As much praise as Booty had over its first two seasons, we always felt like it was less than the sum of its parts. A terrific cast, two showrunners who have proven themselves in comedy over the past fifteen years, and a laid-back working atmosphere were all present from the start. But we found ourselves not laughing as much as we thought we would. This problem is certainly not present at the start of the third season of the series.
BOOTY SEASON 3: Stream it or skip it?
Opening shot: A tight shot of Molly Wells’ (Maya Rudolph) face. As we back up, we see her unconscious on a beach, surrounded by her belongings.
The bottom line: She wakes up to see her assistant Nicholas (Joel Kim Booster) gathering her things. According to Nicholas, their plane crashed and they were stranded on this isolated island. As the two of them set up a shelter, start a fire, and appear to brutalize him, we see what’s really going on: Nicholas has taken his boss to a private island where she owns an estate, and his staff has helped Nicholas maintain the ruse.
When the Wells Institute staff – Sofia (Michaela Jaé Rodriguez), Howard (Ron Funches), and Rhonda (Meagen Fay) – come looking for her, Nicholas tries to hold them back. He calls it “Bye-bye mode,” where Molly can recover from her kiss with Arthur (Nat Faxon) and her battle against the masked billionaire cabal.
Of course, Sofia doesn’t want to sit down, and she finds Molly on the beach and tells her that none of this is real. Still, Molly thinks she’d be better off staying there permanently, which surprises everyone, including Nicholas.
At this point, all Sofia wants is to get off the island and go back to work. One problem: the plane does not roll and blocks the runway of the plane carrying the spare parts. There is a ferry that leaves from a mansion on the other side of the island; None of them realize that the mansion is part of a nudist colony for elderly people called Vagina and run by an eccentric named Gerald Canning (Henry Winkler). And it imposes conditions on anyone who wants to use its ferry.
What shows will this remind you of? Booty is more or less a working comedy in the sense of Parks and Recreationwhich co-creator Matt Hubbard wrote for (Hubbard’s co-creator is Alan Yang).
Our opinion: at this stage, Booty knows exactly what it’s about, it’s an enjoyable workplace comedy with a terrific cast who maintain an amiable chemistry with each other. What surprised us was how many laughs the first episode of season 3 gave us, and not just because half the episode took place in Vagina, seeing lots of naked old people with their naughty bits faded out.
The entire episode takes big swings that are fully informed by the characters established from two seasons ago, using all of their personality quirks and motivations. It was no surprise that Molly really couldn’t survive alone on a desert island and that Nicholas had an elaborate plan in place to improve his boss’s mental state, but the scene where he asks the staff to concoct “island” versions of his favorite meals and moisturizers was still a lot of fun to watch.
And seeing Sofia, a businesswoman, become increasingly irritated at having to walk the beach in heels to get Molly back to LA and the foundation fits her character perfectly, just as Rhonda fits in perfectly with Vagina and Howard happy to be along for the ride.
But the whole idea of Vagina, and of having Winkler play the uptight former rich man who dedicated his life to being free and open, was inspired. And, as he usually does, Winkler throws himself completely into the guest role, blithely walking around in an open dress (even as we imagine wearing modesty gear that becomes a blur) and vigorously eating hummus with his fingers. We can see him getting an Emmy nod for his guest role next year, we loved his performance so much.
What intrigues us about Season 3 is what Molly and Arthur finally getting together will mean for the rest of the group. Interestingly, Molly seems to really like the most vanilla person in the office, and Faxon has always been able to create a “bland, but funny white guy” vibe. Will this change the dynamic or will it be incorporated along with workplace romances in shows like Abbott Elementary School to have?
Sex and skin: Have we mentioned all the fuzzy bits about older nudists?
Starting shot: The inhabitants of Vagina shout “Bacchanal!” as Molly and her crew embrace.
Sleeping Star: Adam Scott will eventually be back as Molly’s ex-husband John, and we love how much of an asshole Scott makes him every time he’s around.
Most pilot line: “I like Gerald. He threw a great party and he has a decent pig,” Rhonda says.
Our call: Spread it. Booty might actually hit its comedic stride in its third season. The season certainly starts strong with a very funny first episode.
Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and technology, but he’s under no illusions: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in The New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.
