Mulaney’s first season came to a close Sunday night, and the show chose to end in a peculiar way. Instead of having an episode that ties up some loose ends and finishes with a cliffhanger, Mulaney decided to mix in a strange story with a lot of weirdness. This episode may not have been amazing, but it was a strangely fitting way for the show’s first season to end.
“Life is a Series of Apartments” focuses on only one main story during the entire episode, but this story features all of Mulaney’s main characters. Basically, John’s apartment building gets infested with bugs, so he uses an extra set of keys to break into Lou Cannon’s apartment while Lou is out of town. John also brings along Oscar, Motif, and Jane in hopes of reconnecting with his wilder partying side from college. Of course, John thinks that he is only going to drink some booze and stay up late, but Oscar brings some homemade Peyote tea. Unfortunately, John drinks all of the Peyote tea, so he spends most of the night preparing for an awkward trip.
The night is only made stranger when Lou makes a sudden trip home after breaking up with his girlfriend. Thinking quickly, Oscar convinces Lou that they are all staying at his apartment in order to throw a surprise birthday party in his honor. At this point, the gang has to figure out a way to keep Lou from finding out that they were just crashing at his place to avoid an infestation. Plus, they have to keep Lou in the dark while also dealing with Andre showing up, Motif hooking up with his crazy ex-girlfriend—played by Natasha Leggero—and Jane turning into a werewolf-esque version of her college self.
Mulaney’s season finale had some very funny moments, especially when John was discussing his weird acid trips from college and reggae concerts. On top of that, Motif’s storyline involving his crazy ex was entertaining. Natasha Leggero played a great crazy girl from New Jersey who didn’t quite grasp the concept of truth or dare. Finally, there were quite a few moments during the episode that were humorous simply because of the random looks that John and Lou or John and Oscar shared. For example, one character would be in the middle of a story, and then they would throw in some random comment, causing knowing glances between characters. Yes, this explanation isn’t the best, but these moments truly made the episode more humorous.
Of course, not all of “Life is a Series of Apartments” was straightforward comedy. Most of the episode relied on weird drug references and a very peculiar storyline about Jane’s unibrow. One other strange aspect was the fact that none of the characters had met Lou during this episode. Of course, this fact is strange because previous episodes heavily involved Jane, Motif, and Andre spending inordinate amounts of time with Lou. Mulaney’s director must have rearranged the episodes when the show’s order was cut to only 13. This episode also chose to end on an extremely bizarre moment that completely caught you off guard. Seriously, this weird moment happened right as the credits were running and the fade to black was taking place. If Mulaney isn’t renewed, this final scene will be a strange way to end a show.
Honestly, Mulaney wasn’t a terrible show. Sure, the first season had plenty of ups and downs, but the show had some genuine heart and entertaining moments. Fox hasn’t officially made a public decision on Mulaney, but I hope that the show is renewed so we can see how a second season would play out. John Mulaney deserves more time to hit his stride.
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