Unexpectedly, Terrell Owens is turning out to be an excellent addition to Go On—maybe even its best cast member. For one thing, he’s got great comedic timing. I am not sure if he’s acting as anyone except himself, but he plays off of everyone well, and delivers punchlines without ever entirely stealing the show. He and Carrie, in particular, have great comedic chemistry. They only share one line of dialogue in “Go Deep” but it’s easily one of the funniest. (“Mmm, yes, we are often mistaken for each other.” “Sarcasm: It’s funny, but at what cost?”)
Overall this is a strong episode of Go On—in some places, very strong. Owens singing falsetto (and playing at being Ryan’s assistant) lifts up Ryan’s plotline, and the B-plot with Lauren, Yolanda, and Blind George is in fact very funny. Ryan brings Simone to his workplace to impress her and gets a little carried away—he quits his job in mock indignation and the two go to a meditation retreat (accompanied by Mr. K, because, why not). Meanwhile Lauren gets a bad evaluation, and the minor failure sends her into a miniature tailspin that turns into an amateur detective caper. If the latter sounds way more interesting than the former, that’s because it is; Laura Benanti is great as the good-hearted neurotic, willing to go a little far (but not too far) in the service of her perfectionism. She and Suzy Nakamura have found an on-screen dynamic that works well. Add a few brief moments with Julie White’s Anne or Sarah Baker’s Sonia and the result is so many snappy punchlines that I had to rewind a few times to get them all.
I noticed in this episode that Ryan, Simone, and Mr. K have a little bit of difficulty holding up the plot on their own at the enlightenment center. My guess is because the humor there largely derives from the external environment, and I don’t find the meditation center particularly funny. The detective caper, meanwhile, is about investigating the other members of the group—it’s both plot and characterization, if in an oblique way. The investigation is so ludicrous that the mock-serious tone throws everyone’s neuroses into sharper relief—and then of course, in the resolution of the mystery, Yolanda herself is the one who feels that she’s been ignored, because Ryan is too much of a drain on Lauren’s time. The shadowy montage, punctuated with black-and-white stills, in which Blind George deduces the case and strongarms Sonia into confessing the true perpetrator? Hilarious. Blind George is the best (and he used to be a detective, in case you missed that).