Hello Tomorrow! Season 1 Episode 4 Review: Forms, Appropriately Filled and Filed
Hello Tomorrow! Season 1 Episode 4, “Forms, Appropriately Filled and Filed,” is as tedious as the paperwork and red tape that continues to plague the Brightside team.
Moments of levity are sprinkled in, and there are elements that propel the story forward, but it’s not enough to make this a memorable episode of television. There’s also significant character development happening; the problem is, it’s all so uninteresting.
The episode begins with one of these developments. Joey is feeling a surge of self-confidence thanks to his new job and the encouragement and support of his boss and father figure, literally speaking. He’s finally asked his crush out after years of pining.
This romantic addition to the story doesn’t actually add much. There’s very little history between Joey and Phyllis (Dani Montalvo) besides the charming tidbit of him buying his pet fish, and there’s even less chemistry. That’s not much for an audience to grasp onto in order to start rooting for the young couple.
That budding relationship is already overshadowed by the father and son relationship between Jack and Joey, which is shaky at best since it is being built on a lie, or multiple lies in this case.
Although Shirley finds out the truth of the new Brightside salesman’s parentage, it’s an underwhelming reveal.
Phyllis and her overbearing father, Phil (Teddy Cañez), are introduced in such a clunky way, and somehow become less and less engaging as the episode wears on. This wouldn’t be as egregious of a misstep if the other plot lines provided compelling enough material.
Sadly, they do not. Each one offers ho-hum, generic fare from Eddie and his gambling addiction to Herb and his jealous wife.
Eddie is an unlikable character with not many redeeming qualities. The best thing about him is that Shirley seems to like him. The whole situation just has me feeling sorry for Shirley—she deserves much better.
Not only does she have his reckless gambling to deal with, but also the fate of the company. Jack is dealing with his personal issues, and puts it on Shirley to sort out the business legalities.
Which leads us to the most interesting part of the episode where bureaucratic banality reins supreme. I find myself paying the most attention in the scenes with Myrtle and Lester who share more chemistry than any other pairs on the series so far.
Lester: I have engaged the entity in a 97C4I. Failure to comply.
Myrtle: Really? What’s that?
Lester: Forms they neglected to file.
Myrtle: So just paperwork?
Lester: Forms, ma’am, appropriately filled and filed, are the lifeblood of our orderly commercial society.
There’s something endearing about Lester’s passion for regulatory procedures and proper paperwork. It’s also fun to see Myrtle take it upon herself to catch Brightside in the act of operating illegally.
With all the relationships on Hello Tomorrow! being lackluster, it takes administrative minutia to keep my interest. Which, unlike the dairy consumption on this episode, doesn’t seem like a very good sign as to the direction and success of the series.
What did you think of this episode of Hello Tomorrow!? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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Erin Allen
Erin is a former script supervisor for film and television. She's an avid fan of middle aged actresses, dark dramas, and irreverent comedies. She loves to read actual books and X-Files fan fiction. Her other passions include pointing out feminist issues, shipping Mulder and Scully, and collecting pop culture mugs.