It’s been a few weeks, but Up All Night finally has its groove back. Guest stars have been a particular weakness of the show, so it’s surprising and refreshing that an episode with Megan Mullally, Will Forte, and Fred Armisen all thrown into the mix not only wasn’t bogged down, but actually seemed to give the writing the jolt it needed. One of the main problems of the past couple episodes is how underused the actors have been, but “Hey Jealousy” managed to give everyone something they could chew on, guests included. Sure, some people sort of dipped in and out in a way that is a little confusing retrospectively, but I was having such a good time I didn’t even notice.
Reagan and Luke, who I honestly sometimes forget is still on this show, have apparently gone from fighting over Yvonne’s affection and beautiful puff coats to drinking wine together on business trips, a development that makes Chris suspicious that Luke has a crush on Reagan. Arnett has one of those great, face-meltingly awkward gibberish deliveries when he sees Luke in the room with Reagan during a Skype chat. I believe the transcription of what he says, in the weird tonally alternating voice of a pubescent boy practicing his lines for the school play, is “DamnitrightonclassicoLukey!” Chris’ bouts of verbal nonsense are one of my favorite things on the show, if only because that feeling of trying to act cool and ending up spouting something that sounds like Metallica lyrics translated into and out of Japanese is an intimately familiar feeling.
Chris is usually a pretty easy-going guy, but he slowly descends into jealous madness after hearing about his neighbor whose wife cheated on him, the neighbor in question played by the excellently nonchalant Will Forte, who explains that he’s dealt with it via a massive, emotion-killing dose of antidepressants. (“I saw a documentary on Haiti. That’s sad, right?” he asks.) It’s a flip of Reagan’s Friday Night Lights-fueled suspicions in “Rivals,” but it’s funnier because Chris’ bizarre break-down involves less yelling and more Arnett-ian preening.
All of this plays out over Ava’s latest fitness-meets-charity quest, a fun run that she’s been training for by drinking milkshakes on the ol’ elliptical. But then rival talk show host Shayna challenges her to the race, a crisis that Ava meets by hiring expert trainer Gideon Kirk, played by Fred Armisen dressed as a Russian mob boss. Kirk’s advice is mostly about reaching your goals via the music of Don Henley, as in “Clap like you’re clapping at a Don Henley concert.” Unable to out-train Shayna in two days’ time, Ava turns to her most familiar weapon: sabotage.