by Chris Kelly
Lee soon finds that innocently inviting his new boss round to meet the rest of the team leads to a whole world of troubles, with snotty librarians, agitated skunks and a pack of hyperglycemic schoolkids all set to wreck the evening...
The High Life is a show I'm closely involved with, given that I'm technically one of the characters in it, but since the departure of the big man himself, Waylon Wyche, to seek fame and fortune out in Los Angeles for real, the show's been on a long hiatus while the remaining staff members (myself, Emma Platt and Chris Kelly) get things back to normality. Well, after a break of nine months, the show's back at last with a brand new episode, so without any further ado let's return to the antics of the most famous semi-fictional household on MZP!
We open with a depressed Emma debating over what to do with her new boyfriend - he has his advantages, sure, but he's kind of boring. Lee makes an appearance (God, it's weird writing about myself in the third person), but his very half-hearted attempt to cheer her up is interrupted by a knock at the door - and then another, and another. Somebody's trying to break in! Lee valiantly lets Emma take the lead, but finally yanks her back behind cover as Waylon and Chris burst in. False alarm. Emma makes the classic mistake of daring to imply that coffee might not be the greatest thing ever in front of Chris, the shock of this statement short-circuiting his little brain. The situation is thankfully defused without further incident, and the gang settle down to openly discuss what Emma should do next. Seems Waylon and Chris have done a little hacking to find out some hidden truths about the potential boyfriend in question, and it doesn't paint a pretty picture at all. Mind you, they just have a plan that Emma should marry for money if the group run out of cash, so that's their motivation right there. Emma decides to take Lee's advice, but this is clearly a rare situation, and Emma is left to muse on her decision as Waylon and Chris wash their hands of the whole thing...
We start Act I with Emma out on her second date in a park on a sunny day in downtown LA, with her bloke-to-be Earl prattling away in his boring way as Emma's internal monologue veers alarmingly towards murderous thoughts aimed at both Lee and Earl, whose sleazy routine marks him out as the kind of guy you'd wait to see set on fire before still not pissing on. Meanwhile, Lee swings by to see his boss Mr. Kennery, Lee currently being the only member of the team with actual gainful employment at a production studio. Lee's convinced he's in trouble (with obvious flashbacks to being called into the headmaster's office as a child), but he's actually about to get a promotion! You get the feeling he could easily talk himself into being deported if he's not careful, though... Emma's nightmare date is still, well, a nightmare, and across town at the library Ian is busy complaining about pretty much everything. After exploding at being shushed by a visitor, Ian's quick to vent his rage on anyone within his line of sight before co-worker Amy tries to calm him the heck down, but it's clear there's a different target for Ian's anger - Waylon. Ian's busy planning the perfect murder to remove Waylon from his life, but as Amy tries to stop him going postal on the annoyed library patrons, we're back with Lee and his boss. Kennery wants to do a final evaluation of Lee's work before moving him into his own office complete with insurance and health plan - the American dream! Lee sets up dinner at his apartment to go over the work the team have done to date, and as we leave that particular piece of dramatic irony hanging we move over to Claire at her school. Working as a supply teacher at a primary school would test anybody's patience, even the normally laid back Claire, and when she's not wrestling office equipment from the hands of mischevious five-year-olds, she's busy trying to convince the kids she hasn't murdered their normal teacher and taken her place! The classroom rapidly descends into chaos as we leave the scene for now.
Act II has Lee returning home with his boss, only to be met by Ian openly discussing his plans to murder Waylon and get away with it. Not the best entrance you could have hoped for. Waylon and Chris are out having a drink (again), busy commentating on the various LA stereotypes that wander past before Waylon decides to put Chris' famous luck to the test. He dares Chris to pickpocket a man waiting outside, and watches in amazement as Chris pretends to run into the guy, returning to Waylon's table with the wallet and handing it back moments later, to a chorus of thank yous from the unsuspecting victim. Back at the apartment, Lee is finding that Ian is answering all of Kennery's questions for him, much to his growing frustration, with Ian's honesty not what Lee needs right now. Claire slams into the apartment, loudly vocalising her horrific day at the hands of the kindergarten class, and to Lee's horror Kennery overhead the whole thing. Clearly losing his patience with the inmates of the asylum Lee appears to live in, Kennery tries to get down to business but is interrupted as Emma stomps in, laying into Lee for talking her into the second date and again, all before the watching eyes of his boss! However, Kennery doesn't help by tellng Emma all about the 'relationship' Lee's been telling people round his office that he and Emma had - which is news to Em! Emma drags Claire off for a rant, but to Lee's surprise he's still somehow in line for the job when Waylon and Chris arrive, and it doesn't take much from them to finally break Kennery and have him leave the apartment with a cartoonish slam of the door. Lee sinks into despair as we end the Act, the others still oblivious to what they've just done. Kennery's about turn does seem a little abrubt, but it still works given the circumstances.
Act III has Lee curled up in a ball of gloom in the kitchen, with Claire taking charge of the others to make sure some vague semblance of order is kept throughout the house. It's clear that the others have very little respect for Lee - they'll take him being in charge, but his many neuroses make him such an easy target, it's harder not to lay into the poor guy! Cut to later, and Kennery has somehow been coaxed back for dinner, the gang doing their best to be on their best behaviour around Lee's boss. There's some nice moments of silent comedy as the others start playing charades, before Ian finally spoils the game by blurting out in frustration. Chris manages to engage Kennery in some conversation about the stock market, much to the surprise of the others, and it seems to get the gang through dinner without further incident. Emma and Lee have an awkward conversation later as he attempts to talk his way out of pretending they were an item, with his argument that a lie was better than telling them the truth about his turbulent romantic history. The promise of beer seems to win Emma over - this time. Things are going well at last, but the untimely arrival of a girl guide sends Claire back into a whirlwind of anger, laying into the guide's dad after she sends the girl running off in tears! Kennery is pretty perturbed by this, but when Emma tries to flirt with him it's the last straw (again). Ian, Waylon and Chris chip in and do as little help as you'd expect, and as Kennery finally leaves it's pretty clear that the housemates have just cost Lee his job. Lee slumps in defeat as Waylon tries another shot at breaking Chris' incredible luck, chucking a rock at him - but hitting Ian instead!
Ian recovers in the ER, but is content to bide his time to get Waylon out of the building, having lost a democratic attempt to evict him over dinner. Back at the apartment, Lee is nowhere in sight as the others stress over how in the world they're going to fix his broken sense of confidence. To the accompaniment of a musical montage courtesy of Green Day, Lee's out roaming the streets as Claire busies herself with cleaning up, Chris and Emma fall asleep on each other to continue the hints of romance between the two, and as Lee drowns his sorrows at the nearest bar we black out on the show's comeback episode.
So. It's been a long time coming, so is the return of The High Life everything we could have hoped and more? Well... yes and no. Chris Kelly is still a relatively new writer, and while the standard of writing here is impressively high for such a relative newcomer, it's still a little rough around the edges in places. Having a cast of such strong central characters makes his job a lot easier, however, as the dialogue bounces between the six of them effortlessly throughout the episode. This is the kind of show where you could put any of the characters in any scene and leave them to their devices, and always have something entertaining to watch, but put two or more of them together and things really come alive. It's no surprise that the stronger moments of the script come when most of the gang are together, with some good physical comedy over the dinner table. Kelly also has a very unique way of writing both dialogue and stage direction which, while taking a little getting used to, gives him a nicely distinctive style that's instantly recognisable, something many writers spend years trying to develop! Let's not forget that Waylon Wyche wrote three of the last four episodes, so his sense of humour has been the standard thus far, and any new writer would stick out as something different after that. Faults? The pacing of the episode is a little wonky - Kennery seems to storm out in a huff at least three times, always to return as though nothing happened, and the over-long third Act means the final scenes are too short to have any real impact, but given the show's approach to comedy (blending it within the framework of a traditional drama rather than going for shorter, gag-laden sitcom-style scripts) this is something that still needs a few episodes to develop. The show's characters are nailed down right from the start, it's just the style and structure that need fine tuning now. All in, an impressive return that, while not quite hitting the heights this show is obviously capable of, reminds us why this show is so popular and gets things back on track at last. Things can only get better from here.
ZPM RATING:
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