Portlandia 6x5 'Breaking Up': Real Love

Portlandia 6x5 taps into the experiences of love and loss, using humor to dull the all too familiar pain of breaking up.

Reviewed during a spring day of 60 degree weather in Chicago... IN FEBRUARY. Also, while remembering my love of Maribou State, while being introduced to Lane 8.

‘I’ve never heard of this band “the Cassettes.”’

As ‘Going Gray’ reminded us earlier this season, the land of Portlandia views growing old differently. Fred and his mother try to ignore it, pretend it never happened (TIME. TIME never happened). Carrie doesn’t want to put labels on it. And the rest find their own coping mechanisms. Where ‘Going gray’ seemed to relish in the absurdities of how some people deal with aging, ‘Breaking Up’ grounds it, and the concept of love, to a more serious, relatable level. This episode does not lack in zeitgeist wannabe-youth jokes. It’s another reminder of how Portlandia can adapt and experiment without seeming forced, at least most of the time. In the case of ‘Breaking Up’ it taps into the humor of those otherwise painful and awkward experiences and mindsets of people trying to deal with love and feeling belonged.

Remember Doug and Claire? The ones who skipped your birthday, and their jobs, and their ablutions, to binge Battlestar Galactica? Turns out they don’t have their life together. Shocking. And as they get older together, they’re growing farther apart. Claire loves her independence, her perpetual state of productivity, and Doug feeds off that so he doesn’t have to take responsibility for anything. He doesn’t have to grow up on a mature level. In short, a very typical dependent relationship severely skewed in one direction. In fact, Doug’s perception of adult life is so warped he actually believes Guitar Hero is real. Or at least, the guitar is. That really is just hyperbole of people in the real world, and not hyperbole by much. Claire’s frustration with his childishness, of feeling ignored and unimportant, is heavily shared and thus that much more palpable. So she breaks up with him. It’s something many people would do in the same situation if they can muster the courage, but it’s another way that Portlandia is ‘breaking’ (PUN!!) its own mold from simply being purely outlandish and less realistic. After all, in its earliest seasons, one of the show’s couple breaking up was just unfathomable, like Fred and Carrie trying to have a child together. They just didn’t happen in the safe world of Portlandia. Allowing dramatic shifts like a break-up not only pulls us closer to the characters of the show, but opens more ground for the writers to dig for humor. Beyond the safe confines of episodes like season 2’s ‘One More Episode.’ Back then, there was not even a hint of Doug and Claire one day splitting. As it is, Doug and Claire are in territory foreign to them. But painfully familiar for the rest of us.

Single life for Doug reveals that maybe his maturity is stilted because he didn’t feel Claire appreciated him. And maybe he needs to do something to earn appreciation. Like build his own house, which metaphorically is him owning up to his role in domestic life and physically is him building MOTHERFRIGGIN TREEHOUSE!! An awesome one, too, even by fictional treehouse standards. And from here the floodgates of praise open, starting with Kendall (played by the majestically magnetic Zoe Kravitz) in awe of his retro music knowledge, and retro driving knowledge. Even when separated by Facetime on a selfie stick, technology Doug is still acclimating to, Kendall finds Doug simply ‘amazing… perfect.’ Or, as Candace would describe in another context, ‘Awed by her splendor, the stars near the lovely moon cover their own bright faces.’ That’s Sappho, by the way. Candace knows this because Candace is wordly. Candace is sophisticated. Candace is self-sustaining and highly functional. Candace is everything Claire feels she wants in a partner post-Doug. Again, it’s the show finely tuning its signature absurdist humor to reveal a reflection of ourselves. Most of us think we know what we want and need. We struggle to look at our present circumstances objectively to determine what might be wrong and what simply is a part of life.

The show, of course, doesn’t waste time teasing the honey moon period of finding someone new after a breakup. It respects the audience’s intelligence and experiences by subtly sneaking dissent, i.e. REALITY, among both new couples. Doug quickly understands what it’s like to have to deal with immaturity, the brazen disregard for life’s responsibilities found in Kendall and her friends. They worship Doug because he seems to get life, ya know. But really, they should know how a fucking car works. (‘Park, reverse, drive, left, right. Windshield wipers.’). But they don’t. They have the pet-care abilities of a toddler, and Doug is drowning is six puppies (three actual ones). Suddenly, he starts to see his own flaws in an extreme case. Suddenly, he’s the viewer. Claire, meanwhile, learns what it’s like not to be properly respected to handle even the most menial tasks. Candace talks a firm hold on her life, because Candace only know control, and is shocked that Claire doesn’t need taking care of, she can handle herself. Shocked, and frustrated, leading to tension. All things we can find examples of in our own lives or of people we know. And in the end, Doug and Claire run into each other anyway, mildly stung by the realities of what they thought they wanted, and not yet able to express them to each other. That scene at the end isn’t so much funny. It’s somber. And very touching.

‘Breaking Up’ applies its humor in the visceral experience of Doug and Claire’s struggle to be single. It takes more heart that many other Portlandia episodes. That last scene, and much of ‘Breaking Up’ in general, continues the show’s fresh trend into pulling us a little bit closer to these crazy characters we used to just write off as ‘aging hipsters.’ (We all did that. It wasn’t just me… right?). And it leaves another cliffhanger, another endeavor into layered plotting. These days, we’re left relating to the people of Portland. We’re left caring. And, in the midst of all that, we’re left still laughing. Humor, the medicine of life’s struggles.

Grade: A-

When I got sidetracked

-Whenever I think of Doug, I go back to ‘One More Episode’ which will always have a special place in my heart and might just be my favorite Portlandia ever. Not just for its own humor, but for bringing me down to Doug and Claire’s level by persuading me to Battlestar Galactica (I know that I had finals for my last semester at Tufts around that time… but for the life of me I can’t remember what I was studying. Maybe it was how BOSS STARBUCK WAS!)

-This episode, as stated, explored the concept of REALITY!!! Brought to you by Picnicface, the guys who did the Powerthirst video. Check 'em out.

-‘I invested in feminism in the 1970s.’ If only society had done the same.

-I'm trying a new font this week, since 'Basic' doesn't work for all. Let's see how this pans out.

#TV #review #Portlandia