Spoilers, but come on, we did say “finale.”
I should start by saying I really love The Other Two, and therefore the announcement this week that the show would be ending with the season three finale under accusations of a toxic work environment was disappointing, to say the least. You’d think a show that skewers the entertainment industry’s pathological obsession with fame and praise would do a better job of not being pathologically desperate for fame and praise, but that’s only if you know nothing about the people working in the entertainment industry. But let’s back up.
In the series finale, Cary moves closer than ever to a full-on nervous breakdown trying to fill the hole left in his heart and social life by losing all of his friends in his attempt to earn recognition and legitimacy. He does this by trying to win an Oscar. Because Oscar is the only friend you’ll ever need. After showing up at his agent’s house in the middle of the night, she gives him both the Come To Jesus talk and comfort he needs, allowing him to finally see what a colossal dick he’s been (not to be confused with the colossal dick he has. That’s a different plot line). From there he apologizes to Curtis (Brandon Scott Jones deserves a much bigger career) and spends a week alone for the first time in way too long.
Brooke, in the meantime, still trying to recover from her break-up with Lance (Josh Segarra also deserves a much bigger career), attends the Peadbody Peabody Awards proving once and for all that she’s good. Only to have Pat and Chase ruin her night by having their very public screw-ups finally addressed. Chase decided to offer a month of free therapy to anyone who bought his album, and Pat accidentally tweeted her honest thoughts about small-town life in Ohio. (OK, but on this one, Pat wasn’t wrong. Bring it, Ohio. You think Indiana can protect you? Indiana is so nothing, people don’t even remember to ridicule it. It’s just Lower Minnesota, and Minnesota is itself just Lower Canada. Don’t get me started on Michigan. ILL-IN-OIS! ILL-IN-OIS! ILL-IN-OIS!) Brooke selflessly takes the fall for both her mom and brother, claiming that as their manager, she runs their social media accounts and is to blame for their recent posts. She loses her Peabody but finally proves to herself that she is good.
But here’s the thing: is she?
Or more specifically, is Brooke good for taking the fall for this? She’s obviously moved to prevent her family from feeling as bad about themselves as she has about herself, but don’t the actions taken by the oldest and youngest Dubek require they face some of the music they caused?
Chase admittedly was trying to do something good and got screwed up because he’s young and inexperienced. Which is why he has his experienced, older sister around to tell him not to do the thing he ultimately ends up doing. Why pay her to be your manager, Chase, if you’re only going to listen to her as much as boys usually listen to their sisters? But Pat’s fuck-up wasn’t misguided. She meant what she said about Ohio even while she’s still trying to sell Ohioan (you hear how stupid that sounds, right) housewives on her brand. She’s just like them except she hates them and everything they do. Isn’t it actually only fair that Pat apologizes to the audience she despises after they’ve made her a literal billionaire? And that when they turn against her (much as my relatives in Ohio will turn on me, but please bring your brass knuckles when you do, Chicago does not fuck around) she should acknowledge she was cruel to them?
Which is why we need to revisit The Other Two’s showrunners and the accusations of verbal abuse against writers and overworking of the crew against them. And to clarify, these are the showrunners:
Huh.
OK, yeah, so there’s writing what you know and then there’s writing what you are. As outlined in the Hollywood Reporter story, Chris Kelly and Sarah Schneider aren’t dissimilar from the other two portrayed on their show. They both started as improvisers who later worked as writers, but always hoped to be in front of the camera. I’m not the therapist in the family, but even I can see how feelings of being under-appreciated and a possible inferiority complex could create a writers’ room where NO ONE IS GOOD ENOUGH UNTIL CHRIS AND SARAH ARE GOOD ENOUGH. And no one is good enough until THEY ARE STARS.
As much as The Other Two exposed Brooke and Cary’s neuroses about their own fame and success, and ridiculed the particulars of the entertainment industry, in the end, the right, “good” move was for Brooke to allow her mother to keep her fame and reputation. Because as much as the showrunners could make fun of Hollywood, they still wanted to be a part of it. The Other Two always played mostly as an inside joke for people in the industry who hated aspects of it. The show, while brilliant, still fell short of what it could have been because it didn’t go far enough. It teased the entertainment culture, but most of the jokes were toothless. There was no real bite or edge to the commentary. It failed because ultimately you can’t satirize something you love. In that case, you usually just end up ruining yourself for it.
