In terms of guest stars, Difficult People raised the bar with “High Alert” by including Julianne Moore and Debbie Harry in the episode. Harry’s part is that bit smaller than Moore’s but still memorable. As the show starts New York in under high alert and people are being told to stay off the subway.
Matthew is getting married and both Billy and Julie get a look at their future. Arthur manages to use a multitude of pet names for his girlfriend. None are used twice and it is an impressive feat.
Due to an alert status change, it moves up to “rose” and a news broadcast interrupts The Bachelor. This stops Julie from writing her recap of the show and she writes her “9/11” piece instead. The lengthy essay recounts her sexual expression of grief after the tragedy by having sex with nine different men and having oral sex with 11 men.
Before writing the sex filled essay, Julie attempts to see who was sent home from “The Bachelor” and discovers 14 year old Fern Fujihara (Grace Song). The teen had a snapchat go viral of her hamster, or guinea pig, sitting with a donut on its head. The child is now being represented by C.A.A.
Julie’s response is a heartfelt “F*ck this world.”
This episode was all about Julie’s past sex life, and how many times character’s mention her “f*cking and blowing 20 men.
Moore plays Sarah Nussbaum; who works for Josh Gad and Sarah wants to option Julie’s sexcapade essay into a film. Kessler is ecstatic and so is Billy. She is to work with a comedy writer, Harvey (Kind) who is a major irritation. The writer ends up getting into a fight with Arthur who decides to defend his girlfriend’s honor.
After the argument, Nussbaum gives the writing assignment to the 14 year old snapchat star who thinks Rich Little writes for “Rookie.”
There is a running gag about new, and bargain basement type ride shares a’la Uber and Lyft. Once again Kevin Spacey is part of Billy’s obsession.
Matthew has a bachelorette party and Billy is paid to attend by Nate. Elmer (William Bogert) is a sex obsessed old man who wants to play party games that involve his bum. Matthew passes out after on drink and Billy tries to leave.
Elmer’s wants to play “pass the torch” and Nate brings out a yahrzeit candle. Billy was looking for one so he could light it for his father. Elmer wants to shove it up his backside and Nate decides to light the candle for Billy’s father instead.
The wedding of Matthew and Elmer is presided over by Rita (Amy Sedaris) and Kiki (Harry). A lesbian couple who live above the venue. Kiki, says Rita, has drugs and her partner offers to hook anyone up who wants them.
Just as Matthew walks down the aisle, Elmer dies and Rita switches the whole ceremony to a funeral. The distraught Matthew hands Kiki some sheet music and breaks into Ave Maria.
Billy and Julie opt to take the subway after all and he decides to be like Kevin Spacey and get famous before looking for love.
Difficult People this week amped up the crudity quotient. While the amount of pet names that Arthur used for Julie in the episode was funny, the use of ribald language reached an all time high. It was funny the first 10 times that f*ck and blowjob were used in the show but after a while it became almost mundane.
This is a brilliantly funny and acerbic comedy. The two main protagonists are not overly generous and are self centered while working sporadically for fame. Despite the higher than usual crudity, “High Alert” continued the upward swing of this show in terms of humor.
Kudos for the Josh Gad scenario and Julie’s interaction with Moore and Kind.
Difficult People airs Tuesdays on Hulu. Watch this one as it is really quite funny.
CAST:
- Julie Klausner – Julie Kessler
- Billy Eichner – Billy Epstein
- James Urbaniak – Arthur Tack
- Andrea Martin – Marilyn Kessler
- Cole Escola – Matthew
- Gabourey Sidibe – Denise
- Derrick Baskin – Nate
Guest starring Julianne Moore, Debbie Harry and Richard Kind
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