Go On "He Got Game, She Got Cats" Review

Go On premiered over a month ago during NBC's Olympics coverage. I wrote three paragraphs about the series during my preview of NBC's new shows. I mostly touched on the tonal differences of the show and wondered how the sitcom could be consistently funny, given its sad premise. There were funny moments in the second episode of the series, and there were sad moments, too. Maybe Scott Silveri, the series creator, isn't interested in marrying the tones, but, rather, in depicting a certain kind of grief where one day the grieving individual is afraid to go home and full of sadness but then isn't the next day.

Matthew Perry's Ryan is the sort of person who's a mess one day and then completely together the next day. The character is afraid to be perceived as so sad. The "Pilot" had a great piece of juxtaposition in the second act where Ryan's lively narration carries the group through a session, but it's followed by each of the group returning to their lonely lives. "He Got Game, She Got Cats" opens with a similar piece of juxtaposition. Ryan works as a radio host, a Colin Cowherd/Howard Eskin type. Ryan's job is to rile the city of San Diego up to the point where they want to put the stone of shame on Norv Turner. Ryan's in mid-afternoon form, baiting the callers to call in to stop his loneliness; he's talking about the loneliness of long-distance running and how he'd never do it because he hates to be alone. Ryan begs for a dude to rant about the Chargers defense so he's not alone just as the scene transitions to a shot of Ryan walking into his empty house followed by his swift departure from it. Ryan doesn't want to be alone.

Episode 2 follows Ryan through his struggle with loneliness. As a whole, the writing staff tried to tell one too many stories in 21 minutes. First, Ryan's reliance on his assistant, Carrie, is established. Second, Ryan's penchant for riling the group up comes back to bite him when he causes Sonia to rely on him after she abruptly dumps her boyfriend and buys a bunch of cats. Third, Ryan and Steve, John Cho's character, visit with George, one of the group members, to check out a piece of sports memorabilia. George learns his most valuable items were stolen from him because of his blindness. Ryan and Steve want to help him, too. Fourth, Ryan needs to learn the lesson about the difference between he, a patient, and Lauren, the group therapist; specifically, Ryan cannot solve someone's problem in thirty seconds. It is a lot of story to tell in a short time.

"He Got Game, She Got Cats" isn't a failure. The various storylines are all handled very well, though there were times when I forgot about one until it suddenly showed up again. My normally reliable memory might not be so reliable in Go On's case. Ryan's assistant wasn't introduced in the pilot, and Steve communicated with Ryan only. I could be wrong about both. Anyway, Carrie's immediately an important part of Ryan's life, and Steve's suddenly vital to George's disposition. Networks move around the episodes of their sitcoms if they think the actual second episode is worse than the third or fourth or fifth episode. Community's first season commentary tracks taught me about NBC moving around episodes in an attempt to put the best possible ones on first, because they need to hook an audience. Steve's friendship with George, and Carrie's importance to Ryan, which were absent in the pilot, lends to the speculation about the episode being moved up.

Ryan runs into trouble because he's unaware of the affect he has on people, for good or ill. Carrie complains to Steve about working late every night for no reason because her boss is afraid to go home. Ryan complains to Lauren about Sonia's cats after Sona and the entire group leaves her cats with him. Lauren warned Ryan that Sonia's problems were deeper than her surface issues with her boyfriend. She latches onto Ryan because she craves a long-term, meaningful friendship. Ryan's emotional arc runs parallel to crazy Sonia (one of the group member's nickname for her), which he doesn't realize. The Sonia problem is relieved when Ryan reaches out to Lauren. Carrie's Ryan problem is relieved when she directly tells him how his behavior affects her personal life. Sonia used cats to stand-in for the meaningful long-term connection she lacked just as Ryan used Carrie to stand-in for his wife who'd always be home when he came home to simply be with him. Sonia gives her cats away to begin working towards what she truly wants, but Ryan won't let Carrie go once she's gone from work. Ryan agrees to leave her alone, but he asks her to think about him when he's not with her, and to check in on him, which she does. It's a sweet yet sad moment that deepens Ryan's character and makes him relatable. Ryan's triumphant moment is realizing Lauren's good in her job, and that she'll help him if he'll let her.

George's first lines are about his dislike of the home he's been put into. The old man is crushed when he learns people took advantage of his blindness to take expensive collectibles from his collection. The history of Steve's friendship with George is unexplained, but Steve and Ryan are the men who lift George's spirits. Ryan decides to help George by taking him to a Lakers game. Since George is blind, Ryan narrates the action, but George wants Ryan to be quiet and listen to the game. George's words about listening are the most obvious symbolism in the episode. Simply, he tells Ryan to close his eyes and listen to the game, because he'll experience a completely different game. All is dark when Ryan closes his eyes, but he hears the dribble of the basketball, the swooshing sound of the net when a Laker hits his shot, and the roar of the crowd delighted with the two points. This piece of dialogue is about Ryan listening to others' pains, but, really, it's about listening to himself, what he feels, and what he needs to heal. It's a process. Just as he learns to listen to the game rather than see the game, so must he learn how to grieve and find peace without his wife.

I think I'm going to stick with Go On for awhile and write about it. Matthew Perry's been good balancing the moods and idiosyncrasies of his character. The scenes with George worked really well. The parallels between Ryan and Sonia were well-drawn and provided insight into both. "He Got Game, She Got Cats" represented what I think the show is more so than the "Pilot." The "Pilot" was broad and loud with little time for self-reflection. So, I'm curious what the series will be by November. So far, so good.

THE YOUTUBE CLIP OF THE WEEK