Spoilers Below

Have you ever poured or mixed yourself a drink and upon first taste, thought to yourself: “hmmm…this tastes a bit different this time”? I just mixed up a whiskey & coke that had a slightly off taste to it – not anything especially bad – just off. Nevertheless, I sipped my way through it, trying to convince myself it was just in my head. Maybe it was the food I had just prior to the drink, and it’s messing with my taste buds. Maybe it’s because it was a freshly opened bottle of soda, and it had that extra-snappy carbonated fizz that could possibly mess with the flavor. It wasn’t until I returned to the kitchen for my second drink that – upon twisting off the cap to the soda bottle and feeling & hearing a forceful, virgin hiss – that I realized I had never actually opened the bottle of coke, and instead had mixed my whiskey with root beer. A silly mistake indeed, but I gotta admit, that second drink – now properly prepared – tasted all the more perfect and pleasurable after having muddled it the first time.

Perhaps if executed in reverse order, there would be a similar result. And perhaps that’s why Episode 4 of the fourth season of Sanity Not Included just didn’t taste right. Bear with me here…

First, I’ll say I thought the clips at the begging were pretty weak. The funniest bits were based mostly on humorous imagery, and the ones with an abundance of dialogue generally fell flat.

A few good ones that come to mind: “GET OUT!” and hurling people off a bridge was probably the first gem. The guy running from all the bondage leather men was also an entertaining sight, as was the skit involving the dude trying to keep his balance, only to fall on his face, and then into some water. Oh, and the spelling of “femanist” with the chopped review quotes in the “Yakuza Dating Simulator” commercial is worth a mention. There, mentioned.

The Dex & Aleks segment went more for visual, action-type humor, but was only mildly successful. However, I did chuckle at the homeless man questioning why the duo repeated everything he had just said – which in reality they did for the benefit of the viewer. This slight breaking of the fourth wall was probably the best laugh of the segment.

Like having a perfectly-mixed drink, or a perfectly prepared meal, sometimes the next one just doesn’t stand a chance of matching it. Likewise, it would be difficult for this week’s episode to match last week’s hilariousness, but honestly, this one never really came close. There was nothing especially wrong with it; the particular mash-up of jokes just didn’t do it this time around. Comparing it to the previous episode only hurts it a bit more. But hey, the bar has been set low now, so I guess I’ll see you next week!

(5.5/10)

 

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