30 ROCK: Reunion

Liz Lemon was a mean girl! Funny that “Reunion” comes just as Tina Fey’s Vanity Fair cover story is hitting the stands, in which she admits to Maureen Dowd that she had “a touch of high-school bitchy” during her younger days. Or maybe not funny at all: maybe this well-timed revelation is just another track on Tina Fey’s roadmap to ruling the universe.

It was a neat trick: what we take for granted about Liz—that her snarly bossiness and smart mouth mask her insecurities and social ineptitude—and what she misreads as shy is what her former classmates (including the cool, pretty crowd) remember as biting and nasty. I loved the reveal of the White Haven Witch, who apparently made lives miserable simply by being the clueless, bespectacled, quippy nerd we know and love. And she’s able to drive her old foes back to facial tics and dancing just by showing up, which means Liz Lemon already rules the universe.

“Reunion” also gave us the return of Don Geiss, who emerges from his months-long coma only to inform Jack that, thanks to an energy beam, he’s decided to hold on to those CEO reins until he dies (“if that ever even happens”). This news drives Jack into such a tailspin that he tags along to Liz’s reunion and, in the midst of another midlife career crisis, jumps at the opportunity to pose as a jolly, smooth-talking BMOC named Larry Braverman, whose Camaro everyone remembers. Soon he’s king of the class, reuniting with old loves (in the form of one Donnatella Moss, also known as Janel Moloney of “The West Wing”) and regaling all with tales of his fabled “sex and awesomeness” while dreaming of a happy life filled with mulch. It was a sweet turnabout that Alec Baldwin sold with his usual manic, somewhat rueful glee.

Back at home, Kenneth got to be king of the elevator for one brief, shining moment, trumping both Tracy and Jenna by entertaining riders with jokes and group singalongs between floors. But apart from giving Tracy the chance to play Kenneth the NBC Page as part of his revenge (“This studio hosted the Kraft Television Theater in the 1950s, where young writers like Paddy Chayefsky and Rod Serling first rose to prominence,” he tells a tour group), this B story felt pretty forgettable and was resolved way too easily.

A FEW FAVORITE THINGS

Jack to Liz: “Why does anyone go to Miami? Ass, and the burgeoning art scene.” And then expressing his frustration by defying the standards department and repeating “cat anus” three times instead of the approved two.

Liz is lured into attending her reunion just as easily as she’s lured onto the stage to accept her school spirit award: by the promise of high-calorie savory foodstuffs (“I want to go to there”).

Jack: “Lemon, you will go and show that Kelsey Winthrop that the ugly duckling has turned into a…vaguely ethnic swan.”

They should work a Liz Lemon Accidental Confessional into every episode: “One time I laughed at a blind guy eating spaghetti. Sometimes I pee in the shower if I’m really tired. I saw my grandparents making love once and I didn’t leave right away.”

Liz’s hometown of White Haven, PA, is actually a haven of meth addicts, teetotalers, and Vietnamese immigrants.

Tracy pouting in his angry chair, then telling Grizz and Dotcom that “making up words won’t save you!” Meaning words like “optometrist.”

Liz’s confident order of a Manhattan at the bar changes to an apologetic white wine spritzer when the bartender asks her to choose a bourbon.

Rob Sussman, the first gay guy Liz ever kissed: “Still think I’m gayer than the volleyball scene in “Top Gun”?”

Liz to Jack: “If these jagweeds don’t want to get to know the nice, new me, then screw them and their rapidly yellowing teeth.” And their Seven Minutes in Heaven ending with her driving Jack to tears.

Liz’s final Lemon Out to the crowd: “Suck it, you whittling IHOP monkeys! That’s right: a jet! To New York Ci-tay!”

Overall, I’d give this one the first solid A of the season, although I would have liked to see Liz actually get Carrie’d by Diane. What did you think?

— posted by Kari

Kari is a 30 ROCK fanatic and will be taking it out on you, her new imaginary friends.