Review season 3 may have been the show’s last and shortest season, but it was still at peak dark comedy – here’s a recap. Since it came to an end, Comedy Central’s Review has come to be known as the funniest show nobody saw and while it was never a big ratings-grabber it was a hidden gem for those who like their comedy dark. For those not in the know, the premise of Review is this: shot mockumentary-style, the series follows professional critic Forrest MacNeil who is the host of the show-within-a-show (also called Review) which sees viewers request him to review various life experiences.
The dogged but delusional Forrest believes he’s providing an important service by answering “the vital questions of our time,” all the while egged on by Machiavellian producer Grant (James Urbaniak). In Review’s first two seasons, viewer requests saw Forrest review everything from seemingly innocuous things like eating 15 pancakes or having a magic 8 ball decide his actions to more drastic life experiences like divorcing his wife (the long-suffering Suzanne, played by Jessica St Clair), getting addicted to cocaine and committing murder.
Alas, there were only three episodes in the third and final season of Review but the show was on top cringe-comedy form nevertheless, as Forrest let his show completely overtake his life. Review season 3 picked up a short time jump after the events of Review’s season 2 finale with Grant now paralyzed after he and Forrest took a tumble off a bridge and Forrest on trial for the murder he committed in the name of the show. Not that Forrest let something like a murder trial deter him from fulfilling his Review host duties, such as reviewing a months-old discontinued fast food item called the Locorito that resulted in him vomiting on a potential jury member, or taking to the stand while reviewing what it’s like to be Helen Keller. Luckily, he was (somehow) acquitted.
Despite his delusional dedication to his show, Forrest came oh-so close to realizing there was life beyond Review. When he’s asked to review the experience of being his co-host A.J. (Megan Stevenson), she heads off to review the act of slapping a stranger’s behind but refuses to go through with it out of respect to her boyfriend and the stranger she was about to slap – something that Forrest seems unable to comprehend. Again, in Review season 3’s series finale, Forrest comes close to an epiphany when he thinks he’s reviewing being cryogenically frozen but is really undergoing a trendy cryotherapy beauty treatment.
The experience makes Forrest realize that being frozen wasn’t worth losing his family over and he tells his ex-wife Suzanne so. Later, Suzanne offers him a chance to break free of Review by requesting him to find out what it’s like never to review anything ever again. Predictably, and goaded on by Grant, Forrest vetoes her request and goes on to review the experience of being pranked. Unfortunately for Forrest, his prank review coincides with the cancellation of his show which he misconstrues as part of the prank. As his co-workers move on to other things and his ex-wife takes their son and finally escapes his madness, Forrest is left thinking the whole is a big prank everybody’s in on. Review season 3 ends on a painfully funny note as Forrest stands alone on a sound stage narrating to an audience that no longer exists – cringe comedy at its finest.
Next: The Expanse Recap: Where Each Faction Was Left Before Season 4
