30 Rock – Recap & Review – Anna Howard Shaw Day

photo: nbc

30 Rock
Anna Howard Shaw Day

Original Air Date: Feb 11, 2010

Laura Kelley – Associate Staff Writer
laurakelley@thetwocentscorp.com

Valentine’s Day is never a good time for Liz Lemon, and she started this year’s V-Day episode out with a bang, by telling Pete’s daughter that Valentine’s Day is a scam and she should “learn from my sexual mistakes.” There are reasons Liz is single, and this may be one of them. Jack, however, has a strategy: he sets up three dates across the city and makes Jonathan call him during them to give him an exit strategy. Never one to say die, Liz plans to circumvent her holiday misery by scheduling a root canal, meaning to spend her day in twilight sleep and then watching Lifetime movies. She is, in her own words, “that painting elephant of awesome.”

Jenna isn’t having a good day either, because her stalker has stopped sending her creepy letters. Lutz still has a fake girlfriend, Topher gets set up with an “urban” girl, and Jack has developed a crush on a CNBC newswoman. Liz’s root canal plan is nearly derailed when she can’t find anyone to drive her home after the surgery, and then Kenneth invites her to an abstinence rally where she’ll have to wear a gender-neutral hood that will forever haunt my nightmares. Jenna goes to visit her stalker, but he’s no longer interested, and she reminisces about all the creepy moments they had together.

Jack goes on a date with Avery, one of Maxim’s “I’d Rape That 100.” To impress her, Jack has Liz set up a fake VIP lounge with Jon Bon Jovi as NBC’s artist in residence. In the VIP room, Grizz and Dot Com are bouncers, and they hope that “maybe one day we’ll live in a world where you ask us to pretend to be scientists!” I love those two. Bon Jovi makes Liz feel bad that she has no one to drive her home, so she says that Astronaut Mike Dexter is driving her. After her surgery, she hallucinates that her three most recent boyfriends are all there to pick her up, and Jack ends up driving her home. Kenneth makes Jenna a creepy stalker poster and cuts off some of her hair to make her feel better, and everyone ends up having a great Valentine’s Day.

I really liked this episode. It was, to paraphrase Liz Lemon, as awesome as that painting elephant. What did you all think? Leave your two cents in the comments below!