just leave the sand what you go through
leave the sandwich
[Music]
leave this final sporting call this is
30 rock nbc's prime time
hit is known for being unconventional
ridiculous all sorts of adjectives but
at its worst 30 rock has a tendency to
be a little ham-fisted
and overly preachy but when the show is
firing on all cylinders it weaves its
absurdist humor into rich storytelling
in an almost seamless way that ends up
elevating the show beyond your typical
workplace comedy and putting it into a
class of its own there's a better
example of how the show executes this
than in season 2's 14th episode sandwich
day
you've never heard of sandwich day there
was also jack doing what jack does best
which is behaving like a hyper
conservative and selfish jerk
however in this opening scene after this
quick jab at hillary clinton we see
jack in a moment of weakness and
insecurity hillary clinton is president
sir
i i thought i would just try to scare
you out of it i i need you to wake up
granted he's sharing this moment with
someone who is unconscious and unable to
reciprocate but this moment highlights
what makes this episode pretty
well pretty perfect and that's
relatability on the surface jack has a
tendency to be selfish and sometimes
compassionless
i mean in this scene in particular he's
concerned about cutting his own
cantaloupe
and moving to a lower floor from his
executive suite which certainly is a
situation but i'd argue
that most people would have difficulty
relating to that situation however
moments of weakness like this allow us
as viewers to connect with him on an
emotional level and more
so relate to a situation that would
otherwise be difficult to
relate to in an incredibly real way
comedy is at its best when it operates
from an emotionally grounded place the
central plot line of this episode is
introduced here very quickly
liz lemons are not going to believe this
moment reveals that she's about to be
reconnected with floyd
barber who was a romantic partner toward
the end of season one it's an important
moment for liz
and a big part of what makes this
episode so relatable for sort of the
scene raises the stakes for us
as liz tells us that due to seemingly
serendipitous circumstances floyd is
only going to be in town for a day and
wants to crash at her place
this bit of information sets up the
entire episode not only does it raise
the stakes for our main character like
we just discussed and inject this
episode with a sense of urgency it also
allows liz to make
this statement i just don't want to
embarrass myself i want to be top dog
for once instead of just
dog it's in that line that we get a
strong desire or want from our main
character
desire being another key element in
comedic storytelling once we understand
what our characters want we've
effectively cemented what drives them
and
can have a lot of fun either giving them
what they want or denying them entirely
our next scene introduces us to the
show's tertiary plot line which also
happens to be the title of the episode
sandwich day for nbc comedy fans this
might seem like it borrows a little bit
from the office's pretzel day episode
but there's some seriously amazing
comedic acting here done by
judah freelander and we get this sort of
looming almost magical anticipation of
something fun happening in the workplace
this moment is where the writers of the
episode set the hook on the viewers with
the premise
of future delight and joy so just in the
first three minutes of the episode we've
been introduced to three plotlines i'll
be driving the episode jackson security
surrounding his demotion liz lemon's
relationship drama and the promise of
a celebration of sandwiches job security
romantic connection and joy are things
we can all relate to
this next scene shows jack is moving
down to the 12th floor and his assistant
is so broken up over it that he begins
singing sarah mclachlan to him jack
entertains this way longer than he
should before his downward elevator ride
from grace it's in the elevator with liz
that we see jack clinging to the status
he was recently shipped of by lying to
maybe both himself and again lemon just
character has been historically
portrayed as a high status character and
the writers are having fun
with this element of his character by
showing us what happens when we take
that away
now we're getting back to the sandwich
day plot line the stafford ball finished
our sandwiches and are dealing with some
degree of post sandwich mania the mob
mentality sort of sets in and the crew
decides they're going to steal liz's
sandwich
on the surface this seems like sort of a
low stakes plot line but it's actually
just important to the episode as jack or
liz's
sandwich day through line injects a fun
and games element into the episode and
it almost serves as a palette cleanser
from the more serious thematic
explorations of disgrace from drac and
liz's romantic troubles
jack romanticizing his job and liz well
a real person we also get the promise
that liz is going to lose it when she
finds out someone took her food now
floyd enters the picture and liz goes to
some ridiculous lengths to try to
impress him we also get the promise of
dinner date which entices us into sort
of will they won't they state of mind
back in the writers room the sandwich
heist backfires horribly as liz while
she explodes and threatens to carve
chins and all of the writers faces if
they don't find her a sandwich
but you're gonna get me another sandwich
or i'm gonna cut your face up so bad
you'll have a chin
you'll all have chins i don't know let's
just write steaks for even more
i guess you can call it fun and games
this plotline has now become a quest
for the teamsters fabled sandwiches this
edition of an objective grips us as
viewers as we are now promised that we
are going to figure out the secrets of
these magical sandwiches and have
hopefully fun doing it jack enters floor
12 and it's almost
cartoonishly horrible the writers do a
great job of making this floor look like
some type of wasteland and it's
absolutely necessary to do this because
seeing this sends jack into a frenzy of
desperation
so while jack shame spiral reaches the
zero hour we immediately head back to
liz and floyd's enjoying a post in our
walk
jason siddiques and tina fey have a
really amazing chemistry together in
real life well at least on screen and
that's an important part of what makes
this episode so great we like these
characters individuals we like them even
more when they're together
and we like the idea of them staying
together so we're saddened when we learn
that floyd has to leave immediately
to get on a flight giving liz lemon a
glimpse of her previously stated desire
and then finding a way to take it away
playing with the audience's heartstrings
a bit in the next scene jack's
desperation is rapidly on its way to
becoming outright mania as he seems to
be searching for meaning anywhere he can
possibly get it
it's surprising how fun it is to watch a
character struggle this much that's
likely in part because we're all a
little afraid of losing what we have
again relatability
liz gets a rude awakening for floyd and
then well actually we'll get back to
that a second for now we return to the
fun and games as the crew is now
confronting the teamsters about getting
one more sandwich for lists
teams raise the stake yet again on our
hapless cruel fools by informing them
that they will need to earn
the information about the fable sandwich
shop via a drinking contest
another big driving fact of this
plotline is the cameo by award-winning
dramatic actor well you might not know
his name but here he is you probably
recognize him comedy works well when you
take it as seriously as a drama so it
makes sense to include an actor who won
the tony and golden globe for his
performance in theatrical and television
versions of death of a salesman back in
liz's apartment we get this great
emotional confrontation about floyd's
potential romantic partner followed by a
surprisingly healthy and mature response
from floyd he reveals that he has an
immediate flight to catch
but still wants to talk it really seems
like floydlives are building something
healthy and positive for each other
and again we like seeing these two
together and want them to end up
together
or at least the writers hope so
meanwhile the crew enlists the help of
jenna who has been relatively absent for
the majority of this episode as the soul
contested in this drinking contest
and as we wrap this all up liz's royal
comes crumbling down as she runs into
floyd just sitting around at a park it's
revealed that he lied to liz in order to
avoid confronting
something that might be difficult to
talk about this leads to a falling out
between the two and by the time the
scene is over we as the viewers are just
as angry as liz's
we've lost trust in the relationship we
were rooting for just at the beginning
of the episode
the crew comes through at the midnight
hour with the drinking contest and liz
finally gets her sandwich
jackson's struggles with demotion lead
him to providing words of encouragement
necessary to push liz into rushing to
the airport to attempt to reconcile with
floyd and it's in this moment where all
three of our primary plot lines merge
together to create the driving force
necessary to lead to the episode's
conclusion liz ends up wolfing down that
sandwich like a champion in this 80s
romantic comedy throwback floyd and liz
finished the episode in an ambiguous way
that leaves us wanting more from their
relationship and the next episode is set
up when liz discovers that jack has
taken a job with the us government
is this the funniest episode of 30 rock
probably not but funny doesn't always
make something better
sandwich is an episode that grips the
audience by thrusting our favorite
characters into these extremely
relatable situations
these situations connect with us as a
viewer because we can immediately
emphasize with the
underlying struggles of our protagonist
that's when comedy is at its strongest
we are connected to the material the
jokes land better the stakes raise more
naturally and the plot flows more
smoothly because it's easier to merge
these spotlights together
when the thing driving those spotlights
is centered around emotion focusing on
those
key elements takes us away from watching
something
that we think we're going to laugh at
and transports us into this sort of
sweet spot of actually feeling for the
characters we care about we add in some
ridiculous fun with a supporting cast
and a drinking contest over sandwiches
well you have an episode of 30 rock
that's
pretty close to perfect well guys that's
it for today's episode of nostalgia if
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in the next one