As much praise as Loot has gotten in its first two seasons, we always had a feeling that it was less than the sum of its parts. A great cast, two showrunners who have proven themselves in comedy over the past decade-and-a-half, and an easygoing workplace vibe were all there from the start. But we found ourselves not laughing as much as we thought we would. That problem is definitely not there at the outset of the show’s third season.
Opening Shot: A tight shot of the face of Molly Wells (Maya Rudolph). As we pull back, we see her unconscious on a beach, surrounded by her belongings.
The Gist: She wakes up to see her assistant Nicholas (Joel Kim Booster) gathering up her things. According to Nicholas, their plane crashed and they washed up on this isolated island. As the two of them set up a shelter, make a fire, and seemingly rough it, we see what’s actually happening: Nicholas took his boss to a private island where she owns an estate, and her staff has been helping Nicholas keep up the ruse.
When the staff from the Wells Institute — Sofia (Michaela Jaé Rodriguez), Howard (Ron Funches) and Rhonda (Meagen Fay) — come looking for her, Nicholas tries to hold them off. He calls this “Bye-bye Mode,” where Molly can recover from her kiss with Arthur (Nat Faxon) and her battle with the masked billionaire cabal.
Of course, Sofia won’t take that sitting down, and she finds Molly on the beach and tells her that none of this is real. Still, Molly thinks she’s better off staying there permanently, which surprises everyone, including Nicholas.
At this point, all Sofia wants is to get off the island and get back to work. One problem: The plane isn’t running and is blocking the runway from the plane that has the replacement parts. There is a ferry running from a mansion on the other side of the island; little do any of them realize that the mansion is part of a nudist colony for seniors called Vagine, and run by an eccentric named Gerald Canning (Henry Winkler). And he has conditions for anyone who wants to use his ferry.
What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Loot is more or less a workplace comedy along the lines of Parks And Recreation, which co-creator Matt Hubbard wrote for (Hubbard’s co-creator is Alan Yang).
Our Take: At this point, Loot knows exactly what it is, which is a pleasant workplace comedy with a great cast who has an amiable chemistry with each other. What surprised us is how many huge laughs the first episode of Season 3 gave us, and not just because half of the episode was spent at Vagine, seeing lots of elderly naked people with their naughty bits blurred out.
The whole episode takes big swings that are fully informed by the characters that have been established for two seasons, utilizing all of their personality quirks and motivations. It wasn’t a surprise that Molly really couldn’t survive on a deserted island on her own, and that Nicholas put together an elaborate scheme to help his boss’ mental state, but the scene where he has the staff concocting “island” versions of her favorite dishes and moisturizers was still a lot of fun to watch.
And seeing the all-business Sofia get increasingly irritated that she has to walk the beach in heels in order to coax Molly back to L.A. and the foundation is perfectly within her character, as is Rhonda fitting in perfectly at Vagine and Howard happy to be along for the ride.
But the whole idea of Vagine, and having Winkler play the former uptight rich guy who has pretty much devoted his existence to being free and open, was inspired. And, as he usually does, Winkler completely invests himself in the guest role, blithely walking around with an open robe (though we imagine wearing modesty gear that gets blurred out) and lustily eating hummus with his fingers. We can see him getting an Emmy nod for guest acting next year, we liked his performance so much.
What we’re intrigued about Season 3 is what Molly and Arthur finally getting together will mean for the rest of the group. It’s interesting that Molly seems to be really into the most vanilla person at the office, and Faxon has always been able to pull off “bland white guy, but funny” vibes. Will it change the dynamic or be incorporated as well as workplace romances on shows like Abbott Elementary have?
Sex and Skin: Did we mention all of the blurred-out bits on the elderly nudists?
Parting Shot: The Vagine residents yell “Bacchanal!” as Molly and her team hug each other.
Sleeper Star: Adam Scott will be back eventually as Molly’s ex-husband John, and we love how big of an asshole Scott makes him into every time he’s there.
Most Pilot-y Line: “I like Gerald. He threw a great party, and he has a decent hog,” says Rhonda.
Our Call: STREAM IT. Loot might actually be hitting its comedic stride in its third season. The season certainly starts out strong with a very funny first episode.
Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.