"I'm not adopted and I'm not an Indian! It's just a coincidence that I have a love of gambling and booze and a knack for catching syphilis!" - Amy Sedaris as Jerri Blank upon learning her true heritage
Strangers with Candy: Season 3 DVD Review
By Jonathan Boudreaux
Television can always be counted on to teach us the little lessons we need to know in order to lead a morally sound, fulfilling life. For example, drugs are bad, unless they make you feel good. Sexual harassment is deplorable, especially if it interferes with your slutty sex life. Bullies are best defeated by pacifism, followed by a well-placed kick. Yes, welcome back to the wacky world of Strangers with Candy, the outrageously funny Comedy Central sitcom that turns the preachy morality tales of teen scare shows like The ABC After School Special on their ears.
As in seasons one and two, the third (and final) year of Strangers with Candy focuses on Jerri Blank (Amy Sedaris), a 47 year-old former drop-out and crack whore who decides to better herself by reenrolling in high school (as a freshman) and picking up her education where she left off many years (and crack pipes) ago. It's not exactly a smooth transition from the gutter to the classroom, especially when Jerri is faced with the dubious help of her moronic (and not-quite-closeted) teachers Mr. Noblet (The Daily Show's Stephen Colbert) and Mr. Jellineck (Paul Dinello), despotic Principal Blackman (Greg Hollimon), her disdainful stepmother (Deborah Rush), and her imbecilic stepbrother Derek (Larc Spies). Each week, Jerri is faced with a difficult moral decision, and always learns a valuable life lesson in the process. Of course, she usually learns the WRONG life lesson, but no matter - she tries so darn hard! Well, not really, but as long as you PRETEND to try hard in life, that's what counts.
Several of the episodes presented here are comedy classics. In "Jerri's Burning Issue," Jerri cavalierly has sex with her new boyfriend without using a condom ("Who cares? Nothing to worry about. The works fell out years ago."), but must then face the consequences - including a slight burning sensation. She learns the bad news from a cabbie ("I'm pretty sure we had sex in the backseat of my cab") who informs her that "I've been diagnosed with syphilis, so there's a pretty good chance you've got it. I'm supposed to tell people or something. I already told the other guys who are dead." With the big school dance coming up, Jerri can't quite bring herself to tell her boyfriend - until she decides that having an STD is actually a badge of honor rather than a scarlet letter. By then her boyfriend's brain has rotted away, but thanks to his delirium and uncontrollable shaking, they can still dance the night away!
Another standout episode is "Trail of Tears" in which Jerri discovers that she was adopted and that her mother was an Indian. This spectacularly un-PC masterpiece traffics in a dizzying array of stereotypes. Drinking, gambling, scalping - it's all here. Jerri even takes on a distinctly red hue as the episode progresses. In episodes like this one, the series is effective at puncturing stereotypes while simultaneously reveling in them.
The third season also boasts a bitchily funny guest appearance by Winona Ryder. In "The Last Temptation of Blank," which is also the last episode of the series, Ryder plays one of Flatpoint High's icy popular students who bets her friends that she can turn Jerri into a hot babe by working a little makeover magic. This is Ryder's funniest performance since Heathers, only this time, SHE'S one of the Heathers. Oddly enough, Ryder's significant guest-starring role is not noted anywhere on the packaging even though minor cameos by other actors (Dylan Baker, Andy Richter, Cheri Oteri, Mark McKinney, Janeane Garafalo, and Paul Rudd) are listed. "Trail of Tears" guest star Will Ferrell and "Is My Daddy Crazy?" guest David Cross are also no-shows on the packaging.
The remaining shows include "Is Freedom Free?" (Jerri goes on a hunger strike when her nude self-portrait is rejected by the school), "Is My Daddy Crazy?" (Jerri believes that her stepmom's new boyfriend is mentally disturbed), "Invisible Love" (Jerri has a hot new boyfriend, but he treats her like garbage - literally), "Blank Relay" (Jerri experiments with steroids), "Ask Jerri" (Jerri becomes the world's most unqualified advice columnist), "There Once was a Blank From Nantucket" (Jerri enjoys being sexually harassed - until it threatens to turn-off her new crush), and "Bully" (both Jerri and Mr. Jellineck are faced with unwanted attention from bullies). A few of the plotlines in the third season have a slight overlap with those in previous seasons, but even when the themes are familiar, all of the episodes presented here are amusing.
One reason for the show's success is Sedaris' performance. She can make even the most innocuous-seeming line screamingly funny. She is also a gifted physical comedian. Her facial twists and contortions never fail to entertain. Watch her watching a filmstrip in "Is My Daddy Crazy?" and try to keep a straight face. Colbert's smug yet clueless Noblet and Dinello's spacey Jellineck are also terrific.
The ten episodes that make up the third season are divided onto two discs. The time around, the discs are housed in slim, clear keepcases. The front covers feature photos of Noblet and Jellineck. The back covers include stills from individual episodes. The double-sided coversheets show through to the inside of the case. Mimicking high school yearbooks, the inside covers include episode titles, original airdates, guest stars, and plot synopses. It should be noted that the information included inside the cases is slightly erroneous - "Invisible Love" is listed as being on disc one and "Blank Relay" on disc two, but they are inverted on the actual DVDs. The DVDs are decorated with photos similar to those on the case covers. The two keepcases slide into a cardboard sleeve which highlights a photo of Jerri backed by a smaller photo of the remaining cast members. Except for the fact that keepcases have been employed this season, the overall design is similar to those of seasons one and two.
The DVD menus are extremely clever. Using footage from "Is My Daddy Crazy?," the menus are designed to resemble an educational filmstrip, complete with a warped, wavering version of the show's theme song. Viewers can play all episodes or choose an individual episode. There are no scene selection menus, but the episodes are divided into chapters.
