Well, who wouldn't with that guy around.
If there's been one development on 30 Rock that's distressed us over the last three years, it's that there's not enough Pete, Frank, or Cerie. If there are two distressing developments, it's that first thing and that Jenna sings too much. But if there are three distressing developments, it's those first two things and also it's how despite being played by one of the brainiest and beautiest women in TV, Liz Lemon was somehow becoming kind of unappealing. We'd still be rooting for her, you understand, but with her obsession with having a baby, coupled with we were concerned that, well, she was turning into the kind of person that we try to avoid in the real world.
For example, we can't have been the only ones who've been a little disappointed with Liz's story arc this year: becoming so obsessed with having a kid that she winds up stealing baby clothes and dating a dwarf. Funny stuff, to be sure, and yet, between that, her increasingly squeamish attitude towards sex, the disappointingly traditional twists, turns, and resolution of the Fey/Poehler adoption comedy Baby Mama, and the disconcertingly bifurcated relationship with sex that Tina Fey herself has demonstrated in interviews -- she loves to play strippers, she says, but thinks that strip clubs shouldn't exist; she downplays and undermines her looks, yet admits that tweaking her appearance was a major step in her career -- we were starting to feel a little weird about rooting for Liz Lemon like we do. Rooting for... what, exactly? Eschewing enthusiasms for everything other than work, junk food, asexual reproduction, and discomfort in one's own skin?
Really? We know this is a comedy, and everyone's a little eccentric on the show, and granted, we also try to avoid corporate boors, self-obsessed actresses, and the mentally ill in our daily lives, but Liz is different than Jack, Jenna, and Tracy, right? She's the main character, our "in" on the show, and although everything on the show is played for laughs, we were still unHooksexupd by the degree to which we were coming to regard her life as not just a little sad, but also misguided. Like, why does she need a baby exactly? What's the deal with her dating hangups really? Is she a feminist hero, a feminist anti-hero? A feminist anything? Are these character issues that we'll explore, or gags that will tossed away like so many muffin tops and eventually exasperate us? The mental gymnastics required to handle all this was starting to dry up our mindgrapes.
More importantly, how long are we all supposed to act like Liz Lemon isn't actually hot and doesn't know it -- doesn't know she can get any man she wants, anything she wants, when she dresses great, has great hair, great glasses, and is the funniest, smartest person in a room. On the one hand, we deeply admired Tina Fey's attempts to create this somewhat awkward, unappealing variation on the anti-hero; on the other, we were reminded of mid-decade Charlize Theron roles and the supposedly unattractive sorority girls in The House Bunny who were actually starlets in sweats and glasses. Like, a little bit of this is interesting; years of it is disingenous.
Well, thank God that as of last night, Lemon is finally getting interested in someone, acknowledging and using her sexuality, showing a little bit of desire to even out that endless skepticism and rapier-sharp scorn, etc. We know -- Jon Hamm's only got a 3 episode arc. Also: it's a bad idea to get involved with your neighbors. But still, it's so great to see Liz enthusiastic about another person who's a grownup, because really, the last time she actually crushed on anyone was what... Floyd? Two real crushes in three years? Sure, we'll buy that. That sounds like people we know. And that's all we're asking for here -- a the occasional, realistic enthusiasm on Lemon's part, something to flesh out her weird, angry, frumpy, asocial impulses. Like, we're not saying that any of that stuff has to go away -- it shouldn't, it's who Liz is. It's just, you know, that stuff can't be all of her -- she needs to have other stuff come into play. Because how long has it been since anything's changed with Lemon, really? Maybe Dr. Drew will bring out a side to Lemon that we know is there and have rarely seen, and flesh out a character that despite her killer line readings was threatening to become a bit of a one-dimensional bummer.