With this episode, the show presented a perfect balance of zany, over-the-top jokes with subtle, down-to-earth humor. The two sides of this comedy coin were personified by the smug, successful Jack Donaghy and the single, struggling Liz Lemon. Enough cannot be said about Alec Baldwin's turn as Jack. It's the perfect pairing of actor to part, which is no surprise knowing that Tina Fey created the character with Mr. Baldwin in mind. In Jack's world, everyone wants to know his opinion and his opinion is always right. This is why he doesn't have any problem discussing Liz's love life or setting her up on an unsolicited blind date. And when Jack sees what Liz will be wearing to the date, he doesn't hesitate to pull a wad of cash from his pocket and instruct her to go shop for some new clothes… "at a women's clothing store." It's the delivery of these brash statements that truly make them funny. Instead of a cold meanness, Baldwin inflects an unexpected caring innocence, because, really, he's only trying to do what he thinks is best.
Jack Donaghy doesn't exist in the real world. The character, with his connections and money, has the ability to turn any situation on its head. This week, he took "The Girlie Show's" informal weekly poker night and turned it into a Vegas-style shindig, complete with professional dealers, waitresses and a "giant shrimp made out of shrimp and diving into a bowl of shrimp." The counterbalance to the extravagant Jack is the more relatable Liz Lemon. As the central character, Liz brings a more "funny because it's true" mentality to the show. Nothing seems to go right for Liz, be it big or small. Her complaint about someone finishing that day's Suduko puzzle rings true for any of us addicted to the game. ("It could go there, could go there, can't go there…") So far over the course of the series, Liz seems to find comic gold by putting her foot in her mouth. This week's moment came after the comedy writers continuously teased her with questions about the man on her blind date, to which she shouted, "It was a lady!" Sure, it's rather predictable that her blind date turns out to be a woman, but Liz is just so darn likeable you're rooting for something good to come of the relationship.
Around these two focal points, the rest of the characters fell into place. Tracy Jordan has leveled off significantly from his constant high of previous episodes, making him funnier in the process. Since he's no longer in-your-face wacky all of the time, the wacky bits come off much stronger. Kenneth the Page was also given more time to shine this week as Jack's happy-go-lucky poker nemesis. But what really made this episode work was the complete absence of "Girlie Show" star Jenna Maroney. It was clear in the first two episodes that the show didn't know what to do with the character, and it's not a good sign for actress Jane Krakowski that 30 Rock became immensely funnier without her involvement. We can only hope that the return of her character does nothing to diminish the level of comedy that has now been established.
