'Moonbase 8': How Episode 2 'Rats' had better scope for comedy delivery but crashed and burned real hard
Spoilers for 'Moonbase 8' Episode 2 'Rats'
Showtimes' 'Moonbase 8' had the potential to be a funny series, one that brought dry humor back to generalized comedy. Those were our thoughts when we watched Episode 1 'Dry', but with Episode 2 'Rats', our hopes were dramatically crushed. If you got through the episode without cringing, you probably enjoy boredom or have a special skill to endure it. The episode's premise was to cater to Rook (Tim Heidecker) feeling homesick, while Cap (John C. Reilly) and Skip (Fred Armisen) focus on the prowler outside their training base. While they did absolutely nothing to cater to that (insulting many astronauts who actually experience this), they didn't bring the fun either. We were expecting an ode to dry comedy considering the cast of Reilly, Armisen, and Heidecker but all we got were scripted characters who thought that the suggestion to dance to Indian music to decrease suit-up time, would make us giggle. It did not. It seemed that they were trying too hard, for a plotline that should have been easy when it came to jokes.
We are especially surprised by Armisen's character, who seems to be a robotic character lurking in the shadows of his father's success. He is the most logical, we'll give him that, but this is Armisen we're talking about -- the comedian, writer, producer, and cast member of Saturday Night Live. Have we forgotten his roles in 'Anchorman' and 'Cop Out'? The man won a Peabody award in 2012 (which he shared with Carrie Brownstein) for 'Portlandia'! What about Reilly? Does anyone remember 'Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story' or even 'Step Brothers'? Let's also not forget Heidecker's 'Tim & Eric's Bedtime Stories'. Honestly, it's even more disappointing that Reilly, Armisen, and Heidecker, all have writing credits to the series. With this one, their talent barely peeked out. They are capable of a lot more, as actors and writers, and their fans are well aware of that.
The episode in itself had a lot of scope for comedy and entertainment -- you have three men who basically know nothing about going to the moon, training to go the moon. Rook misses his family, Cap has no idea how to run his team and Skip wants to be like his father so bad. We may not be comedy experts, but we expected better jokes than a prowler named Wally (Joshua Davis) who wanted to recycle and Jeremy the rat (being Rook's favorite). The punchlines lacked punch and the comedy was below mediocre -- we don't understand the point, half the time. We do understand though, that the series seems to be going for a silly stance on comedy as the characters form ridiculous ideas such as drinking vegetable oil or the fact that Travis Kelce dies in the first episode because he wanted to dig a well when they ran out of water. What we have to say to that is that the jokes seriously lacked context and content -- hence the lack of laughter.
There was incredible potential for hilarious scenes just in 'Rats' all along, but it was a huge disappointment. Mostly, because we expect a lot more from the people involved in the series. There was so much material to work with, yet none of it was given a chance. We thought it could only go up from 'Dry', turns out there's no limit to lack of hilarity.
'Moonbase 8' airs on Showtime on Sundays at 11 pm ET/PT.