Best Laid Plans Ep.2 “Breaking & Entering” | A Web Series Review on The Watch List

An Improvised Comedy Web Series

3 Swirlies

“We only need to look to episode 42 of Star Commanders”

I’m following this series because I accidentally watched an episode from later on, and now I’m going back posting them from the beginning.

I really liked the episode Tom’s Big Date. I kinda liked the dialogue and structure of the first episode, Dashboard Confessions. This episode is very well done, but in the end, its wackiness is its undoing.

There’s so much wacky over the top antics and plot going on that there’s not much in the way of character. At least in this episode, all these guys seem the same. The stories aren’t character driven, they are plot driven, which explains the long opening scene where the improvisers have to work in order to set up and motivate the actual story.

And for many people, the high energy plot and the funny one liners (“It’s cancer spray for dogs.”) will be enough for the three minutes or so that this episode runs for. There certainly doesn’t feel like there’s much in the way of down time - the episode is packed full of stuff going on. But as soon as the break in was set up, I knew where they were going with it. Plus, I didn’t really care. What was at stake was someone’s computer getting a virus in a way that would never be traced back to our guys. They could have simply gone to Dirk and said, “Sorry, my computer has a virus and it got on the disc.” Sure, it is fiction and we’re supposed to accept what the characters do, not scoff because its not what we think we would do. All I’m saying is, I didn’t care if they got the disc, and I didn’t care if they got caught. That doesn’t make for a very engaging episode.

Still, like I said, it is a very well produced series. If you’re looking for a way to mindlessly kill five minutes giggling at something on the internet you could do a lot worse.

From YouTube Description:

Felonies and misdemeanors are nothing when compared to rescuing a fair damsel’s computer from imminent viral doom.

Watch the entire series NOW at http://www.webserials.com

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Best Laid Plans Ep.1 “Dashboard Confessions”

Boys will be boys as John and Alex try to coach Tom and Skip out of their respective life crises.

Watch the entire series NOW at http://www.webserials.com

2 Swirlies

“Laser beams… I understand, that part of it is crazy. But the… metaphor. That’s what’s important.”

I totally forgot about this show, I liked the episode I saw before. And another one from WebSerials.com – I guess this is WebSerials.com catch up week.

Four guys discuss love while waiting for the comic book store to open.

Hmm… I really liked the first one I reviewed (which I now realize was episode 7) but this one didn’t grab me. It’s essentially one long joke with a reveal at the end which, considering the subject matter of the dialogue, isn’t all that surprising.

If you like comics, you’ll probably get a chuckle or two out their shout outs to super heroes.

Best Laid Plan – Tom’s Big Date

Tom finally gets his dream date, but his friends’ advice might be a recipe for disaster.

Watch the entire series NOW at http://www.webserials.com

4 Swirlies

“If you’re buying her dinner, then you’re grabbing her by the back of the head and kissing her deep. Now get out of here and make it happen!”

It’s a ball’s hair over ten minutes, which made me hesitate before hitting play. But seeing as it is from WebSerials.com,  I thought I’d give it a chance and I’m glad I did.

The first thing you see is a claim that this series is 100% improvised. There’s a lot of camera angles and editing, which makes me doubt that claim, but the video is funny either way!

There’s 6 characters in the first scene, which helps keep it high energy and the one-liners flying. It builds, there’s goals and stakes, there’s a sharp button on the resolution – very strong writing. (Or improvising?)

The second scene brings it down to 3 characters, but the brilliant addition of a very funny and dry waiter to interfere with Tom’s Big Date. I like that they didn’t make the character of the waiter more silly, but kept to very simple and very small but potent escalations that drove up the stakes for Tom.

The humour dips once Tom saves the date from ruin, and ventures into more emotional, drama territory. Which is nice but… really, that switching gears is very tough and I don’t feel like they made it work. I think, at the end of the day, the writing and the acting wasn’t up to the task.  I felt the emotional tones but once the basic tension of the scene was over, there was nothing left to keep me engaged. But kudos for the attempt!

I also noticed that the credits are pretty long, about a minute, which brings the total length to over 10 minutes. I think that on YouTube, there’s the same factor at play that makes prices always end in 99 cents. If this clip was 9:40 it would be much attractive to those who stumble on it than it is crossing into double digits.

Overall, a very funny episode that shows off the comedic talents of those involved very nicely.