‘The Game’: Season 5 Episode 6 Review

My thoughts on episode 6 after the jump.

As always, reviews of previous episodes can be found here.

I really like that The Game's writers are treating the fallout from Malik's drug addiction realistically. I like that there are real consequences like Malik losing his quarterback spot and having to sell his house. Given the extreme nature of how Malik's story unfolded last season, anything less would have been absurd.

However, Malik himself seems largely the same as he has always been — arrogant, materialistic, and rude. The show is inconsistently showing that he's learned anything from his poor choices. In the season premiere, we were meant to see his distress over Jenna's overdose as a display of newfound empathy. And his attempt to throw a big party for Tee Tee even though he was low on money was also an important character moment.

But the wallowing that Malik did tonight didn't really advance a story so much as find two or three different ways to tell us that Malik is upset that he's losing his home — none of which was funny or very affecting. In fact, it wasn't till the final moment with Tee Tee that some of the emotional stuff felt real and true. And it was nice that it was about this great lifelong friendship between the two men.

Now I just want to know what Malik is going to do next. It'd be great if the show started to slowly build on this new Malik that is supposed to have come out of rehab and, hopefully, show him earning his spot on the Sabers back. The football element has become a real afterthought on the show so if the writers can build a story around Malik's struggle to regain his spot (and also Derwin realizing he isn't the leader he thinks he is) that'd be a really good thing.

At this point, six episodes in, the stories really have to start advancing. Where is all this going?

 

Some other thoughts:

  • Ending the feud between Tasha and Melanie is long overdue. Carrying it on this long just makes both women look childish and it's neither funny nor revealing. I couldn't stand a single thing that Tia Mowry Hardrict and Wendy Raquel Robinson were asked to do tonight. Damn shame.
  • Tee Tee's "since they cancelled Small Wonder" tossed off joke was hilarious. The Cuba Gooding Jr. one would have been if it hadn't been in last week's "next on" promos, but all the laughs on this show still come from Jason Pitts. This is not a good thing.
  • Speaking of Jason Pitts: Damn I love a good Jason Pitts rant. Bonus points for having him bust a few self-congratulatory rhymes to his producer. Great great scene!
  • I kinda dig Brandy and Coby Bell together, even though her work isn't terribly good. Bell carries her emotionally and comedically, but they have good chemistry and she rises to the occasion when Bell turns on Pitts' charm. 
  • I still am leery about the racial subtext of the Jason Pitts story and if he ends up dating his co-anchor or cheating on Chardonnay with her, that might be the moment I stop watching the show.

 

What did you guys think?

About tlewisisdope

I write. I live in DC.
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One Response to ‘The Game’: Season 5 Episode 6 Review

  1. SweetTea says:

    I hope Jason doesn’t cheat, the show would just end up in a messy cycle! I am still waiting for “the essence” of the show to begin… And as a recent commenter said, this show is called The Game, in the previous seasons we saw more of the football aspect which really made the show realistic… now it’s just a typical sitcom. I really loved how Jason began rhyming and ranting towards his producers that was hilarious! I would like the writers to review the previous seasons particularly Season 3 and do some serious homework as to where they went wrong and could improve. Once again Tigger, great article and wonderful writing as usual.

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