Perfect Harmony Review: Fork Fest (Season 1 Episode 2)
While its pilot showed promise, Perfect Harmony Season 1 Episode 2 “Fork Fest” showed more weaknesses than strengths.
As a follow up to the first episode, it basically serves as a vehicle for a forkful of Southern stereotypes and a rehash of what we already know about the characters.
Ginny is nice! Arthur is a Yankee grump! We get it.
It’s not to say that there aren’t some good moments. Every once in awhile, there will be a great one liner, like when Ginny (Anna Camp) tries to explain that a reputation is something you never get back once you lose it, likening it to her pelvic floor.
Tymberlee Hill and Spencer Allport both have some nice moments and Rizwan Manji’s weird energy actually works.
There’s a moment where Reverend Jax celebrates his rabbit winning an award that’s a lot funnier than it should be, and it’s all in his bizarre delivery. (Both he and Hill have the ability to deliver almost any line and make it funny. The show needs to leverage that more).
Despite this, the half hour is remarkably short on genuine laughs.
Part of the problem lies in the fact that the show seems to be at war with itself.
Does it want to be a show about a fish out of water and play up the Yankee transplant in the South idea or does it want to be about a group of underdogs trying to better themselves as singers and people?
The main plot line of “Fork Fest” plays more like the former, and truly, this is less interesting. There are only so many ways you can make jokes about Southerners being bumpkins before it gets old.
Plus, the inherent logic of the show doesn’t always hold up. As we saw on the first episode, Perfect Harmony Season 1 Episode 1 “Pilot,” the choir needed to finesse their sound to truly be competition for their rival choir.
However, by the end of the episode, they were already doing exciting mashups and harmonizing beautifully.
We come to find out on this episode that they’re known at Fork Fest for having fun and engaging song selections. Again, on this episode, they’re compelling and exciting to watch, so much so that people stand up and sing along with them.
So what’s the real journey here? The underdogs don’t really seem like underdogs and it zaps a lot of the tension out of the show.
It also doesn’t help that the B plot line for this episode is remarkably ludicrous. Ginny’s tormentors from school, led by guest star Laura Bell Bundy, jump to the conclusion that because Wayne and Ginny are no longer together that Ginny must have cheated on him. Bless her heart.
The stupidity of this story aside, it’s also a complete waste of Bundy. Bundy, known for some memorable turns on Veronica Mars, Hart of Dixie (a show that leverages its Southern setting brilliantly), and the Broadway musicals Legally Blonde and Hairspray, is a comedy powerhouse and there are few things that feel like a better fit for her wheelhouse than a mean Southern girl.
That’s why it’s so disappointing that she’s wasted doing something as silly as making an assumption that Ginny cheated on Wayne. He’s so perfect, how could anyone possibly leave him?
I’m from the South and there are plenty of better, funnier, and more realistic ways for you to wreak havoc as a mean girl than what we got.
So it begs the question: what was the point of this story? Was it to show us how honest and kind of a person Ginny is that she doesn’t want to negatively impact her son and speak ill of his father? We got a taste of her kindness and consideration last week. We know Ginny is pure of heart so help us learn something about her that we don’t already know.
On a similar note, there are more faces in the choir but similar to what happened on Glee, they’re added without much fanfare or explanation. As far as world building goes, the show continues to fall short.
Don’t get me wrong, I want this show to succeed, almost as much as I want to know what bean bag pants are (seriously, Wayne?) There are so many talented people involved but it feels unfocused.
It is still early in the season, and the show could still find its voice, but it’s disappointing that its second episode didn’t come out of the gate in a stronger way.
What did you think of this episode of Perfect Harmony? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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Perfect Harmony airs Thursdays at 8:30/7:30c on NBC.
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Cristina Iskander
Cristina is a Broadway enthusiast, book lover, and pop-culture fanatic living in New York City. She once won a Fantasy Bachelor contest (yes, like Fantasy Football, but for The Bachelor), and can banter about old school WB (Pacey + Joey FTW) just as well as Stranger Things and Pen15. She's still upset Benson and Stabler never got together and is worried Rollins and Carisi are headed down the same road, wants justice for Shangela, and hopes to one day walk-and-talk down a hallway with Aaron Sorkin.