Great. Thanks a lot, Party Down, for proving me wrong just one week after I griped about Roman being a total downer. Last Friday, I suggested that Roman’s angry-nerd act was becoming a little too one-note to be enjoyable; now tonight we see him not only showing a little humanity to his nemesis Kyle, but also deploying his angry-nerditude in such a way that it actually lightened up what was a fairly dark episode. Like most people, usually I hate being proven wrong, but in this case, it’s a welcome occasion.
Roman’s relentless efforts to kick-start a dead-in-the-water orgy hosted by Nick Dicintio (played by Tom Lennon, yet another name on PD’s roster of top-notch guest stars) constituted the lone bits of optimism in tonight’s downer episode. (Lively as they were, Lydia’s attempts to catch the eye and huge house of the recently divorced Dicintio were too motivated by desperation to feel optimistic. Lydia was making a frantic grab at not dying alone; Roman just wanted to see some titties.) Granted, none of Roman’s plans to get other people—or himself—into the “fuck room” went exactly as planned, but at least he was energized by some sort of purpose while the rest of the crew wallowed in their respective miseries.
Now, Henry and Casey are always pretty ready to admit their lives suck, so their significant-other issues weren’t particularly poignant—though Henry’s admission that his relationship with Uda doesn’t “give his life meaning,” followed by Ron’s not-so-comforting “Well, at least you’ve got work” was its own certain kind of soul-crushing. But really it was the despair of two of the series’ most insistently positive characters, Ron and Kyle, that gave this episode its dark overtones. Despite their respective failures throughout the first season, both Ron and Kyle were always motivated by the never-wavering belief that they were destined for bigger and better things. (Constance too, but we won’t be seeing her again until the season finale.)
But now, Ron is reduced to a blubbering, pit-stained fuckstick who can’t cut cheese without dissolving into hysterics over his ex-Ladyfriend, and Kyle is experiencing self-doubt, possibly for the first time ever, thanks to the struggling actress/condom-and-lube-dispenser at the party who drops a serious bitterness bomb on him. Throw all this in the midst of the saddest wannabe-orgy/Eyes Wide Shut theme party ever, and things look pretty bleak all around. Maybe that’s why Roman’s reluctant yet seemingly genuine attempts to comfort Kyle felt so gosh-darned sweet, even when presented via heartbreakingly ironic statements like, “Who you gonna believe, a wannabe who’s pissed from working a shitty, dehumanizing job, or me?”