30 Rock – Recap & Review – The Fabian Strategy

photo: nbc

30 Rock
The Fabian Strategy

Original Air Date: Sep 23, 2010

Laura Kelley, Associate Staff Writer
laurakelley@thetwocentscorp.com

The summer hiatus seems like it gets longer every year, and it’s nice to have some Liz Lemon back in my life. Liz is doing well, considering she’s still dating Matt Damon and there are hopefully no more waffles in her DVD player. Despite her gynecologist’s suicide, things are looking up. She gets a call from Tracy, saying he is looking forward to improving his life, but he hangs up when he realizes she’s not his nutritionist. Oh, Tracy Jordan, I’ve missed you.

Liz, Jack and Pete meet to plan how they can be better than Kabletown, and when they look through the contracts, they find out that Jenna is demanding a pay increase, a promotion to producer, and eye contact from every member of the staff. I feel like so many of the problems on this show could be averted if somebody just dosed Jenna with a powerful antipsychotic, or maybe hit her in the head with a shovel. It seems like what Kenneth’s townsfolk would do. Jack complains that Avery keeps trying to redecorate his apartment, and he tells Liz that since she and Carol only see each other a few days a month, it’s not really a relationship. When Liz and Carol watch TV together (stay classy, Lemon), he says he wants real love, not going from woman to woman. You can’t play a player, Liz, especially one who’s been with a staggering six women. Liz tries to get advice from Jack, but he’s still freaking out about Avery.

Tracy imagines he sees Kenneth in the TGS halls, but Kenneth was fired, which I had totally forgotten. Then Tracy sees him in the street in his CBS jacket, which means he must have gone to work with Moonvest. Tracy won’t believe it’s really Kenneth until Kenneth almost gets run over by a car. Kenneth misses being Tracy’s assistant for some reason, despite the fact that that job includes rubbing a snake until it poops. I would not miss that job. Meanwhile, Jenna doesn’t totally suck as a producer, because she’s willing to fire people to save money. Realizing that someone else has to be fired, she tells Pete to fire her, but he doesn’t want to because she made his job easier.

When Carol cries, Liz reevaluates their relationship. She realizes she wants to keep trying when asked if she would rather be with a person she loves while wearing a pube shirt or wearing anything without them, she chooses love. Of course she’d wear a pube shirt, this is Liz we’re talking about. Jack tells Liz about his plan to hire an interior designer to redecorate exactly as he wants, but when it turns out Avery did the same thing, Jack realizes their relationship is pretty awesome. What did you guys think about this episode? Are you still wondering what mythological creature Kenneth is? Every time I see him I wonder. Leave your two cents and Kenneth theories in the comments. We can solve this mystery, you guys.