Flight of the Conchords - Unnatural Love

Season 2, Episode 5

You might need to turn on the closed captioning to fully appreciate the greatness of this most recent episode where Jemaine starts a socially verboten relationship with Keitha, an Australian, who ultimately pulls a Mr. Henry. It’s not that the Australian and New Zealand accents are too thick, but the lingo used is distinct for both countries (“I’ve got to go murder a brown snake”). Paradoxically, the more specific the vernacular gets, the more universal it feels. Special guest director Michel Gondry uses his keen eye to create the best visuals in any Conchords song (twice) . . .

"Too Many D!cks (On the Dance Floor)” has, shall we say, inventive lighting and the projected images in "Carol Brown (Choir of Ex-Girlfriends)" are impossibly imaginative. But the visuals wouldn’t matter if the music and lyrics didn’t work. Captioning also helps with the lyrics which are furiously fast. Jemaine and Bret have been performing Carol Brown in concert since last May and it's the best song of the new season. I love the nod to Paul Simon’s “50 Ways to Leave Your Lover”, the way Jemaine sings “Shut up”, and the way the song slows down when Carol Brown is mentioned.

One last thing - the sit-down scene at the restaurant is an instant classic. From Gondry’s use of the windows to Jemaine’s Crocodile Hunter outfit to everything Murray says (“Kevina”, “That’s a man’s name”, “Omigod”). A-




Who organized all of my ex-girlfriends into a choir and got them to sing?