Review is one of the most surprising, glorious shows that I’ve ever seen on television. I was anticipating these final episodes almost as much as I’ve been looking forward to the new season of Twin Peaks (which is saying something, guys). Continuing to defy expectations, this final season is not at all what I expected, yet it still manages to simultaneously be a very different Review as well as the same old one. The series is aware of its impending ending, and in turn it feels like every episode is injected with an extra sense of purpose. This year of the show—much like Forrest himself—is especially trying to say something. It just might break a man in the process. Heading into this season, I was more than ready to get a year that began with Forrest and Grant in the wilderness, reviewing tactics of desperation like “Drinking Your Own Urine” or “Eating a Raw Squirrel,” with the season chronicling the last days of a man at his end. Interestingly enough, the show does still explore that idea, but in way that’s much more internal.
As depressing and hopeless as it feels like Review can become at times, these final episodes reflect the perspective that Forrest deserves a happy ending and the right to go out on an optimistic note, even if it’s a blissfully unaware one. There’s a scene between Forrest and Suzanne (Jessica St. Clair—who by the way never gets enough credit for the work she’s done on this show, and she especially kills it this year) where she perfectly breaks down everything that’s wrong with Forrest’s way of life and how he should change. Forrest comes back at her just as strong, explaining why following “the hand of the universe” is actually a beautiful, romantic way of going about things. We naturally gravitate more towards Suzanne’s opinion because we’ve seen the heavy damage that these reviews have done to every aspect of Forrest’s life, but Forrest isn’t exactly wrong either. There’s something admirable about the way he views his show and the work that he’s doing. He might have irrevocably become a part of this show to the point where he doesn’t know how to function without it, losing his sense of individuality in the process, but it’s something that he’s done with the most selfless of intentions. Review’s final season is a reminder that this show can truly be an endurance test of the human spirit. Forrest is the perfect Job surrogate for someone being tested by the universe. His perspective on all of this also very much informs the show. If Forrest was bitter about all of this, it’d be an angry, bitter series. Instead he’s eternally optimistic and so his character is the constant scamp. Review’s Final Season 4.5/5 Stars No Longer Having Any More Seasons of Review 0.5/5 Stars This review is based on the first two half-hour episodes of Review’s third season. Review’s final season begins airing March 16th at 10pm on Comedy Central
