Greg and Katie’s students challenge them to take risks, which becomes a character-building exercise, in Rooster Season 1, Episode 4, “Avoiding Walt.” For Greg, that means trying new things, like staying awake past 9:00 p.m. to make new memories. For Katie, it means being brave enough to put herself back out there, even if it includes making too much eye contact while trying to flirt.
Therefore, characters like Walt and Dylan don’t have as much screen time as in previous episodes. So, “Avoiding Walt,” written by Barbie Adler and directed by Zach Braff, is aptly named. There’s a brief check-in with Walt and Sunny’s mentorship, which seems to have made a lot of progress since their first conversation. She already has a potential internship lined up. Then again, Sunny leaving for the weekend opens the episode up for Archie and Katie’s dynamic.
Plus, John C. McGinley makes the most with every second of screen time he does get in “Avoiding Walt.” From a bit about a chain making him look like Paul Mescal to saying, “I’m everywhere, Greg,” from off-screen, this man does not miss. Despite never really sharing the screen, Rooster also makes it easy to want to see more of Walt and Joanie’s marriage. Brenda Strong is on this show!
Really, all of these characters are so good that it’s easy to want to see more from them. For example, it’s a bit of a letdown that “Avoiding Walt” doesn’t stick with Katie and Dylan before the party. Their dynamic has so much potential!
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Katie and Archie Know Each Other
Katie’s student, Zoey, makes the valid point that Katie would be vilified if she acted the same way as Archie. The irony is that Archie thinks that bad things are being said about him when they aren’t happening to him. He only really faces consequences with something as superficial but immediately social as an Instagram like. Then, Archie grapples with how the more people who know about the baby, the less avoidable all of this is for him. He has to face the choices he makes, unlike those misogynistic artists.
Relatedly, Phil Dunster’s performance makes that scene in the doorway the first time that Archie recognizes that things may be worse for Katie. It’s a moment where something more cracks through Archie’s exterior. Only around Katie do beats like that happen. When Archie sees Katie looking and doing good without him, that’s when “Avoiding Walt” gets under Archie’s skin and pulls up the past.
There are those good parts, like the moments of levity when they genuinely smile with one another. There’s also the jealousy that taps into something true. Phil Dunster nails through a clenched jaw – a detail that often appears on the pages of a book, maybe even a Rooster one.
It’s never really a question of who Katie’s second coffee is for, especially after Greg denied Archie one in the disciplinary meeting. It’s predictable (Katie says, “I’m sad, and I’m tired, and I don’t have the energy to learn a new penis), but it’s not frustrating or uninteresting. Instead, it reveals that there are real, complicated feelings between these two characters still – after everything.
MORE: Rooster Season 1, Episode 2 Review: ‘Trousers’
Greg Learns About the College Night Out
The interpersonal conflict on Rooster is interesting. Moreover, it’s interesting to watch Greg’s internal struggle. He’s so self-depricating that he rejects Tommy’s belief that Greg is “a great,” let alone an inspirational person. Greg also seems to miss the way Tommy’s eyes keep lighting up during Greg’s class. Then again, he completely misses that Tommy used AI to write his essay. That entire sequence manages to be a depressing reflection of students’ growing reliance on AI and a hilarious snapshot of Greg and Archie’s dynamic. Dunster is practically breathless on the other side of Archie’s oat milk cortada rant.
Speaking of Dunster, Rooster seems to have its own twist (They’re not really comparable in context) on Ted Lasso’s darts with Greg’s coins. That skill coming back in the beer pong game is as satisfying as “Come on Eileen” pulling Greg to join Tommy at the party. It’s as good as the theme song’s reprise playing as Greg finally embraces the night out. Shrinking is yet another example of Christa Miller being an exquisite music supervisor on a Bill Lawrence show.
Structurally, it’s satisfying how Rooster bookends “Avoiding Walt” with Greg acting out two very different scenarios through his character. In the first, the titular character is really closed off in a standoff with Walt. By the end, Tommy writes the character as confident and vulnerable, if not a bit performatively so. He’s open to risk with Dylan – the exchange of Greg’s “You take care of our girl” and Dylan’s “What” couldn’t be better. The timing between Steve Carell and Danielle Deadwyler just sells the absurdity of it. Regardless, both of those instances come from honest places within Greg or Rooster or both that show they’re trying to grow into better versions of themselves.
MORE: Rooster Season 1, Episode 1 Review: A Cozy, Character-Driven Comedy
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