One of the first episodes of season 4 (presuming you watched them in their intended order), Borderline Personalities begins telling what's become of George Sr. since 2006. Season 4, particularly its beginning, has been criticized as below AD standards. Looking at the beginning of the season, I think Flight of the Phoenix and Indian Takers are quite underrated. For Borderline Personalities, the "disappointing" label seems to stick better, but there are still laughs and some cleverness here.
My biggest turnoff in this episode was the bathroom humour between Barry and Oscar at the end. That's unfortunate, but not exactly unprecedented, looking at seasons 1-3. You can also argue George and Sitwell childishly struggling over blueprints is silly, but that's not unprecedented, either, and not totally unfunny. George's "vision" of the ostrich man is unusual for AD, which ruled out having dream sequences from the very beginning, but it later turns out the "ostrich man" was real. I do agree Seth Rogen was miscast as Young George.
That said, there are reasons not to overlook Borderline Personalities. Heart Fire, who communicates by thought, is a quirky new character, absurd in how well some people understand her and how she expects others to. She's probably one of the best new characters of season 4, along with Debrie, whose humour is very dark. The corrupt anesthesiologist isn't bad, either. The flashes of Buster are wonderful, too, namely his dramatic reaction to George and Lucille's "divorce" and helping Lucille smoke. Resembling a twisted mother bird feeding regurgitated food to her young, that's an inventive and cruel joke. This is certainly among the weakest of AD episodes- but weak for AD is still better than most things.
My biggest turnoff in this episode was the bathroom humour between Barry and Oscar at the end. That's unfortunate, but not exactly unprecedented, looking at seasons 1-3. You can also argue George and Sitwell childishly struggling over blueprints is silly, but that's not unprecedented, either, and not totally unfunny. George's "vision" of the ostrich man is unusual for AD, which ruled out having dream sequences from the very beginning, but it later turns out the "ostrich man" was real. I do agree Seth Rogen was miscast as Young George.
That said, there are reasons not to overlook Borderline Personalities. Heart Fire, who communicates by thought, is a quirky new character, absurd in how well some people understand her and how she expects others to. She's probably one of the best new characters of season 4, along with Debrie, whose humour is very dark. The corrupt anesthesiologist isn't bad, either. The flashes of Buster are wonderful, too, namely his dramatic reaction to George and Lucille's "divorce" and helping Lucille smoke. Resembling a twisted mother bird feeding regurgitated food to her young, that's an inventive and cruel joke. This is certainly among the weakest of AD episodes- but weak for AD is still better than most things.
