Documentary Now! Review: Searching For Mr. Larson: A Love Letter From The Far Side (Season 3 Episode 5)
The beloved comic strip The Far Side becomes the focal point on Documentary Now! Season 3 Episode 5, “Searching For Mr. Lawson: A Love Letter From The Far Side.”
The episode becomes a strange character study in Brad (Fred Armisen) as he travels the country and his personality dominates the story, his boundless enthusiasm for The Far Side so strong that he neglects everything around him.
The scene where he bids farewell to his wife is a little disheartening, her incredulity over Brad actually going off to make the documentary showing how self-centered he is. There is a neglect that can be read two different ways: is he a bad person, or just oblivious?
There is a level of self-obsession, perhaps even narcissism in Brad as he reflects everything around him back on himself. The way he ties The Far Side comic strips into his current mood or situation is a great aside, especially with how it uses classic strips mixed in with the new.
This counts as a major point for the episode. There is a flashiness to it, in how it compares against what it parodies. When the show uses the styling of the subject it satires, there is a strange transcendence where the episode becomes more than its comedy.
Documentary Now! Season 3 Episode 3, “Original Cast Album: Co-Op” does the same, where its use of comedy has a wealth of appreciation in it, rather than putting the subject down.
An appreciation for both Gary Larson and his work, along with the documentary it parodies (the 2013 documentary Dear Mr. Watterson), gives the episode an edge in its earnestness and search for something genuine.
Even still, the episode finds its best work in Armisen’s Brad.
The brief cuts back to Brad during interviews as he tries to look contemplative are a running joke, as though he is doing so because he has seen filmmakers act like this in other documentaries, parroting emotion rather than emitting it.
It’s here where the entire documentary-inside-the-comedy-show becomes brilliant: in a meta way, the episode has Brad mimicking what he sees as documentary filmmaking techniques, and in doing so, the show itself is mimicking the process.
The flubs, Brad’s father being an awful cameraman, the unfortunate moments; they are all captured as though they are difficult trials in the documentary process, rather than Brad losing touch with what’s really important.
The best moments of “Searching For Mr. Larson” comes from the extravagant spending Brad does on unneeded expenditures for the documentary, including five-star hotels, drones, and the Tesla vehicle.
They are all quick visual gags, but show Brad, again, as self-absorbed, especially after the multiple phone calls with his wife and how desperately needed he is back at home.
The fact that Brad never meets Gary Larson, and that Ken Burns beat him to the punch, is a silly little end to the episode. There is some thoughtful nuance to such an anticlimactic ending, but really, it’s a return to normalcy for Brad, the life he returns to likely in shambles.
Documentary Now! Season 3 Episode 5, “Searching For Mr. Larson: A Love Letter From The Far Side” is a madcap exploration of someone using an obsession to try and reflect back on themselves.
It’s one of the best episodes of the season, and delivers Armisen one of his strangest character creations.
What did you think of this episode of Documentary Now? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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Documentary Now! airs Wednesdays at 11/10c on IFC.
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Kevin Lever
Kevin Lever has been following television closely for most of his life, but in starting to cover it, he has grown a further appreciation. He strives to give the blockbusters their due, and give the lesser known shows a spotlight to find more fans.