Overall: 7.8
This is pure silliness - with a dash of character work thrown in for good measure.
Plot Synopsis:
When the episode begins, Chuck and Marissa are seriously butting heads over the day-to-day tasks involved in running a restaurant, but Gary is rather ill-prepared to deal with their squabbling, as he is distracted by his own paper-related anxieties. As a matter of fact, Gary has started to have wacky nightmares in which he must rescue a shrink from a series of B-movie type disasters. To get a handle on his rising stress, Gary decides to observe the Sabbath; in other words, he decides not to deal with the paper on Sunday. With the aforestated goal in mind, Gary institutes a "football brunch" at McGinty's and resolves to enjoy the Chicago Bears' push to make it into the post season.
Events - and Gary's guilt complex - conspire to scuttle this "day of rest" strategy, however. When Colleen Damski, Joe Damski's wife, walks into McGinty's toting her divorce papers, Gary learns that the Bears' star quarterback is in danger of losing not only his marriage but also his health and mobility. Colleen is convinced that Joe's body will eventually fall apart under the strain of keeping up with his younger teammates, and she tells Gary that she can't bear to watch pro football gradually cripple her husband. Gary, for his part, tries to broach the subject of retirement to Joe himself, but Joe simply can't imagine life beyond the Bears.
The following Sunday, thanks to a series of providential events, Gary accidentally reads the paper and learns that a hit in the fourth quarter of that day's game will put Joe in the ICU. Gary begs Chuck - who has spent much of the episode sitting at home moping over Gary's refusal to choose between him and Marissa - to help him save Joe, and Chuck grudgingly agrees. Chuck dons the mascot costume, and he and Gary sneak into Soldier Field, where they chloroform both Joe and the Bears' lousy place-kicker in the locker room. Then, hilariously, Gary and Chuck are forced to play in place of the two knocked out players. Gary, playing for Joe, manages to help the Bears gain ground, though as you might expect, he gets creamed in the process. Chuck, meanwhile, miraculously scores what turns out to be a game-winning field goal by bouncing the ball off another player's head (LOL!).
In the end, Joe decides to retire from pro ball after all, and Gary manages to mend his relationship with Chuck. Gary also decides that McGinty's should be a sports bar once again, and Chuck agrees.
The Skinny:
Joe and Colleen Damski are a decently written couple, but it is not really the Damskis who draw me into Jeff Melvoin's whimsical romp. Instead, what hooks me into this episode are two unrelated elements. First of all, this is one of those episodes in which Gary tries to fight against his vocation - and loses. For all of Gary's protestations that he would rather have a "normal" life (read: a life without the paper), in truth, he finds it very hard to adapt to "normal" now that the "abnormal" has been thrust into his hands. He throws the paper out the window, yet tries to catch a glimpse of the front page as the paper falls into the dumpster. He grabs a drink and proceeds to watch the Bears game, but the whole time, amusingly, he's standing there gritting his teeth and not having very much fun. In truth, despite all the stress and annoyances the paper lays at his feet, Gary gets far more fulfillment out of doing the "paper work" than he ever got out of his job at the brokerage. That's just who Gary is. Chuck states at one point that Gary didn't really enjoy his life before the paper; by the end of this episode, Gary acknowledges that Chuck is right. It is Gary's ever developing acceptance of his calling that forms the thematic core of the series in general, and inserting a snapshot of that personal journey here gives this otherwise lightweight episode a little more heft.
Secondly, this episode is a fun Chuck and Gary friendship piece. The fight they have here is pretty typical for their relationship: Chuck's strong personality kicks up a conflict; Gary tries to avoid the conflict - until, that is, he can't take it anymore and threatens to strangle Chuck; then, eventually, events force them to work together on an external problem, and they realize how much they do depend on each other; and finally, they make up. I liked that dynamic when it appeared in Frostbit, and I like it here.
On the whole, this is not the deepest episode of Early Edition ever produced - and it is not the funniest, either. Still, it is a solidly entertaining bit of fluff that is firmly guided by the show's core Christian emphasis on charity, compassion, and sacrifice.
Writing: 7.5
As I said, this is fluff that is pushed beyond par by some nice character development.
Acting: 8.0
The goofy, unrealistic aspects of this episode's plot work largely because, once again, they afford us ample opportunity to enjoy the way Fisher Stevens and Kyle Chandler play off of each other. Some of Kyle's funny faces here are also delightful.
Message: 8.0
This episode suggests that it is selflessness - not selfishness - that brings joy. That's a message we all need to absorb.
The Benevolent Hand:
The Benevolent Hand works through Cat this time around to save Joe Damski, encouraging Cat to knock over the old coffee grounds in the kitchen so one of the cooks will grab Gary's paper out of the trash to use for the clean up. Heh.
There's also a strong suggestion that God has been mucking around in Gary's dreams. How else can we explain the appearance of Gary's dream-shrink at the end of the episode? Said appearance, I think, can definitely be classified as another one of Early Edition's angelic visitations.
Highlights:
GARY: I-I was divorced. And I gotta tell you something: I hate to see it when-when people give up... when they're still in love. And it seems to me... it sounds like you're still in love with your husband. Now, I-I don't know Mr. Damsky personally, of course, but... well, if you leave your husband, it seems to me you would force him back into playing football... which is exactly what you don't want him to do. And if you did that... well, he'd have nothing else in his life.
COLLEEN: Well, I'm hardly in his life right now.
GARY: Well, maybe he doesn't see it that way. Maybe he doesn't know exactly what's going on, what with everything going on and that, uh, he doesn't exactly know how to deal with it. I don't know. (What Gary's trying to say in his awkward roundabout way, ladies, is that you should communicate with your husbands.)
MARISSA: You okay?
GARY: Course I'm okay. I've got the Bears, I've got a bloody Mary, and I've got brunch. What more could I want? If Chuck's not here, that's his decision; if I didn't read the paper today, that's my decision. Sunday is my day - and I'm going to enjoy my day even if it kills me! (LOL! That doesn't sound okay to me.)
COACH OUTSIDE THE LOCKER ROOM: Hey, Joe, is that you?
CHUCK: (assuming a deep voice) Uh... it's stuck.
COACH: Who's this?
CHUCK: Security.
COACH: Where's Joe?
CHUCK: Uh, he's, um... call of nature.
COACH: Well, listen, we've got the ball back. We need him!
CHUCK: He's coming right out. He said just be patient for a sec, you know? He's human!
COACH: Hey, who is this? Come on, open up!
(Chuck and Gary trade significant looks. They're out of options.)
GARY: Oh, no, no, no!
CHUCK: Oh, yes!
GARY: Oh, no!
CHUCK: In another minute, they're gonna force this door down, and then they're gonna see you and me... and two chloroformed Bear players. It's your call, buddy. (ROTFL!)
CHUCK: So, you need my help at McGinty's, huh?
GARY: Look... you belong there.
CHUCK: And Marissa?
GARY: Well, she's part of the team too.
CHUCK: She doesn't know anything about running a restaurant. (Neither do you!)
GARY: Well, and that's another thing: it's not gonna be a restaurant anymore. We're gonna turn it back into the tavern that it used to be. No more fancy wine glasses and no more cigar rooms.
CHUCK: You're gonna be around this time?
GARY: Well, as much as I can. I still gotta deal with the paper.
CHUCK: What about Sundays? Even the big guy upstairs rests on Sundays.
GARY: Well... look what almost happened today.
CHUCK: I thought you wanted your life back.
GARY: Well, I've been thinking: maybe this is my life... and-and maybe... maybe if I didn't get the paper, I'd... I'd still be helping people.
CHUCK: That's you, Gar: always looking out for number two. (Awww.)
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