Julia Season 2 Episode 5 Review: Bûche de Noël
Julia and her team experience a very chaotic few days. It leads to one of the funniest hours yet. Julia Season 1 Episode 5, “Bûche de Noël” sets up several challenges for our heroine.
Nevertheless, she conquers all of them. However, not in a completely tidy way. Things get messy.
It starts with the arrival of Paul’s twin Charles. Charles allows David Hyde Pierce to perform dual roles. One role is an antagonist to Julia, and the other is her biggest supporter and dream husband.
“Bûche de Noël” demonstrates why Paul and Julia are such an intoxicating and inspiring couple. Their union lacks ego. Paul relishes Julia’s wins and wants her to continue to shine.
This sentiment stands out even more when compared to Charles. He needs to dimmer someone else’s star to feel important.
Pierce and Sarah Lancashire have enchanting chemistry as Paul and Julia. Therefore, it’s fun to see them turn that off for Julia and Charles. Their friendly dislike of each other adds a new entertaining dynamic to Julia.
Hopefully, Charles will return for future episodes.
The product placement storyline in “Bûche de Noël” could have been such a throwaway side storyline. But, because of the show’s excellent writing, it becomes such a fun background centerpiece.
It’s also done in a way that doesn’t distract from the more important storylines of the episodes. The product placements play a clever role that creates many hilarious Julia moments.
Lancashire gives hints of Lucille Ball in some of these scenes with products, especially the one where she slowly opens the fridge.
Additionally, the addition of products to use through The French Chef makes you wonder about the inconvenience they may present in certain shows and films. It also makes you appreciate how seamlessly some films and TV shows incorporate them.
Julia offers some fun looks at the interworkings of making a TV show, and this episode reminds us of all the hard (sometimes ridiculous) work that goes into creating them.
“Bûche de Noël” also reminds us of the barriers that existed back then with television. This comes with Alice’s attempt to make her show. Unfortunately, even before Hunter breaks the news to her, you know how it will end.
The world isn’t ready for such a bold show as For Women By Women.
Alice has become such a force on Julia. She’s always been important to the narrative and show, but now she feels like an irreplaceable key figure.
She represents a strive for change.
Her struggles, once again, highlight why Julia represents so much more than just a TV chef. She breaks down some of the barriers set in place by men.
It’s so important that Julia shows Julia compromising by crediting Russ and Alice. This type of seemingly small decision allows her to make important demands later.
She may not get Alice’s show back in production, but she could help enable her to have another chance at a similar show.
Julia’s “Bûche de Noël” blends very entertaining comedy while highlighting that the revolution is still in development.
What did you think of this episode of Julia? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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Julia streams Thursday on Max.
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Jerrica Tisdale
Jerrica Tisdale is your favorite neighborhood pop culture junkie. She will annoy you with random TV and film facts, while complaining about whatever is the hottest new book. She has been a TV fan all her life but writing about it for over a decade. You may find her work all over the internet especially reality TV rants. She is a senior writer at Tell-Tale TV.