Two feuding office employees at an insurance company, receptionist Gina and her boss Blair, caught in a time loop at the beginning of the apocalypse, must work together to save their loved ones and escape the city of Atlanta. After working together to save a large group of fleeing civilians from a herd and faces their respective fears, the time loop is finally broken, although Gina suggests that, alternatively, they may be experiencing a shared delusion.
Blair-Gina is another generic episode if you disregard the fantastical subterfuge. The developments until the conclusion that they need each other become tedious due to repetition, despite Kari Drake's script handling everything with doses of humor - kudos for that - and a banal drama, in which Michael Satrazemis seems uninspired, rushing through as per the text. This doesn't take away all the merit because the duo entertains, with Parker Posey playing an unbearable secretary full of antics and Jillian Bell being the embodiment of hatred. A perfect dish for this kind of story. Blair-Gina is one of the boldest episodes of the TWDU, which should evoke many contradictory feelings about it. Something I hope Tales continues with strength, unafraid to throw us into new horizons.
Conceptually, if the road trip from the series' first episode plays it safe, the second tale of the anthology goes to the other extreme, bringing elements of time loop stories a la "Groundhog Day," with the narrative of a boring boss (Parker Posey) and her receptionist (Jillian Bell) reliving a day at the beginning of the apocalypse. Who would have imagined this being told in The Walking Dead, huh? Of all that was imagined for this series, this didn't even come close to many fans' minds. It's so strange, surprising, and in a way brave, but it's still hard to swallow this kind of sci-fi-fantasy concept in the TWD universe. It doesn't make sense within the principles of this reality, and ends up being a bit disrespectful to the interesting mythology that Kirkman created in the comics and that was well adapted in the beginning of the original series.
But worst of all: it's not a TWD tale. It's off-topic, an approach error, a deviation from the essence of the work, or whatever you want to characterize it, but, in short, it shouldn't be here. This can be many things, but not TWD, which for many makes the episode automatically bad. It simply doesn't make sense considering what has already been established, and, no matter what your opinion of the experience is, it's impossible to call something displaced a good subterfuge. Setting that aside, however, it's still possible to have fun with the episode. Posey brings the same comedic character that made me love her: an unbearable and funny character for that, with a bit of arrogance mixed with strange body language and lots of antics. Jillian Bell also holds her own as a passive-aggressive and somewhat cynical receptionist. The two are not spectacular, but, like Crews and Munn, they have good chemistry and charm to keep everything watchable.
It's not possible to praise the execution of the relived day very much, as it's a script and direction that also play it safe. The unfolding of the story is as generic as possible in stories of this caliber. It's very difficult to find the balance between comedy, drama, and repetition that isn't bland, as seen in "Groundhog Day," "Palm Springs," and even "Russian Doll." Especially because this kind of narrative is better with truly interesting characters, and not just two minimally amusing actresses. And, well, belonging to a universe where this makes sense doesn't hurt either.
Blair-Gina is another generic episode if you disregard the fantastical subterfuge. The developments until the conclusion that they need each other become tedious due to repetition, despite Kari Drake's script handling everything with doses of humor - kudos for that - and a banal drama, in which Michael Satrazemis seems uninspired, rushing through as per the text. This doesn't take away all the merit because the duo entertains, with Parker Posey playing an unbearable secretary full of antics and Jillian Bell being the embodiment of hatred. A perfect dish for this kind of story. Blair-Gina is one of the boldest episodes of the TWDU, which should evoke many contradictory feelings about it. Something I hope Tales continues with strength, unafraid to throw us into new horizons.
Conceptually, if the road trip from the series' first episode plays it safe, the second tale of the anthology goes to the other extreme, bringing elements of time loop stories a la "Groundhog Day," with the narrative of a boring boss (Parker Posey) and her receptionist (Jillian Bell) reliving a day at the beginning of the apocalypse. Who would have imagined this being told in The Walking Dead, huh? Of all that was imagined for this series, this didn't even come close to many fans' minds. It's so strange, surprising, and in a way brave, but it's still hard to swallow this kind of sci-fi-fantasy concept in the TWD universe. It doesn't make sense within the principles of this reality, and ends up being a bit disrespectful to the interesting mythology that Kirkman created in the comics and that was well adapted in the beginning of the original series.
But worst of all: it's not a TWD tale. It's off-topic, an approach error, a deviation from the essence of the work, or whatever you want to characterize it, but, in short, it shouldn't be here. This can be many things, but not TWD, which for many makes the episode automatically bad. It simply doesn't make sense considering what has already been established, and, no matter what your opinion of the experience is, it's impossible to call something displaced a good subterfuge. Setting that aside, however, it's still possible to have fun with the episode. Posey brings the same comedic character that made me love her: an unbearable and funny character for that, with a bit of arrogance mixed with strange body language and lots of antics. Jillian Bell also holds her own as a passive-aggressive and somewhat cynical receptionist. The two are not spectacular, but, like Crews and Munn, they have good chemistry and charm to keep everything watchable.
It's not possible to praise the execution of the relived day very much, as it's a script and direction that also play it safe. The unfolding of the story is as generic as possible in stories of this caliber. It's very difficult to find the balance between comedy, drama, and repetition that isn't bland, as seen in "Groundhog Day," "Palm Springs," and even "Russian Doll." Especially because this kind of narrative is better with truly interesting characters, and not just two minimally amusing actresses. And, well, belonging to a universe where this makes sense doesn't hurt either.