The League: One Final Shiva Blast

Did The League win a Shiva or a Sacko in its final season?

"Being married to Meegan is like being at the beach, okay? You put up with all of this shit that's completely unacceptable in any other situation, except that, "hey, we're at the beach!" You know, it's like you're shivering in your shorts in fifty-degree weather, but, "hey, we're at the beach." The truth is, some beaches suck. Some beaches are bad. And I know you can't really see this because you're still living at the beach, but I left. I can't go back to the beach, man." - Pete Eckhart, The League, S01E02


After seven years of shit-sipping, becoming forever unclean, and dressing up as Mr. McGibblets, FX/FXX's The League has finally come to a close. And, though the show certainly fell off the wagon in its later years, becoming something of a shell of its former shelf, the show delivered in the final moments, ending on a high note.

Ruxin, I think I'll miss you most of all.
The history of The League has been an interesting one. When it first came onto the scene seven years ago, it was one of the more original and fresh breaths of comedy in a long time. Coming from creator Jeff Schaffer who had worked on Seinfeld and Curb your Enthusiasm with Larry David, along with his wife Jackie, the show utilized a semi-improvised feel that created ridiculously funny jokes and plots, sometimes on the spur of the moment. The cast was fantastic, with every lead actor bringing something to their role from their original field. Mark Duplass and Katie Aselton were from the independent movie scene, Steve Rannazzisi was a stand-up, Nick Kroll a sketch comic, Paul Scheer an improviser, and Jon Lajoie a YouTube star. They had fantastic chemistry together, and for three solid years, I will stand by The League being one of the greatest comedies on television.

However, when season four began, though not severely lacking, the show had certainly taken a dip. The characters became a little bit too much, almost parodying themselves, and though the writing was still pretty sharp, it was clear that the cogs weren't meshing quite as well as they once were. This only continued into the fifth, sixth, and now seventh season. The quality had gone down, and instead of being grounded in realism, a show about six friends in a fantasy football league, the show veered in the direction of ridiculousness, making something of a hyperbole of what the comedy had once been. Andre became exceptionally out of touch, Ruxin exceptionally mean, Kevin exceptionally sad sacked, and so on and so forth. This wasn't to say I didn't enjoy the 22 minutes a week that The League was on for, but no longer was it one of the top comedies of each year.

The perfect way to end any show is above.
As the show came in for a close, some questionable decisions were made. The League had never been one for long form plots, and while largely continuing this trend, in the last couple of episodes some major plot points occurred. In episode 11 of 13, Ruxin's wife died during vaginal reconstructive surgery, spurring one of the worst episodes in the history of the show: an animated half hour about the adventures of Rafi and Dirty Randy. In the very next episode, we learned that Pete's ex-wife and Andre's ex-girlfriend, Meegan was pregnant, meaning that Andre would ostensibly be a father. All of this was thrown on us in only 2 episodes, setting up for the final act of the show. Though not a huge misstep, as the plots were largely tossed aside in the grand scheme of things, it felt as if these beats were thrown in at the last moment to give more gravity to the ending.

All of this criticism being said, I give The League props for their finale. Unlike many, they did not go for an emotional sendoff. The characters on the show have never been the sentimental type, and though it is a story of six friends, none of the typical romances or breakups really occurred on The League. The show was a comedy for the sake of comedy, and in their finale, there was no hint of a Scrubs or The Office type of bittersweet goodbye. As all of our characters make their final attempts to win the Shiva, they settle scores, debate the paternity of Andre's child, and in Kevin and Jenny's case, compete to see which of them will become infertile.

In what was probably the best scene of The League since season three, Ruxin, after discovering Pete is the father of Andre's baby, is visited by his future self, played by Larry David, who tells him not to go through with telling Andre. Though other than being Jewish, Larry and Nick Kroll don't look a ton alike, the chemistry between them was impeccable, and the scene made me laugh harder than anything since Jeff Goldblum guest starred as Ruxin's father. Special props for the throwaway gag of Ruxin legally changing his name to Ruxin instead of Rodney.

And, in classic League fashion, the show went out with one final Andre burn. They gang decides to make a video to be shown to Andre's son on his eighteenth birthday, revealing who his true father is. After watching it, complete with Andre in a ridiculous gray wig and all, his son jumps up and goes "Andre's not my real Dad? YES!!!" and runs off in glee. The gang then welcomes him to the league. It was cruel and it was almost hard to hear from Andre's perspective, but it was the perfect way to end the show: one final knife in the heart of everyone's favorite whipping boy.
No no... I'll miss Andre's hats the most.

In an overall sense, I'm split on the end of The League. As one of the more long running comedies I've been a fan of, it's a bit sad to see an old friend go. However, it was also nice to see a show which had go so downhill finally call it quits. This way, it prevented itself from going any further downhill in the overall rankings. Much like the other shows we lost this year, mainly Mad Men and Justified, it was sad to see the end, but it was their time. Better to discard a bad hand then to hold onto it and lose money.

All in all, it's been a fun run, The League. You've turned me into an enormous fan of Paul Scheer and Nick Kroll, even leading me to discover the fantastic Life and Times of Tim from my Kroll fandom. You've made an anti-sports nerd a viable candidate for being in a fantasy football league if it was even one eighth as fun as the show makes it look, and you've given quite a many laughs over the last seven years.


So, one final time, let's say it together:
SHIVA KAMINI SOMAKANDARKRAM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Labels: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,