After a less-than-amazing premiere, Mulaney returned with a second episode that focused on the circle of life. This episode, The Doula, also focused more on Lou Cannon, Jane, and John’s girlfriend while removing some of the more obvious bits from his stand-up comedy. Was this changing style more successful, or was the episode as uninspiring as the pilot?
The Doula has two main plot points that are discussed in detail—Lou Cannon’s love life and the role of a Doula during a home birth. Both of these plots are also mixed together with a tiny bit of air conditioner humor courtesy of Motif and Jane. Oh, and Andre is involved somehow, but that doesn’t really matter. Basically, the main thing, Lou Cannon’s…excitement for women, is explained in great detail when he breaks up with his girlfriend and immediately starts hitting on every single female within a mile radius of his game show. Obviously, this doesn’t make the female producer happy, so she tells John to take care of the problem via hook, crook, or female escort.
Unfortunately, John has to deal with Lou’s problem while also finding a way to date a Doula (the labor coach during the home birth). The issue with this relationship is John’s inability to see anything related to childbirth without fainting. This problem comes to a head when John mistakenly shows enthusiasm for his girlfriend’s upcoming birthing assistance. He then has to spend the rest of the episode learning about painful childbirth procedures and the “magic” of life.
The Doula isn’t a fantastic episode, but it does have its moments. Oscar makes a welcome appearance, but he is truly the only great character. Lou Cannon started as an entertaining psycho, but his appearance as the episode’s main focus was actually kind of irritating. Lou spent the entire episode making inappropriate jokes about random female contestants. Inappropriate jokes can be funny, but most of the jokes from the episode were pretty terrible. So far, the rest of the characters have been fairly average. Jane and Andre are still irritating, but Motif has been fairly entertaining.
The Doula does introduce a new character that probably will only be in one or two episodes. This character is Mary Jo, the former marine who serves as the producer for You Guessed it. Mary Jo is slightly crazy, but her larger-than-normal personality is actually pretty entertaining. I do hope that she makes another appearance because she is one of the only characters to make me laugh during the latest episode.
Honestly, I am slightly worried about Mulaney. The show has pretty decent potential, but it seems that the show’s writers and creators are simply trying to recreate Seinfeld. Just think about the parallel in characters between the show. Seinfeld had Jerry, the best friend (George), the token crazy girl (Elaine), and the guy that no one likes (Newman). Mulaney has these characters in John, Motif, Jane, and Andre. The only person missing at the moment is Kramer, but the season is young. I’m afraid that Mulaney will avoid breaking a new path and will ultimately get cancelled. John Mulaney and Lorne Michaels could create an entertaining new show, but they need to break away from more basic jokes and reach for new heights. Hopefully, the show will last long enough to make some positive changes.
