Review: Universal Basic Guys “Fight or Flight”

Overview

When Mark and Hank travel for their uncle’s funeral, Hank gets in trouble with the TSA; Mark puts his piloting skills to the test after incapacitating the real pilots.

Our Take

Aiden, Ava,

Fight refers to the fight that Tammy nearly has with one of the other unruly passengers and flight refers to multiple instances of Mark Hoagies thinking he’s an amazing airplane pilot despite the fact that a flight simulator has told him on numerous occasions that he isn’t. And can you believe it, not only do we get THESE two plots, but we also have to get through Hank getting interrogated by the TSA and David trying his best to impress his niece and nephew.

Ordinarily I would say this sounds like a lot, very seldom can an animated comedy can pull of the dual plots and typically whenever I see three or four threads going on at the same time I get a bit worried whether or not the writers can stick the landing. Fortunately, this show is ran (and voiced) by two guys who come from the world of doing a lot with not a lot of runtime so if anybody could potentially pull this off it’s Adam Malamut & Craig Malamut.

After seven episodes, Universal Basic Guys is really settling into its own and continuing to expand the world of characters which the producers can play with. For this week, it’s Andrea’s niece, nephew, and sister. And while we really don’t get to invest too much time with Andrea’s sister, we get to babysit with the niece (Ava) and nephew (Aiden). Granted both these characters are a tad cliche and so far I don’t see a lot of separation between either of these characters and Mark’s stepson Darren in terms of the conflict that the younger kids are presenting, but Fred Armisen’s “David” is so damn funny that it does just enough to make it work.

Likewise Hank being interrogated by the TSA might be the funniest comedic scene of the show thus far this season. Like, I was on the ground laughing at the ridiculousness in which this interview was going and I almost would’ve been fine with a whole episode of just this going on, instead we’ve got Mark in the cockpit having an equally hilarious romp with flight control and Tammy having a tiff with a real Karen back in coach class. It’s literally a whirlwind of comedic savagery that had me laughing on numerous occasions which means the show is doing it’s job.

I also wanted to send out a kudos to Bento Box for taking some of the background characters and giving them this unique look, specifically during the Hank scenes, that I think worked really well and made the show look a little more rough around the edges, which I enjoyed and hope to see more of. No, this show isn’t rocket science, as evidenced by Mark and Hank’s logical choices with their monthly stipend, but it’s not trying to be, and I’m here for it.