zwolanerd

First it was Daleks, and now Veridian is stealing from Star Trek, trying to perfect a universal translator. This seems like a positive direction, but I think I’m in Phil and Lem’s camp: Veridian doesn’t deal in non-evil. They already have plans to use it in prisoner interrogations, and I’m sure there are other terrible uses lined up for it as well. It’s funny that it took the guys this long to figure out they were evil scientists, but I’m pretty sure they’ve just been taken with the science so much that they didn’t notice much else. We know they aren’t evil guys, so the realization that they’re evil scientists is quite humorous.  However, once they’ve realized it, they end being sorta “meh” about it, as it doesn’t get mentioned anymore after this episode (that I recall). So they’re more apathetic scientists than evil ones?  But apathy in the face of evil is akin to evil, methinks.  Hmm. This is a quandary.

Meanwhile, Ted is mixing business with pleasure, despite Veronica’s warnings. Ted thinks he can’t mess anything up ever, though, so he keeps on keeping on, only to mess things up. But then he fixes things, so it’s all okay?  I don’t know, this episode leaves a lot threads hanging, I think. Veronica was initially right, but then wrong after Ted found out she was right.  A world where Veronica isn’t 100% right all the time is a scary world, folks.  It’s better we know things are how she says they are, isn’t it? Regardless, this is the second woman in the series we’ve seen Ted “date,” and he certainly seems to like blonde ladies, doesn’t he? We get a few jokes at the expense of the Germans, but I like how the stereotype gets turned on its head: you don’t expect the tough-seeming German woman to want to talk about her feelings. It’s a fun twist in the middle of other fun twists. Phil’s voice on the translator is one of those perfectly hilarious ideas that this show is so good at. I’m guessing Ted wouldn’t be able to talk to Phil for a few days after this episode.

Linda is once again finding some small way to rebel against a company that rules her life in so many ways. I think it’s strange Veridian has these little apartment-like rooms scattered around, but it’s a pretty big building, so I’m willing to overlook it. Besides, it sets up some more comments from Veronica about how she thinks the cubicle dwellers live there, like Hobbits, and that’s some good stuff, especially when we find out Linda is sensitive about the size of her feet. Anyway, nobody is better at Linda Bagel than Linda, but Veronica reacts like Veronica would: she must excel at this new thing. This same drive, of course, is what put her where she is at Veridian, but it’s fun to see it applied to such a meaningless thing. I was never very clear on the scoring for Linda Bagel, so it isn’t immediately clear how she wins off just one miss by Linda, but it’s enough to know that Veronica will overcome. I was surprised by how few bagels were in that vent, though. For as much as Linda had been playing, I would’ve thought there would be many, many more. Perhaps Veridian has some duct-cleaning robots or super-mice that took care of them.

I grew up watching The Three Stooges, so I enjoyed all the references and (especially) the ending of the episode, but I don’t really understand where it all came from. I guess one of the writers just really wanted some Three Stooges stuff?  It worked for me.

 

Bits and pieces:

• “Hey, cats and kittens, what is going on with the multi-language translator device?” – Ted
• “Maybe we’re evil scientists.” – Lem
• “Bragging is the one thing I’m not good at.” – Veronica
• “Thanks for the clarification, Herr Buzzkill.” – Ted
• Linda’s victory dance is one of the worst things ever.
• “Who wouldn’t want to sound like a 90-foot robot?” – Lem
• “I not wish to die from Ted’s underboots.” – Greta
• “Oh, Queen Linda, the Dainty-Footed.” – Veronica
• “Heavy is the head that wears the $10 haircut.” – Veronica
• Linda has an Art History degree
• I love that Klingon is also on the translator
• “Using them for wickedness would be like beating a unicorn to death with a bag of rainbows.” – Lem
• “This is for the World Championship of the World.” – Veronica
• The bagel briefcase – not only did Lem and Phil create this perfectly aerodynamic bagel, they felt the bagels were important enough to get carried around in a special case.

Commercial:

No commercial for you!

Ideas/Inventions mentioned in this episode:

• Multi-language translator device
• Long-range people-skinning laser
• Man-eating ficus
• Talking frying pan
• Perfectly balanced aerodynamic bagel

Coworkers named/seen:

• Brett
• Paul from Accounting, who Linda made out with (not seen)

Next week: S02E11 – Mess of a Salesman

Tags: Better Off Ted, LWST

Written by: Mark