Have you watched a Woody Allen movie from the last 30 years? Sometimes the dialogue is clever, sometimes the performances are great, but other times it feels like a guess at how actual people would talk or act from someone who doesn't interact with them.
That's how I would describe this episode. Enos and Odenkirk were very good. Some of the other actors were not awful at times. But the show always feels like "here's how English professors would act, blah blah tenure, blah blah poetry" but has no "feel" for anything past cliches. Then there's "here's how peak TV should be, blah blah artsy title card, blah blah voiceover, blah blah old songs for the soundtrack". But there's no heart or thought past that. The suicide attempt at the end made NO sense and if it wasn't for the warning at the start of the episode, no one could have seen it coming. You have to earn the casual suicide references and this show's writers don't.
With that said, the acting was good enough to give this a middling grade. There is potential there but I don't think the writing is up to the task.
That's how I would describe this episode. Enos and Odenkirk were very good. Some of the other actors were not awful at times. But the show always feels like "here's how English professors would act, blah blah tenure, blah blah poetry" but has no "feel" for anything past cliches. Then there's "here's how peak TV should be, blah blah artsy title card, blah blah voiceover, blah blah old songs for the soundtrack". But there's no heart or thought past that. The suicide attempt at the end made NO sense and if it wasn't for the warning at the start of the episode, no one could have seen it coming. You have to earn the casual suicide references and this show's writers don't.
With that said, the acting was good enough to give this a middling grade. There is potential there but I don't think the writing is up to the task.