I have a confession to make: I’ve never watched Portlandia. At some cocktail parties or brunches, I might have insinuated that I have to make it look like I am in the know, but I have not actually watched the show. (I also haven’t read The Goldfinch, or ever been to a Jeff Koons exhibition – even if I might have implied otherwise.)
It’s not like I know nothing about the show. I watched the first episode late one night on Netflix (which currently offers all four seasons), so that’s a start. And we all come across sketches online, like the brilliant one about a couple who decides to binge-watch Battlestar Galactica, the Put a Bird on It people, or the feminist bookstore owners. It’s as if I have seen the show even though, you know, I haven’t set my DVR to record it all the time. That is about to change.
I watched the first two episodes of Portlandia’s fifth season, which kicks off on IFC tonight at 10pm EST, and it certainly seems to have matured. No longer is it a sketch show where Carrie Brownstein and Fred Armisen play a variety of characters over the course of each episode. The season starts out with two instalments dedicated to recurring characters, and we spend the full 30 minutes following one story.
The first episode features those popular feminist book store clerks Candace and Toni. Thanks to an interview they give for a local newsletter, we find out just how their store Women and Women First was founded, how the pair met back in the wild 90s in New York City, and how corporate life drove them to own a modestly successful not-for-profit niche bookstore in a state that borders Amazon’s HQ.
The next episode centers around Nina (played by Armisen) and Lance (played by Brownstein) when Lance’s mother comes to visit with her new boyfriend Justin (former Mr Drew Barrymore Justin Long). It’s not long before their talk of marriage gets Nina hankering for an engagement ring of her own.
Those passingly familiar with Portlandia, as most pop culture aficionados such as myself are, would expect it to be a satire of the certain type of hipster who lives in a perpetually rainy second-tier city which lacks sunshine but boasts composting and artisanal honey. The show seems to have gone past that. Both of these episodes are about sexism and gender, naturally, but mostly on a surface level. The Candance and Toni episode is sort of like seven silly 90s movies rolled into one, culminating in a dance-off scored to Snap!’s The Power. The best scene is when Toni and Candace are competing against each other, driving their shared secretary absolutely insane.
It’s a retelling of Working Girl, but doesn’t take itself, or its obvious feminist message, very seriously. That’s not to say it mocks women’s equality, but it views it as such a fait accompli that it’s not doing any sort of damage to the movement by treating it without sanctimony.
The second episode is more about the absurdity of public wedding proposals and how they so often go viral. While that is very true, there is so much strange humour sprinkled throughout that a simplistic breakdown doesn’t do justice to an episode where the focus continually shifts.
The good news for newcomers like myself is that enjoyment doesn’t flag because of a lack of familiarity with the show. I’m sure longtime viewers who have more affection and knowledge of these characters may get a bigger kick out of some of the jokes than others, but this is not the sort of postmodern comedy like Community or Arrested Development that is built on solipsistic in-jokes aimed at the already initiated.
In fact, that seems like something that Portlandia would make fun of. The show is intent not on skewering a certain place, but creating an alternative universe all its own. I’m glad I finally got a chance to visit – and now I’ll be moving right in.
