Men at Work

Men At Work is a hit or miss occasion. When it’s on it’s really funny, but when it’s not, well, you end up with an episode like The Good, The Bad & The Milo. An episode where the writing relies on somewhat funny miscommunication humor, but lacks the delivery from the cast.

In this episode Milo, who has been dating for the last two months, has realized that his relationship has stagnated and has decided to end it. His plan is to do so in a civil and kind way that won’t hurt anyone’s feelings and where he can walk away as the good guy. Unfortunately his attempt isn’t so easy as he fumbles his break up speech and ends up quite literally hurting his girlfriend anyway. 

Meanwhile Neal has been tasked with firing an employee, a task in which he is incapable of until his girlfriend Amy helps him through a bit of role play. As Neal attempts to communicate his situation with his friends his lack of cool shines when he uses dirty euphemisms as explanations that he doesn’t quite understand. It’s funny, but wears thin quickly.

Finally Tyler and Gibbs, who frequent the same restaurant for lunch, a restaurant which Tyler introduced to Gibbs, are having a tiff when the owner immediately shines to Gibbs. Tyler, who has been a loyal customer since the restaurant opened years ago is basically known as “Guy” while Gibbs is given V.I.P. treatment. Gibbs points out to Tyler that he’s just not a “Get to know you” kind of guy, and that’s where his fault lies. What Gibbs doesn’t realize is that being to friendly may have it’s downsides.

This episode had its funny moments here and there but all together it felt phoned in. Dialogue delivery was a bit wooden, humor seemed recycled, and when you’re not really into the show the corny fade in/fade out music intros start to sound cheesy and the laugh track becomes irritating. Definitely an episode that could have been omitted from season without anyone noticing.