Photo/Comedy Central
Workaholics have brought the screwball endeavors to a whole new level in season 4. Anders, Adam and Blake have already dosed a baby shower punch with Ecstasy all the way to trying to make a documentary of surgically transferring penises in just the first five episodes. These boys take shenanigans to a totally different level. And Episode 11 “The One Where the Guys Play Basketball and Do the “Friends” Title Thing” is no exception.
The episode starts with the characters on the way to work at telemarketing company TelAmericorp. When they pull into the parking lot, they’re surprised to find out that office will be competing in a 3-on-3 game of basketball to win a chance to drive a Dodge Dart to Reno for a one night stay. The intriguing opportunity increases the rat packs competitive energy. Until they’re all introduced to Lynette from accounting, who could put Isiah Thomas to shame.
To compete with Lynette, Adam comes up with the genius idea to purchase steroids to take their game to the next level. Still, Ders isn’t satisfied with this motive, and wants to attack the opponent weak points. This is accomplished by Ders telling Lynette that he hopes her son, Darnel, dies. Lynette proceeds to sock Ders in the face leading to a broken hand and her inability to play in the company game.
As this is all going on, Blake is hosting a World of Warcraft murder mystery game for 14 straight hours. When game day comes upon the gang, Adam decides to strap down Anders to his bed and inject him with steroids while he is still asleep. With Anders on a roid rage, he goes to throw the members of the mystery party out, and one in particular through the windowpane. This action causes Blake to become upset and decide to join the opposing team in the game to replace Lynette.
During this dispute, Adam is on the verge of a heart attack and is rushed to the hospital for stupidly injecting steroids into his chest. But you wouldn’t require anything different from his role. With the Ders team down two members, Anders decides to enlist the assistance of his drug dealer, Karl and the paid assistance of “the one-time janitor” George. As each player gathered around the ball, Blake questioned the location of Adam, where Anders proceeded to tell him that he was in the hospital due to a broken heart caused by his betrayal. Which negatively impacted Blake’s performance.
Since the rules of the game called that each player be an employee of TelAmeriCorp, the office member began questioning the authenticity of the new members of the Ders team. With the game tied 1-to-1, it was discovered that George was not a staff member and he was automatically disqualified.
As Blake’s team began to celebrate, a profound feeling came over Blake which made him realize he couldn’t betray his best friends. After this recognition, he rejoined the Ders team. The opposing employee team enlisted the help of injured Lynette to end the game with a last opportunity to make one more point. Anders ends up dunking the ball to breaking the glass frame of the basketball hoop winning the game for the three characters.
The closing of the episode contains Blake and Anders swooping Adam from the hospital, in their World of Warcraft clothing, to make their way to Reno. The cast rejoices in the car on the way singing, “Reno, Las Vegas.” Gratuitous to state, this crew has comedically grown by exponential bounds, and it is reassuring to see them carrying on within their fourth season. And this episode stands up to the remaining season and level of hilarity.
