Mulaney Season 1 Episode 5 Review: In the Name of the Mother, and the Son and the Holy Andre
Amanda Wolf
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Motherly visits, Catholicism and birth control were the triplet of themes rolled into Mulaney Season 1 Episode 5.
In accordance with a common joke in the comedian's stand-up, Mulaney's Catholic mother came into town to pay him a visit. As perhaps many wayward Catholic youth do these days, he started to come up with lies to tell his mother about his level of piousness.
Mulaney's relationship with Catholicism echoed his stand-up persona, and Mulaney finally came across as the real Mulaney (not that he can't have new material on his sitcom) and was hilarious.
Mulaney's problems all started when his mother and Lou hit if off. This story could have been one of Mulaney's stand-up jokes. I could just picture him on stage, talking about awkward stories of his Catholic mother being hit on by men. John Mulaney is someone that could tell this joke very well.
I look at her and I want to make her happy. I wish I could kill her husband.
Lou
Mulaney's mother staying in town meant that he had to prove that he was attending church on Sundays, and that he was friends with the priest.
Mulaney's first plan was to try to get Father Ed to lie for him, to his mother, while in church
Mulaney: Come on father I earned it. I went to church every Sunday for twelve years, and once in college when my girlfriend thought she was pregnant.
Father: Was she with child?
Mulaney: No, and you know it is way harder to get pregnant than you people told us. Look, just do this for me and you will never have to see my again.
Father: We are the Catholic church, we want to see you again, that's our goal.
When this didn't work, Mulaney turned to good old-fashioned prayer in the hopes of receiving some divine intervention. His prayer was my favorite Mulaney quote of this episode.
To Mulaney's dismay, and my profound amusement, he was caught in the act by Jane.
Jane: Eww, are you praying?
Mulaney: What, no I am just masturbating.
What I did not find funny, and quite frankly really annoyed me, was the birth control story line. This is not the 1960s and the jokes about side effects of taking the pill were just too out there.
I will also be harsh on this failed side plot because the rest of the episode was about Mulaney's CATHOLIC mother coming into town. There was a lot of potential to incorporate birth control into that, given that the church is historically against the usage of it.
Instead, the show went with changing Andre into a different person, and began to turn Jane into Andre.
Despite what I see as being a bad story line for Jane (who is a talented comedian in real life), this episode was the strongest so far. The incorporation of the friendship between Mulaney's mother and Lou and trying to hide his heathen ways worked really well.
The resolution did not leave anything to be desired. Mulaney's mother was still overbearing and Catholic, but she loves him anyway, and the next time she visits it will be exactly the same. That kind of story can always be done and still totally believable.
The bit about Lou and Mulaney's mother sharing a kiss was a nice detail at the end, and I am glad that the story went there.
And you can't tell Dad about it because my celebrity exception is Noah Wyle.
Patti
However, is Andre going to be cast as a new person? I would not mind this recasting.
Do you agree that this was a stronger episode? What do you think about Andre's story? Did you like the the story between Lou and Patti?
If you have comments post them below!
Remember, you can watch Mulaney online via TV Fanatic!
