Her personal and professional lives are a mess, so, understandably, she tenders her resignation. All this does is push Greg into trying to convince her to stay, and Ludlow’s president, Walter (McGinley), to give him time to sway his daughter’s decision. I guess we shouldn’t try to poke holes in the story, huh? If a teacher torched campus housing, would the decision to keep her on or fire her truly hinge on Walter getting her dad, an acclaimed author, to take up a coveted position for one semester? Or on Walter trying to appease the cop by inviting him into the sauna in his home? But that’s exactly what happens when Walter essentially blackmails Greg into being the writer-in-residence so that Katie can keep her job (after she sends the board an apology note blaming her actions on mental distress and gets a brief suspension). Greg takes the gig, although he doesn’t even tell his daughter they’re about to be co-workers, simply screaming, “See you Monday,” before he takes off at the end.
Still, Carell and Clive are a treat to watch together as they establish Greg and Katie’s personalities and rapport. The show keeps reminding us that the father-daughter duo is a little too similar, considering Greg also took off to Florida after his wife cheated and dumped him five years ago. So he gets her inherent desire to run away, but would rather she learn from his mistakes instead of repeating them. (“I’m not resilient,” he tells her. “I don’t want to pass that down.” But he also tells her, “Lack of game recognizes lack of game,” which got me to chuckle.) Their relationship adds much-needed depth to Rooster, as does the budding one between Greg and Dylan (Deadwyler), who bond over their flirting disaster from the previous night and reestablish their chemistry over breakfast.
It’s also oddly lovely to get insight into the friendship between Dylan and Walter, as the two tend to go on coffee walks together to discuss any problems. It’s during one such stroll that she requests an expanded budget so she can publish the college magazine (the apparent “cornerstone of the arts program”) more often. She even boasts to her students about how much they’re going to love seeing their bylines in print. Oh, Dylan, I understand the sentiment, but as soon as she said it, I knew where the plot was going. Instead of championing her, Walter tells Dylan that he has to cease publication altogether and that The Ludlow Review is going digital because he wasn’t able to secure the budget from the dean.
Elsewhere, Rooster is already trying to give Archie (a certified douche) redemption. His apology to Katie gets him nowhere, but he makes progress with Sunny (Lauren Tsai) after she tells him she’s keeping the baby. Sunny even lectures him on his narcissism, which raises the question of why she chooses to be with him. He asks her, too, but her response is unsatisfactory. (She claims it’s because of his face, mind, and accent such that “it’s like having sex with Paddington.”) Archie seems to have taken her words to heart. Or at least he’s forced to after Greg finds out Archie’s fathering a child, runs to his room, and beats him up on live TV because he was talking to BBC News at the time. It’s a ridiculous bit of physical comedy, but you can tell Carell and Dunster had a blast filming the scene where Greg all but spanks Archie on the bed for the world to see. Ultimately, Archie leaves his hotel and moves in with Sunny and her roommate, which brings Robby Hoffman into the world of Rooster. Let’s hope the show cranks up the funny soon.
Stray observations
- • The episode title comes courtesy of Archie’s clothes getting soiled by coffee and everyone being slightly amused by the British man calling his pants trousers.
- • Another subplot tacked on here is that Greg steals the weathercock (weather-rooster?) from atop a building and gives it to Katie. He hopes she can fulfill her wish of participating in the campus tradition of a teacher hiding the statue, and if any student finds it, everyone gets the day off.
- • One big indication that Rooster doesn’t know how to write for its college setting is when Dylan talks to her class and a student responds with the following: “I pull—as in threesomes” before asking a peer if he “wants to get pegged.”
- • Alan Ruck debuts as the indifferent Dean Riggs. I’m obsessed with Deadwyler’s exasperated delivery of “this prehistoric fuck” after Riggs walks away from her.
- • “I know there are a million reasons I shouldn’t have this baby. I was supposed to go to Burning Man.”
- • Archie: “Does your dad know that Sunny’s been impregnated?”
Katie: “Absolutely insane way to distance yourself from it.”
- • Please give Annie Mumolo more to do.
- • I’m a fan of the show’s opening credits and music!
Saloni Gajjar is The A.V. Club‘s TV critic.
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