Standard Of Review: 'The Grinder' Improves By Focusing On . . . 'The Grinder'
The Grinder still is not perfect -- but it's showing marked improvement, in the opinion of culture critic Harry Graff.
Prominent television producer Michael Schur (who co-created Parks & Recreation and Brooklyn Nine-Nine) has stated that it would be ideal for comedies to be able to throw out their first ten episodes in order to give the writers time to get a handle on the characters and storylines. I have kept that adage in mind while reviewing FOX’s legal comedy The Grinder. I wrote about the show twice in the fall, both times expressing disappointment in the show’s execution and providing some suggestions for how the show could improve. Well, almost right on schedule, The Grinder has rounded into form, improving significantly beginning with the eighth episode, entitled “Giving Thanks, Giving Justice” (this review will contain spoilers up through Tuesday’s episode, entitled “Exodus”).
Even though I did not love the first few episodes, I recognized that the strongest aspect of The Grinder was its depiction of the show within the show (also called “The Grinder,” but for ease of reference I will refer to as the “show within the show”). In my initial review of The Grinder on October 14, I wrote: “Bojack Horseman is a recent example of a show that has continually explored the canon of a fake show within a show, such as the relationships between the actors and the arguments between the showrunner and the network. The Grinder should do the same here, hopefully developing the mythology of the show within the show.” Thankfully, The Grinder has done just that, as exemplified by the recent serial arc about a spinoff off the show within the show and Dean Sanderson’s feud with Timothy Olyphant (playing himself).
The eighth episode introduced the character of Cliff Beamis (Jason Alexander), the former creator and showrunner of The Grinder. Through flashbacks, we see the rift between Dean and Cliff that caused the ending of the show within the show – Dean wants to focus on real stories that hit hot-button issues whereas Cliff prefers writing steamy romance scenes in which Dean’s character Mitch Grinder has to take his shirt off, even in the law library (I do not know what is funnier – the thought of Mitch Grinder doing shirtless legal research or the thought of anyone doing research in a law library).
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Cliff – unfazed after Dean quits the show within the show – creates the spinoff “The Grinder: New Orleans,” starring Olyphant as Mitch Grinder’s younger brother Rake Grinder. Rake (who also enjoys taking his shirt off at every possible moment) takes over Mitch’s firm and moves it to New Orleans. Despite trying a case before a judge with a hilariously stereotypical Louisiana accent, Rake wins his first case in his new city and proceeds to bed his associate.
Dean fights back in the best episode of the season so far, entitled “Grinder Rests in Peace.” Cliff finds Dean in Boise and requests that Dean film a cameo in “The Grinder: New Orleans” in which Mitch Grinder dies, bridging the gap between the two shows within the show. The show makes excellent use of its legal setting, as Stewart, Claire, and the rest of Stewart’s law firm pore through Dean’s contracts in order to find anything that can prevent Cliff from killing off Mitch Grinder. They find a provision in Dean’s contract (amusingly called a “Caruso clause”) that provides that Mitch cannot be killed off without Dean’s consent because Dean has partial ownership of the Mitch Grinder character. Accordingly, Dean attempts to prevent Mitch’s death, instead having Mitch move to the Florida Keys to become a judge (and run a nightclub on the side). Of course, Dean’s plan is eventually sidetracked, but Dean still is able to part with the character on his own terms.
These episodes do a great job of skewering television procedurals. As evidenced by his guest spots on Curb Your Enthusiasm, Jason Alexander is fantastic when asked to play cocky and smug. Clad in a ridiculous hat that looks like it belongs on the head of Sam Neill’s character in Jurassic Park, Cliff embodies one of the biggest problems with procedurals – the lack of coherent storytelling, the aim for high ratings to the detriment of story, and the complete lack of verisimilitude (in one scene of the fake “The Grinder: New Orleans,” Rake Grinder has sex in a morgue on top of a corpse). Cliff has only been in two episodes so far, but I hope that he returns often; the fact that “The Grinder: New Orleans” is extant in the show’s universe means that The Grinder can continue to mine it for laughs.
Moreover, the snippets of old episodes of the show within the show that open each episode of The Grinder get funnier and funnier. For example, in this week’s episode, the clip from the show within the show depicts Mitch Grinder having temporarily ditched his life of law and instead living in Nicaragua by the beach. Mitch has grown a Cast Away beard and is seemingly best friends to a group of children. This scene perfectly lampoons the television trope in which a character tries to leave to leave his old life behind and moves to a remote location where he befriends a group of children, but then gets brought back into his old line of work (one example of this is 24: Redemption).
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The jokes in these past few episodes also seem sharper, particularly when they poke fun at Hollywood. I chuckled hard when Cliff laments the fact that, despite its ratings success, “The Grinder: New Orleans” is unpopular with fans on social media, and Dean responds that Twitter is the “true barometer of success.” I also doubled over laughing when Dean tells Stewart a long-winded story about how he couldn’t talk to his distressed ex-girlfriend for an entire day because he was “in character” as Mitch Grinder, with the punchline: “I never was able to tell Daryl Hannah I was leaving her for a younger actress” (that joke became even more funny when I found out that Rob Lowe wrote in his book that Hannah once rejected his advances).
The Grinder still is not perfect. As I have written about twice before, one of the biggest problems with the show is that it struggles to be both a family comedy and a workplace comedy. As a result, funny performers like Natalie Morales and Steve Little are underutilized in certain episodes. And the show still has no idea what to do with William Devane besides having him irrationally support Dean.
Nevertheless, given the show’s marked improvement so far, I am confident that it work out these additional issues. I hope to check in on it at least one other time this season. And in the meantime, I encourage all you lawyers out there to begin inserting “Caruso clauses” into your contracts.
Earlier: Standard Of Review: Fox’s ‘The Grinder’ Mocks Legal Procedurals, But Is Still A Work In Progress
Standard Of Review: 7 Ideas To Improve The Grinder
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Harry Graff is a litigation associate at a firm, but he spends days wishing that he was writing about film, television, literature, and pop culture instead of writing briefs. If there is a law-related movie, television show, book, or any other form of media that you would like Harry Graff to discuss, he can be reached at [email protected]. Be sure to follow Harry Graff on Twitter at @harrygraff19.
