Rooster Recap: Brilliant People

Rooster
Ludlow’s Fourth Hottest Professor
Season 1 Episode 9
Editor’s Rating ★★★
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Guys, why are we pretending that Greg is leaving Ludlow? For the past two episodes, characters have been counting down his last days at the college like they’re never going to see him again, when we all damn well know that he’s going to stick around. Greg not only has his seminar, but he’s now reveling in his position as the capable and kind hockey coach, leading an underdog team to victory (hello, Ted Lasso vibes), and he also has his pseudo-son Tommy to think about. This man is not leaving anytime soon, so let’s all drop the charade, shall we?

“Ludlow’s Fourth Hottest Professor” is the penultimate episode of the season, and, in the home stretch, the show seems to be doubling down on the Katie/Archie/Sunny love triangle as the crux of the story. As you wonderful readers know, this storyline has never been my favorite, and the developments throughout this episode didn’t really do much to convince me that it deserves the attention it’s getting. As we’ve talked about before, there’s a hollow, wooden quality to Archie’s chemistry with both Sunny and Katie, and there doesn’t seem to be any actual interpersonal connection between him and either of the two women. I was very much looking forward to both women leaving him entirely, but, as this week has shown us, each of Archie’s lovers appears determined to make it work with him, so this plot may possibly drag on into season two. Let’s hope it doesn’t. 

That’s not to say that Archie isn’t endearing at times. In this episode, Phil Dunster gets to show off his comedic chops in several scenes, and for that, I am grateful. As Archie struggles to finish his doorstopper of a book, he cancels classes two days in a row. Dylan notices, and she goes to his office to tell him that he can’t cancel again. She finds a supremely hopped-up man, grinding his teeth and popping his eyes like he’s on massive amounts of drugs. Oh, wait, actually, he is on drugs! He’s been chugging cans of Celsius so he can meet his deadline, and when presented with another human, the words come tumbling out of his mouth in an uncontrollable train of thought. Dunster clearly has the moves, as he executes a perfectly hilarious “shimmy shake” and then asks, “You ever have one of these Celsius beverages?” After he compares the energy drink to doing cocaine, he wonders, “I can’t really believe they let kids drink that!” Me either, Archie! Me either! 

While Dunster redeems Archie a bit by proving he can provide laughs, the problem with the character is that he’s been given exactly zero redeeming qualities. In this episode, he ignores his students for days so he can meet his deadline, then finally convenes his upper-level seminar, just so they can heap praise on his book. Gross. When the students give him the slightest constructive feedback — a book with 600+ pages could probably use some trimming, yes? — he mocks them and then proceeds to kick them all out. Dunster’s brilliant line read of, “Go ahead, fuckity bye!” almost redeems him in the scene, but not quite. It only proves to further illustrate what an insecure child Archie really is. 

But, thanks to a lifetime of Greg’s helicopter parenting Katie is kind of a child, too. We’ll get to her, but first let’s talk about Greg. Greg is undeniably thriving at Ludlow. At the top of the episode, he’s helping Tommy get back on track for all his finals, with J.D. and Spooner providing support. He’s also making plans for the hockey team. Since he’s leaving (nod, nod, wink, wink) in a few days, he and Dylan meet with Coach Jake to talk to him about returning. Jake is … not doing great. He’s working his program and staying away from drugs and alcohol, but he’s also slipping into the world of online gambling. This is a thing! It’s called cross-addiction! Behavioral addictions so often get ignored, but Greg immediately clocks this for what it is and calls Jake out on it. Jake doesn’t care, though, and the juxtaposition between Greg (who feels very connected and responsible to all the people in his life) and Jake (who is comically only out for himself) brings Greg’s purpose into strong relief. 

While Greg preps the hockey team for the big game against Pruitt, Walt is schmoozing with the Head of Trustees. Even though he loves Walt’s gift of the e-bike, the man says that the hockey team is “trimmable fat.” Walt fights for it, telling the guy that not everything has to make money, and the man “laughed so hard he cracked a tooth.” Greg raises his eyebrows at this, and Walt explains that the man is 80. Greg’s response, “I’m not sure that means your teeth should fall out when you laugh,” made me laugh so hard that I could have probably cracked a tooth, and I’m not even close to 80. 

Sadly, Walt isn’t much of a focal point in this episode, but in addition to trying to convince the old, toothless Trustee dude to support the hockey team, he also meets with Sunny about her future. Mo is there, too, and she’s appalled to find out that Walt supports Sunny’s decision to stay with Archie. Walt has a caveat, though: Sunny needs to make sure that Archie is as committed to her as she is to him. We all know that this isn’t going to happen, and Walt and Mo are prepared for the inevitable, agreeing with a fist bump that they’ll kill Archie if he doesn’t do right by their girl. One of the true pleasures of Rooster is watching all of these comedically gifted actors share scenes, and I’d like to request more scenes with Walt and Mo, please and thank you.

Eventually, most of the Ludlow crew ends up at the hockey game. There’s a cringey scene before the game where Greg brings Jake into the locker room for a pep talk, but he just ends up revealing all the atrocious things he did to the kids when he was actively using. He swapped one kid’s ADHD meds for fish tank tablets (barf), he slept with another dude’s girlfriend, and he stole oh-so-much stuff from all of them. Jake isn’t just recovering from addiction; he’s also just a pretty awful guy. Scott MacArthur does charming dirtbag really well, though, so I’m still excited to see Jake hanging around, but I wouldn’t leave him alone with … oh … oh no. Cristle is sitting with him at the game! And flirting?! Oh, Cristle, nooooo. You in danger, girl. 

The hockey game goes super well, and for some odd reason the back half is soundtracked by “The Fairest of the Seasons” by Nico. Her haunting voice provides a great juxtaposition to the brutal violence of the game, but the overall melancholy vibe almost belies that Ludlow is winning; the reaction from the bleachers is what really sells the excitement of the outcome. Even toothless Joe Trustee tells Walt that the game was exhilarating. There’s no question that the hockey program will remain at Ludlow, and so will Greg, so it’ll be interesting to see how Jake takes it when Greg stays on as a coach. The dynamic between those two men could be very fun in season two. 

Oddly, Katie and her mom are not out supporting Greg at the game. Instead, they’re chatting about old grievances. When Katie puts herself up for a fast-track tenure program, Dylan tells her it will be five years until she can become tenured. Later, after Elizabeth chats with Walt, that time has been slashed to one year. Katie senses that something is up, and so she asks her mom about it. Elizabeth pulls no punches by saying that she thought she knew. She also thought she knew that she got her original job at Ludlow because of her parents, too. Katie did not know. And she loses her mind. 

I find it hard to believe that Katie thinks she got her job at Ludlow — a college at which her mother is the most celebrated alumnus — on her own merit. I also find it hard to believe that she would ignore the fact that her father took a job at Ludlow just as she was being basically pardoned for burning down one of its important historical buildings, but let’s suspend our collective disbelief. The issue between Greg and Katie is that he is an enabler, and Katie is all too happy to be the recipient of the enabling unless she has to directly accept that it’s happening. When she goes to confront Greg about his role in her recent life, he admits to taking the job to save hers. She goes into a tantrum, saying that she could have escaped the “fishbowl” of Ludlow and her toxic relationship with Archie. Excuse me? You can still do that, lady! Escape away! But, instead, in the wake of the fight with her dad, she finds Archie and doubles down on her misery. 

The final scene sees Archie and Katie in a (re)meet-cute at the diner. Archie is deigning to drink bagged tea, and Katie is working her way through her third piece of pie. (For what it’s worth, those pieces of pie look rather skimpy to me. Give a depressed diner a Thanksgiving cut, good waitress!) The exchange is one of the most heartfelt and genuine exchanges we’ve seen between the two of them, and we finally get to the core of their relationship: These two both speak the same love language, and that language is words of affirmation. 

Both Katie and Archie have a desperate need to be told that they’re good. Earlier, when Archie gripes about his book to Sunny, she sagely offers that brilliant people don’t need to be told that they’re brilliant. This is true, Sunny! (Even Ron Swanson agrees with you.) But when Archie repeats this to Katie, she’s not buying it. Neither is Archie. The two give each other compliments, with Katie saying that she’s sure Archie will get his book published someday, and with Archie saying that Katie is the most brilliant person he’s ever known. (This man is really short-selling the woman he impregnated.) For some reason, due to a mix of “eff you, dad” and feeling properly appreciated, Katie tells him that she’s “in” for their relationship. Other than a spark of daughterly rebellion, there doesn’t seem to be a reason for her change of heart. Archie has shown her absolutely zero growth or desire to be with her, but she places all her chips in his corner anyway. Greg was right, gambling is not the way to go.

Office Hours

• My favorite shot of this episode is when Dylan and Greg are across the table from one another at a disciplinary committee meeting, and the camera holds tight on a well-lit and clearly smitten Dylan as she tells Greg she’s going to miss disciplining him. 

• Speaking of Dylan, we get a little insight into her character when she tells Katie she spent the night in a “tequila-and-solders-surprising-their-children-on-Instagram” rabbit hole. This sounds lovely, but also with the potential to be very weepy. 

• Elizabeth notices the rooster weathervane in Katie’s office, but she calls it “the cock.” I wonder when Chekov’s cock will be deployed. Hopefully by the end of the season! 

• If Katie is the fourth hottest professor, then who are the top three? Dylan certainly has to be up there. If I were making a list, Greg would be numbers 1-3, for sure.