User Reviews

Quite a surreal episode, especially with John McEnroe playing himself against type, where he's the nice guy on a children's talent show. The rapture moment was quite surreal (again the word surreal), as was Liz being a cheerleader in her spare time.

It's easy to forget that 30 Rock and Aaron Sorkin's Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip debuted on NBC at the same time. Conventional wisdom was that Sorkin's powerhouse series be the one that would survive the first season, with 30 Rock being a one season wonder. But history has proved otherwise.

30 Rock comes back to us, after a mid-life crisis/hiatus, with some important lessons learned. Liz Lemon is a changed person and her team is thrown off-balance; this is symbolic as the entire episode is an unexpected departure from the formulaic 30 Rock. Some of the humor, from Kenneth's beliefs/hijinks to Liz's baggy costume, is classic 30 Rock, but it's not a pure comedy night. Rather, it seems like Jack's jabs at Liz are funny, but sad-funny, like something that's jumped the shark (a poignant moment of self-awareness from the writing team?), and more side-notes than the meat of the show. And in some cases, we are even meant to feel bad for laughing at the laughingstock. Instead, it's the touching ending with Jack's proffered/unacknowledged gift, the dance team's empowering message of self-esteem, the visit to the ocean, Liz and her mystery man, and the beautifully belted out "Camptown Races" by a young girl, that is like the ending of a Rocky movie - not the typical snarky, but tightly wrapped-up episodic conclusion. As the episode even features a Santa costume, maybe this episode was intended to air earlier on, thus the Christmas-y feel good vibe. Or maybe, as the series hits its last season and draws to a close, Fey and her co-creators are less worried about ratings, and just writing scripts from the heart. I hope it's the latter, because whatever ride this was, I want more of it!

Liz is so happier than she usually is and Tracy and Jack make sure to find out why. Kenneth believes that it is Rapture time and Liz lets him have a free day to spend his last day on Earth doing what he wants. Jenna is a mean judge on a kids show and Jack with his new father feelings tries to stop her from it.

Great season start to show that it just doesn't get old. Kenneth's Rapture story is the best one. It is absurdly funny and he is so sweet when they show him the ocean later.

Seeing Jenna be mean to kids is awesome as well. And Jack having his kids bring him back to care more about the business was also a classic scene. "Your first word is "money"??'