Blockbuster Season 1 Episode 8 Review: Special Guy Day
Mary Littlejohn
at
.
For a workplace comedy, these people really don't seem to be working very much!
On Blockbuster Season 1 Episode 8, Timmy and Eliza get day drunk, while Carlos and Connie encourage Hannah to follow her dreams.
Things are shifting for much of the Blockbuster staff, and a few storms may be on the horizon.
The newscaster gag is still going strong, though it is odd that they're constantly playing the news on the televisions at Blockbuster.
One of the joys (yes, there were several!) of working at Blockbuster was choosing what movies would play on the screens on any given day. Sometimes, it was upcoming release trailers or ad packages from corporate. Since corporate doesn't exist anymore, it makes sense that they wouldn't have those.
I'll admit the news is a good way to info-dump, so maybe it's just there as a narrative device. And the running joke is still funny. Will it have a payoff? Will one of the Blockbuster staff end up as a newscaster?
Speaking of the news, there were three mentions of the supposed solar storm that could knock out the internet.
Hannah: You could just pay me in quarters. It’ll go a lot further because the solar storm will reduce us down to bartering our precious metals.
Timmy: You gotta stop listening to your dad’s trucker radio.
My theory is that the internet will go down either in the next episode or the finale, which will mean no one can stream anything, and Blockbuster will see a surge of DVD rentals (don't spoil it if you've already watched it, this is just a guess!)
A world without the internet. Would Mark Zuckerberg turn to ash like a vampire?
Carlos
As far as jobs go, working at Blockbuster isn't hard, but there is so little work happening here, it's no wonder Timmy can't make ends meet.
Between Timmy and Eliza going off for FOUR HOURS to drink and have fun, while Carlos and Connie help Hannah study for a test (which she then takes twice!) -- who is helping the customers? Who is scanning returns? What is going on here?
Eliza and Timmy had a great connection in this episode, and once again, Melissa Fumero gets to show off her acting chops. Her drunk Eliza was fine (authentically playing drunk is harder than it sounds) but her sad/angry rant about Erin and Aaron was heartfelt.
Your face is what’s called, in some circles, “Ted Kennedy Red.”
Timmy
Eliza has been pushing away her feelings and is now really coming to terms with the fact that she doesn't want to be with Aaron.
Unfortunately, it may be too late for her and Timmy, but if he proves anything here, it's that he is a good friend to her and will always look out for her, even if he has nothing to "gain" from it.
Even though Eliza realizes that she is attracted to Timmy (at least it felt that way in the Uber), hopefully, she can separate those feelings from her need to break things off with Aaron.
It's okay to be alone, Eliza! Just because she can't have Timmy doesn't mean she should settle for Aaron if she's not happy with him.
Eliza: I couldn’t have gotten through it without you, Mr. Blockbuster.
Timmy: Oh, please, Mr. Blockbuster was my father’s name.
Timmy seems to be happy with Lena, which is nice. Often at this point on shows like this, the hero is still pining for his love interest, but nope, he was just trying to cheer up a friend going through a hard time. It's a refreshing turn.
It's hard to know if Timmy still carries romantic feelings for Eliza, but knowing that she was looking for other work probably solidified the fact that she would be able to move on from him. Timmy definitely gained some healthy perspective at that moment.
However, Eliza's reference to the cat-caller rubbed me the wrong way. I don't know any woman who would think like this.
Eliza: That creep at the Gas-n-Guzz who has sexually harassed me every time I’ve been in there has stopped. All of a sudden.
Timmy: Feminism is weird.
Nobody likes catcallers. Please don't catcall. We don't enjoy it or appreciate the "attention." Maybe the creep stopped because he realized that what he was doing was harmful and degrading. It is a good thing he stopped. Ugh.
Did anyone else think it strange that The Ripped Donkey was open in the middle of the day?
Also, the grown-up version of "Special Guy Day" circled back to the theme of the deterioration of small-town middle America. Everything fun has closed -- all that's left to do is drink and play at the bar.
Whether the cause is COVID or big-box corporations, it paints a bleak picture.
But despite it all, there is friendship, if nothing else. There are co-workers who will look out for you and help you pass your college entrance exam.
Ever since I had shrimp nachos, my tastes have become first class, and I want more in life, including going to the shrimp nachos of the education system -- community college.
Hannah
Hannah's focus "quirks" made total sense -- having multiple distractions can be beneficial to many neurodivergent people.
It's more understandable now that Hannah was homeschooled -- it's unlikely she would have done well in a typical school system anyway. Though she is exceptionally bright, her brain works differently.
It was touching that Connie and Carlos provided her with the setting she needed to thrive without judging her -- wouldn't it be nice if the educational system could support diverse needs in that way?
How did you feel about Episode 8? Do you think a storm is coming? What's in store for Eliza and her relationship with Aaron?
Share your thoughts in the comments!
Mary Littlejohn Mary Littlejohn was a staff writer and critic for TV Fanatic.
