re impervious to her hilariously labelled can of “Insect Killer.” Next time, Laurel, spring for Raid. (M: Gotta spend that $$ on post-production bugs, not product placement.) The bugs make a beeline for her, so she starts stomping on them.
Mari: More dedicated to her house, also. We know how the Internet feels about bugs:
Dani: That is a 100% appropriate response.
We cut to the Senate offices where some handsome guy is looking through pictures of the ambulance in which Dr. Daudier’s head exploded all over Laurel. Luke’s Chief of Staff, Scarlett (whose brain has already been chewed by the bugs) gives the guy shit about the flag pin on his lapel, asking if she’s not patriotic enough before launching into a liberal rant on abortions, clean energy, and Denmark.
Laurel’s arrival saves the guy from Scarlett fever (see what I did there?), and we learn he’s Anthony Onofrio (Charlie Semine, The Following) with the FBI’s Criminal Division. That sounds fake to me … does the FBI also have a Completely Legal Division? Doesn’t matter, as his soulful brown eyes have already derailed my train of thought.
The FBI, you say? That means you own handcuffs, right?
Mari: He looks like he has a lot of emotions.
Dani: I bet I could help him work through some of those emotions.
Anthony asks Laurel some questions about Dr. Daudier, and we re-watch the headsplosion a couple of times in flashback while Laurel recounts the event. (M: Legit trauma is legit.) She assures Agent Dreamy Eyes that there was no gunshot, and even though the ambulance driver’s name was Arabic, it probably wasn’t terrorism. (M: Oooof. Too real.)
Agent Cutie Pie finally leaves, but not before he gives Laurel his number. Luke (who was watching from his office like a creeper), thinks Anthony was into Laurel, but she dismisses the idea. So Luke heads off to meet with other Democratic senators — the first caucus after losing the majority — and Laurel gets started on constituent casework. There’s a dad with an adorable, cancer-stricken daughter who’s raising money for cancer research by visiting 20 monuments in 20 days. But she’s one monument short, on account of the budget shutdown closing the Lincoln Memorial. Laurel is charmed by this adorkable little Lincoln fangirl and promises to talk to Luke.
Cut to the caucus, where the senators are bellyaching about losing the majority. Since Luke is his party’s Whip, everyone thinks he should have seen this coming and should have done something to stop Senator Spitz from jumping to the Republican’s side. (I must have skipped school the day we covered this, because I have no recollection of the role the Whip plays in politics. Luckily, Google never skips school.) (M: I have to force myself to pay attention to politics because it is truly one of those things that burdens my soul.) (D: It’s truly painful.)
Luke’s on the hot seat, but Senator Ella Pollack (Jan Maxwell) tells them to stop directing their rancor internally. She suggests they table a vote on party leadership for now but privately tells Luke she can’t hold them off forever. Luke figures he can find a Republican senator to flip the same way Red Wheatus flipped Senator Spitz. Everything the Republicans offered Spitz came from somewhere, so there must be a Republican senator angry about losing what they had. Luke will just find him/her and play musical chairs.
Cut to Luke and Laurel having lunch. Laurel is relating the story of Cancer Annie, and Luke tells her she’ll hear hundreds of sob stories and she can’t let herself care about them all. She’s just supposed to listen to the constituents, give them a souvenir hat, and keep them happy enough to vote for Luke when he’s up for re-election. Luke’s brilliant plan is to only have feels when it’s effective. Oh, Luke. What made you this way?
Luke asks Laurel if she’s still in touch with Gareth, Senator Wheatus’s Legislative Director. Laurel says yes, he keeps calling her (aww), and she thinks he feels bad about Red going back on their deal. Luke wants her to join him at DoubleSpeak, a Crossfire-like program on which both he and Red are appearing that afternoon, so she can talk to Gareth and let him apologize. Laurel’s smart enough to realize what he really wants is for her to find out which Republican senator was demoted to make room for Spitz. Laurel says Gareth won’t just give her a name, but Luke has faith in her feminine wiles.
Laurel: You want me to pimp myself out?
Luke: No. [considers] Metaphorically …
Laurel: Eh.
Luke: Hey, he used you. He distracted you while Red stole Senator Spitz from us. So, use him back.
Luke implores Laurel to help him, saying he’s in danger of losing his job, and Laurel is too kind-hearted to refuse.
Cut to the DoubleSpeak studio, where Gareth and Laurel are watching the show from the Green Room. They bicker a little, Laurel pointing out that he preyed on her sympathies to distract her so he could go behind her back and steal a senator. Gareth insists that Red just changed his mind and he had nothing to do with it.
Mari: I just Googled it and it appears to be an actual thing. Now all I want is to know if Democracy Diva has ever been to a Tax Prom.
Dani: We need the fashion scoop, if so!
After the show ends, Red tells Luke the Republicans have an offer for the Dems, but he won’t divulge details until the next morning. Red leaves, and Laurel tells Luke that she’s going to Tax Prom. Luke is pleased, and now that he’s indebted to Laurel, she makes him work on getting little Annie into the Lincoln Memorial. Go, Laurel! I mean, I would’ve thought seeing Aaron Tveit in a tuxedo was reward enough, but our heroine is way more strategic.
Cut to the meteor bugs hanging out in some cherry blossoms. Multiple chess games are going on beneath the trees, and we meet Gustav (Johnny Ray Gill, Underground, Rectify), who seems to be playing all of them simultaneously.
He pauses when he reaches a guy named Oscar, because Oscar still hasn’t made a move. Oscar seems to be struggling, and Gustav sees the dreaded pink-orange gloop leaking from Oscar’s ear. He shouts for someone to call 9-1-1.
Mari: I thought this was nicely done because by the way Gustav was swaggering around, I expected him to soon be brain bug infected.
Dani: Cut to the hospital, where Oscar is getting a CAT scan. Gustav is watching over the tech’s shoulder, telling her he thinks it might be a diffuse axonal injury. The tech asks if he’s a doctor, and he says no, but he reads a lot.
Oscar starts freaking out about his head hurting, so the tech sends Gustav in to distract him. (M: Isn’t there a medical professional who could help somewhere?) (D: Budget cuts?) Gustav asks Oscar for countermoves to various chess strategies, and it seems to be working. But then Oscar starts writhing in pain, like the act of thinking is absolute torture. He begs them to make it stop, and the tech assures him it’s almost over. She’s right, because two seconds later Oscar’s head explodes all over the machine (and Gustav). See, this is why I don’t play chess.
I hope Oscar learned something today.
Mari: “Space bugs are the worst.”
Dani: “Chess kills.”
Cut to Tax Prom, where people are unnaturally excited about tax policy. Laurel enters the ballroom, looking gorgeous, and is stopped by a press photographer asking to take her picture. She recognizes the photographer as Stacie, a BFF from college, and the two are super excited to see each other and catch up.
Stacie’s an awesome photographer, but she took a job working for Roll Call, a political news outlet, to make some money. Laurel did the same when she put her documentary on hold to work for Luke, so the two share a special bond, having been forced to abandon their dreams and creativity for the almighty dollar. Or as it’s otherwise known… life. (M: “Preach,” she types in a recap for a blog she writes for free, mostly on Sunday nights because Monday-Friday she works in HR.) (D: But you can’t put a price on the fame and glamor of being a Snark Captain.)
Stacie tells Laurel their mutual friend, Abby, is also at the party. Laurel’s surprised, because it seems incredibly contrived for her to run into two long-lost friends in one night. Just kidding. It’s because she follows Abby’s blog and thought she was white-water rafting in New Guinea. But Stacie says Abby has changed. A LOT. Cut to Abby, who came to Tax Prom on business for Help America Rise Again.
Laurel: Really? Isn’t that the… right-wing group?
Abby: If by “right-wing” you mean we’re right, then… yep.
Laurel points out that Abby won a Genius grant last month and was going to write a novel, but Abby doesn’t see the point when the American Dream is under attack. “Have you listened to Trump?” she asks, as if not listening to him was actually possible.
Laurel is spared having to respond because Abby gets a call and also Gareth walks in, looking good enough to make me vote Republican (J/K). (M: We’re gonna have to start talking about Gareth taking off that suit before we get near that.) (D: #priorities) Laurel tells Stacie they should get together for a girl’s night with Abby, and Stacie suggests they get her drunk and have a “reverse intervention.” Oh, Stacie. I adore you and your artsy tattoos and awesome nose-ring.
Gareth asks Laurel if she wants to dance, and she says no, she wants to drink.
Cut to Gustav’s apartment, where he’s furiously researching whatever could have made his friend’s brain explode. He comes up with zilch, so he grabs the jacket he was wearing earlier and manages to find a sizable chunk of Oscar’s brain inside the pocket. Dude, how did that jacket not go into the trash back at the hospital? Why, oh why, would you keep it?
Mari: I’d force hospital staff to hose me down.
Dani: With bleach.
Back at Tax Prom, Gareth and Laurel are having drinks and doing their cheeky partisan sparring. They might annoy each other, but there’s definitely something there.
Gareth gets a call from Red and tells Laurel not to leave while he turns away to answer. She can overhear the conversation, and he seems to be talking about whichever senator got stiffed when Spitz switched sides. He promises to call said senator and writes the number down on a napkin, in full view of Laurel. It feels like a set-up to me, but maybe I just have trust issues.
Mari: Same. The moment he was like, “I have to take this,” and then just turns his back I was like, “uh.” Walk away to do that crap or something is up.
Dani: Exactly. There is much Laurel could learn from the Snark Squad.
Laurel visits the restroom and calls the number she memorized from the napkin, which belongs to Michael Barneki, a Republican senator. It’s the information she wanted — the whole reason she supposedly went to Tax Prom. Yet she hesitates. Is it ethics? Is it the betrayal of Gareth? She has a little conversation with herself in the mirror, reminding herself that he used her first, so maybe it’s both.
She calls Luke and gives him the name, and I hope this doesn’t come back to bite her. It’s done now, so she returns to the party, hauls Gareth to the dance floor, and gets her groove on.
Mari: Their bopping dancing is very charming.
Dani: They’re definitely the cutest couple at Tax Prom, but that might be a dubious honor.
Laurel’s back at work the next day, where she’s visited by Dr. Daudier’s daughter. Rochelle Daudier (Nikki M. James, The Good Wife) wants to know exactly what happened to her father. Laurel is reluctant to share the gruesome details, but Rochelle is a resident at Mount Vernon who works in the ER, so there’s nothing she can’t handle. Laurel answers her questions, and Rochelle shows her some pictures on her tablet.
The first is a scan of a normal, healthy brain. The next is Oscar’s scan, which shows a bunch of black spots (METEOR BUGS!!). Rochelle explains that sometimes there are image artifacts related to normal wear and tear of the equipment, so the tech performed a second CAT scan (You bastards! You killed Oscar!). The spots are still there — but they’ve moved.
Cut to the breakfast meeting between Luke and Red (and a couple other Dems and Reps). Red’s extolling the virtues of wheatgrass shakes, along with a book called Forever Juice. I knew there was something shady about that juice cleanse trend. (M: I think it’s mostly that there is no food involved. I like food.)
Red says they all want the shutdown to end, and it looks like the two sides may finally come together. But first Red wants to completely eliminate the Department of Commerce, the Department of Education, and the Department of Energy (the same three Rick Perry tried to name during the 2011 primaries).
Once they realize they’re not being punk’d, Ella tells Red he’s insane. But Red says he’s the sanest person in the room. Also, he can bench press more than anyone there. Have you been putting some herbal enhancements in those wheatgrass shakes, Red?
Ella thinks the Republicans have gone off the deep end, but Luke is psyched to use their lunacy against them.
Cut to Gustav’s apartment, where the baggie of brain matter is leaking onto the desk. Gustav set up his phone to take periodic photos of the bag, and as he scrolls through the images we see a meteor bug emerge from the brain bits and exit the bag. Great, now that freaky little bug is somewhere in Gustav’s apartment!
Mari: Burn it down, Gustav. Don’t let us down.
Dani: Cut to the FBI offices, where Agent Dreamy is holding up yet another baggie of brain matter, shouting for someone named Grace. He’s answered by a temp, since non-essential Grace was furloughed and replaced by a big burly dude named Butch, because making 78% of a man’s salary wasn’t enough of an insult. I feel ya, Grace.
When Butch tells Agent Hottie that Laurel is there to see him, he does a hilariously hasty clean-up of his messy desk and is awkwardly trying to straighten his tie when Butch brings her back. He thanks Butch by calling him Grace, and then Bruce, and it’s pretty adorable. I guess Luke was right about him liking Laurel.
Laurel explains that she only stopped by because the switchboard wouldn’t let her through (more non-essential personnel, although one would think that being able to get through to the FBI might be, you know… essential at times). Laurel tells Anthony about the second exploding brain and gives him Rochelle’s name. In return, he gives her his cell phone number in case she has trouble getting through again (yeah, right… that’s why), but Laurel’s distracted by a news report showing Luke at a press conference with Cancer Annie. Luke says all Annie wanted was to take a picture at the Lincoln Memorial BEFORE SHE DIED (geez, Luke, really?!) and the evil Republicans have prevented this poor, terminally ill kid from getting her wish.
Laurel goes to Luke’s office full of righteous indignation, but Luke doesn’t think he did anything wrong. He gives Laurel a big speech about how using a sick little girl for political gain doesn’t mean he doesn’t care about her. He cares so much, in fact, that he wants to win this for all the sick little girls out there, not just for Mary.
I’m sad when Luke has these douchebag moments, as I like Laurel and I know she believes in him. But at the same time, I’m glad the show isn’t completely slanted in their portrayal of one party being douchier than the other. Like now, when Luke is too busy gleefully anticipating Red Wheatus’s reaction to argue ethics with Laurel.
Mari: Just to add to that, I feel like they haven’t made Laurel too righteous. It could go there very quickly, but so far so good in terms of showing her willing to at least play a little dirty. Plus, we’ve seen her look pleased when she does a good job.
Dani: Good point. They’re keeping Laurel relatable, which is key.
Cut to Red’s office, where Not-FOX-News is reporting on the press conference with Annie. They call it a ploy by the Democrats but can’t deny it will pull at America’s heartstrings.
Red tells Gareth to dig up whatever they can on Annie (see what you started, Luke?). Gareth suggests Red turn this into a positive and take Annie to the Lincoln Memorial, but Red says that’s the old way. The new way is total destruction of the Democrats, and I think I liked Red better when he was a lecherous drunk.
Later on, it’s girl’s night with Laurel, Stacie, and Abby. Laurel and Stacie are drinking wine, laughing, and generally behaving like women you’d love to hang out with. Abby, on the other hand, is on edge, eschewing alcohol because she’s on a juice cleanse (ehhhh).
Laurel and Stacie decide it’s time to lay some truth on homegirl. This goes predictably bad, as Abby turns the criticism back on Laurel. Then she breaks down a little (like maybe a small part of her old self is in there, fighting back?), but when Laurel tries to ask her what’s wrong she takes off.
Cut to Luke and Ella talking to Senator Barneki, the Republican who was demoted when Spitz switched sides. They offer him some incentives to become a Democrat, and I have to wonder if it’s really that easy for these people to trade party affiliations. I mean, you had constituents who voted for you, believing you represented a certain platform. Isn’t it career suicide to just decide you now ascribe to an entirely different political ideology? (And having asked that, I just remembered that Rick Perry started out as a Democrat in the Texas legislature in 1984 and even campaigned for Al Gore in the presidential primaries of 1988. Flip-flopping didn’t hurt his career nearly as much as forgetting that third department to cut. Oops.)
Luke returns to his offices, calling out to tell Laurel they flipped the senator. Laurel’s not there — but Scarlett is, and the two share a knowing look.
Cut to Scarlett’s bed, where Luke is recounting how brilliant he was in getting Barneki to switch sides. Scarlett’s thrilled, but each time Luke tries to kiss her she makes a face like she’s licking the bottom of a trashcan. He asks if she’s okay, and she pretends she’s enjoying it, even though it’s pretty clear that everything and anything intimate makes her want to projectile vomit. Luke says they should talk, and Scarlett seems desperate to keep him in bed. Hmm, I wonder why…
Oh, yeah, it’s so meteor bugs can eat his brain. (M: If you have sex, you will die.) Luke assumes Laurel talked to Scarlett about their relationship, and that’s why she’s acting so strange. He hops out of bed, somehow never noticing the freaking huge line of ants on his pillow. (Side note: what does it say that the meteor bugs hate alcohol and sex, but they love to listen to The Cars?) (M: Don’t forget juice cleanses!)
Cut to Laurel leaving a message for Abby, saying she wants to apologize, when Luke comes over to yell at her for ruining things with Scarlett. Laurel denies it and then correctly surmises that he’s still sleeping with her. He tells her to leave Scarlett alone and takes off.
Meanwhile, Red’s been busy leaking rumors about Cancer Annie and her dad. Not only has Annie’s father taught that Lincoln was actually gay, but he’s also sued the school district over reciting the Pledge of Allegiance.
Red is DELIGHTED. He calls Gareth into his office, but Gareth looks ill and stays at his desk. The story moves from Annie the Fraud to an interview with Senator Barneki, who lists everything the Democrats offered him to switch sides. Now the Dems look desperate AND pathetic. Back in Luke’s office, Laurel realizes she was played. Luke realizes it, too, and chides her to stay awake and not let this sort of thing happen again.
Laurel storms into Gareth’s office, accusing him of getting her drunk and then feeding her misinformation.
Laurel sarcastically thanks him for the life lesson and leaves. They both look miserable, and my heart hurts a little. Good thing Special Agent Dreamboat is still out there somewhere.
Mari: Dammit, Gareth! Dani even made a joke about voting Republican for you!
Dani: He’ll have to take me to SEVERAL tax proms to make up for this.
Cut to the Democrats having another grumble session, blaming Luke for turning them into the God-less, Lincoln-was-gay party. (I need that on a bumper sticker.) Ella takes to the podium and calls for a vote to remove Luke as Whip. She nominates herself for the position, and Luke is brought down a peg.
Cut to Laurel walking up to the Lincoln Memorial at night. She tries lying to the security guard, pretending she has permission to access the monument, and when that doesn’t work she tries bullying him about budget cuts. Finally, she apologizes and tells him the truth: that a young girl with cancer travelled across the country to see the monuments, and this is the last one on her list. Stan the Security Guy has a heart of gold and tells them they can have ten minutes. Aww. Bless you, Stan.
Inside the monument, they marvel at the statue and Laurel admits she’s never visited before. Annie says she’d come every day if she lived there. And, you know, if she could live past the age of 11. Annie reads the part of the Gettysburg Address where government of the people, by the people, and for the people shall not perish from the earth, and Laurel jadedly wonders why people don’t feel that way anymore. Annie reminds her things were just as bad in Lincoln’s day and the worst thing people could do is give up. Coming from a young girl with an oxygen cannula in her nose because her cancer makes it hard to breathe… yeah.
All the feels, Fitz. ALL OF THEM.
Mari: It’s also a good reminder for people who like to idealize one time over another. Every decade, every presidency has its challenges, social problems, economic problems, etc.
Dani: A+ I think as a culture, we Americans have shockingly short memories.
Laurel goes home and starts some serious research, ending up on a conspiracy-theory blog that mentions head explosions in DC. She clicks on the video, and it’s the one Gustav took of the brain-baggie bug. Laurel fills out the website’s contact form just as Abby calls her. They apologize to each other, and Abby invites Laurel over for a cup of tea. Laurel takes a raincheck, but Abby promises to text her and hangs up with a sweet smile.
Then the camera zooms out, and we notice there are already two cups of tea on Abby’s counter, one with the bright pink lipstick favored by Stacie. We hear Stacie from somewhere in the apartment, rattling a door and telling Abby that it won’t open. Abby tells her not to worry, that it’ll be over in a minute.
Dammit, I really liked Stacie. I probably shouldn’t form attachments to characters in this show, as the meteor bugs are bound to take their toll on my favorites. Here’s hoping they find a way to cure people who’ve been infected.
This episode did a good job of building on the pilot, introducing new characters while further establishing those we’ve already met. I liked that Laurel didn’t just go home and drink (as I would) after the Barneki mess, but rather tried to do something positive (getting Annie into the Lincoln Memorial) that ended up being good for her, as well. The town might be eating at her (heh), but she has a ton of humanity left.
I think it’s interesting that when Luke and Laurel followed the episode’s title by “Playing Politics” (he by using Annie for political gain, her by swiping the number Gareth wrote down) it backfired on both of them. I predict Laurel will take that to heart more than Luke, but we’ll see.
Mari: At this point, I still feel like I’m not entirely sure what the heck is going on, but it’s early enough that I’m still enjoying that feeling. I’ll soon want things to start coming together in a more definitive way, at least in terms of direction (seriously, where-t-f are we going?), but for now I’m enjoying being introduced to all of the pieces. The tone here is the thing that makes it the most interesting and unique. I’m going to have to echo what Dani said in the first recap and say that this is really reminding me of Doctor Who. I don’t want to scare anyone who just couldn’t with Doctor Who because obviously there are no major villains made of plungers and whisks, but it’s got that same dark, sci-fi, humor combination, where characters and tone are outshining plot, at least for the moment.
Dani: Yes to all of this! I’m not entirely sure what’s going on, but I’m enjoying the ride. Also, Aaron Tveit, so… I’ll keep watching.
Next time on BrainDead: Laurel and Gareth take things to the next level in S01 E03 – Goring Oxes: How You Can Survive the War on Government Through Five Easy Steps.
I’m a serial procrastinator and a genuinely terrible singer, and if anyone knows how to monetize either of these skills please hit me up. In my spare time, I like to study Dutch painters, Italian architecture, and Canadian bacon.
I'm a 30-something south Floridan who loves the beach but cannot swim. Such is my life, full of small contradictions and little trivialities. My main life goals are never to take life too seriously, but to do everything I attempt seriously well. After that, my life goals devolve into things like not wearing pants and eating all of the Zebra Cakes in the world. THE WORLD.
