“Roommates” is perhaps the strongest entry of Bedtime Stories yet, as it opens particularly strong with a pitch-perfect recreation and lampooning of cheesy ‘90s comedies. I initially thought that if this episode was given a little more distance from “The Bathroom Boys,” an episode that is satirizing very similar things, albeit slightly different, it might have had a little more impact. Very quickly though, this episode makes itself its own thing and establishes why it’s the better, more refined of the two episodes. Franklin Bing (Tim) and Tony Dort (Eric) are pretty much an amalgam of traits we’ve seen them doing before, as they play beyond-struggling hipster actors, and new roommates, hoping to hit it big. I really can’t get over how Eric looks here, and while we’ve definitely seen him in more absurd costumes, the waxed mustache he’s sporting here just works so well. The fact that they’re both aping 20-somethings (and doing a great job at it) as they’re decades older than they should be helps sell this all the more and make it further surreal. They’re hopelessly out of touch, as they work Spanish clunkily into conversation, without a shred of pessimism in them. The two of them trade stories of unfulfilling online videos they make, and classes they go to, while spinning it into gold as Latin jazz plays in the background. “I love your opinions,” Bing says to Dort, as these two continue to get increasingly depressing and delusional as they fail to stand out. It’s also great to slowly see reality coming in on these guys, like Tony explaining how he was shot down at his acting and barista interviews, they completely call him on what we’ve been seeing the whole time. Meanwhile, Franklin’s mother struggles to understand what her son and roommate are saying, the Spanish façade just confusing her. A bartender continues to come up empty as none of the convoluted drinks that Franklin requests can be made, as he moans about the surface density of a drink. It’s all great juxtaposition and helps segregate these two even more. After this considerable, appreciated groundwork is laid (this is also nearly a double episode, at twenty minutes, and the extra time really helps out the story here), the cracks in everything begin to show with Bing getting increasing suspicious of Dort and his mother’s behavior, as cold sores develop from “travel” and hearts are made in lattes. Tim’s incredulous through all of this is also some great stuff, constantly widening his eyes and micro-shaking his head in disbelief. It’s a welcome, smaller performance to the much bigger one Eric is taking on, and you know that a break is going to happen soon. And it does, when he catches them mutually masturbating together. The ending is another wonderful set piece to the episode, as we see Franklin Bing’s one man show, which pretty much hits up all the tropes of bad theater, as we see a very sparse audience watch perplexed. Franklin rags on Tony, and while this works enough as an ending, with these roommates’ friendship effectively being over, perhaps there’s still hope. Tony not only is in Franklin’s audience, but he actually enjoyed the show. Maybe there’s bueno luckito in these muchachos future still. Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter for all news updates related to the world of geek. And Google+, if that’s your thing!
