Review: Our Cartoon President “Senate Control”

OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)

Worried about having to be more responsible with their jobs if the Democrats win, Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi try sabotaging their party’s chances with their usual indecision. Meanwhile, Susan Collins is dogged by reporters about her own indecision and decides to open up a bar with Brett Kavanaugh.

OUR TAKE

Well, I never thought I’d see the day on this, but a subplot on this show DIDN’T make me feel unbelievable shame and horror at the political process in my country for once! Specifically the Susan Collins and Brett Kavanaugh plot, since neither of them of been super prominent on the news for awhile and whatever damage they could do to the democratic process has pretty much already set in. It’s a bit different seeing people like Trump, Biden, or even Pelosi and Schumer, who I see CONSTANTLY on the news and feel obligated to care about everything happening with them that probably ends up impacting whether I can enjoy a straight up parody of them, especially with so many lives in the balance because of that. I just feel too close to what’s going on to really find that much comedy, at least with this particular show. I do enjoy me some SNL sketches for the most part and those dive into politics constantly, though the difference is that those don’t bend over backwards to make them the whole focus of the show. The freshness of the joke runs dry rather quickly, though maybe it just happens to be this specific political climate that makes it harder for me to take these specific types of jokes.

The Collins and Kavanaugh subplot, meanwhile, feels like two characters that work off each other pretty well and show a well defined arc for Collins, namely that deciding not to decide was always her thing so she should stick with it. At least I think that’s what it was TRYING to be? Either way, either of these people are going to be president or have a major role in electing said president, so they’re just removed enough from this thing that focusing on them is actually kind of refreshing, especially compared to more of the same Trump jokes or the same Biden jokes that have been beaten into the ground. We do get a bit of a repeat of Bernie jokes and AOC jokes that are kinda cringey, but with only two episodes remaining in the season, I’m guessing we won’t be seeing many more of those after tonight anyway. Next week is the last episode before the election, followed by the season finale the following week, which will either be absolutely easy to deal with or just a bigger twist of the knife. Which will it be? Stay tuned to find out! Also VOTE.