What shines brightest about this week’s episode is that the show finally feels like it’s starting to find its groove again. After some bumps with the first two episodes in the second season, episode three feels a lot more tuned with what the original season went with: incredibly ridiculous humor and the characters thrown into its mix. You’d be surprised at the vast assortment of very funny beach jokes the writers concocted this week, and it only helps boost “Beach Blanket Sting-O” to be season two’s best episode to date.
Additionally, Hayes MacArthur does a great job taking the majority of screen time and rolling with the mad hilarity. Even the love triangle subplot he’s been involved with this season manages to find some ground in comedic timing. While originally forced into the season opener, and it still does feel a little contrived at the end of the day, the laughs that stem from the characters of Geils, Tribeca and Scholls at last roll out one after the other.
The downside is that while Hayes MacArthur does a good job commanding the screen for the week, sadly, Rashida Jones is forced to take a back seat. Instead of throwing her bubbly personality and comedic talents into her character of Tribeca, she’s forced to be more of a prop for the plot and love triangle subplot than anything else. Sure, there was bound to be some episodes centered more around the amusing background characters, but Tribeca’s character still could have been given more to work with.
Yet, even without Tribeca being used to the best of her abilities, this episode is still a substantial improvement over the past couple episodes. Sure, if you don’t find yourself already enamored with the oddball, Police Squad! style that Angie Tribeca is going for, “Beach Blanket Sting-O” isn’t going to magically change your mind. However, if you love the tongue-in-cheek style season one was going for, Angie Tribeca finally feels like it’s returning to form.
Rating: 8.5/10