Mulaney returned on Sunday after a week off with a new time slot to hopefully attract an expanded audience. This new episode, Patriot Acts, focused on the USO and feeling guilty about being patriotic, and it actually turned out pretty well.
Patriot Acts is a fun episode in that it follows the trio of Jane, John, and Motif as they all figure out the depths of their patriotism after traveling on an airplane with a returning Marine. Apparently, none of the trio is very patriotic, based on their backgrounds. John was a wimp and Jane was from the Middle East, so neither was a good fit for the military or patriotism in general. However, Jane starts dating the Marine, played by Robert Baker (Justified, Agents of SHIELD), so John and Motif scramble to find ways to become patriotic in hurry, one of which is auditioning for some USO gigs.
Getting hired by the USO is easy for Motif, because he just uses “white people with guns” jokes. Unfortunately, John has a tough time getting hired by the USO, so he goes to Lou Cannon for advice, which spawns one of the more random sequences of the episode. Cannon has some bad history with the USO, which is played out in little flashbacks resembling the Vietnam War. These flashbacks were strange at first, but they were actually pretty entertaining. Watching Martin Short work on improv comedy while dressed like a soldier from the Vietnam War was a nice bonus to the episode, especially when you included his comedy partner who made sound effects.
When John wasn’t dealing with Cannon’s mental breakdowns, he was trying to save Motif from an embarrassing death by Marine. Motif had taken the three-legged service dog to a park in order to get it laid (like a patriot), but it immediately ran away. This predicament involving the missing service dog led to the best part of the episode in which Andre (who is getting better each week), Jane, Motif, and John try to figure out which will be the best way to trick the Marine into thinking the dog wasn’t ever lost. All of the main characters had some particularly funny moments while trying to figure out the dog situations, especially Motif because he puts a dancing fish inside a stuffed dog.
Patriot Acts is one of the better episodes in Mulaney’s first season. The combination of smaller, more random scenes worked very well, and all of the characters were on point. Motif was great per usual, Andre got better, and Elliott Gould had some great moments. Even Robert Baker was great in his guest role, especially when he was screaming at John to show some backbone. Jane had some decent moments, but she is still pretty irritating. Thankfully, she does seem to be getting better.
Mulaney switched time slots to reach a different audience, and they chose the best episode to lead with. Patriot Acts had just the right amount of entertaining moments mixed with weirdness to make the episode fun for new viewers. However, we do have to hope that the new viewers won’t be completely confused by some of the underlying stories.
