Running Point Season 2, Episode 4, “MVP: Marcus Very Pissed,” tests the dynamic between the Waves’ star player and its new coach – with Isla in between them. This episode, written by Ike Barinholtz & David Stassen and directed by Michael Weaver, starts to pull the characters’ interpersonal relationships to the forefront and to the show’s benefit. Simultaneously, Running Point surprised me by denying a Charli XCX cameo in the previous episode and including one from Jake from State Farm in this one. This show knows how to keep its audience on its toes. Even the quick beats about Sandy’s mom and Ray being on Blue Origin are enough to stop me in my tracks and make me laugh.
My favorite joke may be that Travis believes that Condé Nast is actually Kinda Nasty. By the way, he and Brille being in love already makes a whole lot of sense. The show knows they’re absurd for it, but they’re also sort of the perfect match. As for timing, Isla and Lev’s wedding is something I believe would be an end-of-season event, so again, Running Point subverts my expectations.
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The Reality of Reality TV
While this show’s pacing isn’t always its best quality, Cam giving Sandy a check and Al sitting front row are good ways for Running Point to show that story’s development. On the other hand, I’m begging for this season to give Ness more to do. It’s fun to see him sit in on a cake tasting and, somehow, mess that up. Still, the show hasn’t given him a story of his own just yet. Then again, his supportive presence is still more than Running Point can say for Jackie, who is nowhere to be seen in “MVP: Marcus Very Pissed.”
Where this episode falls short with some of the Gordon siblings, it does a lot of work with Sandy and his boyfriend, Charlie. That moment when Sandy calls working in reality TV “embarrassing” is brutal. In Sandy’s defense, though, it isn’t the best publicity in the world for the organization’s CFO’s butt to be on TV. That feels like a very reasonable motivation to have the reality TV cameras out of his house. By the way, it’s a smart choice to switch to the handheld camera when Sandy enters that set. It embeds the audience with Sandy amid all that chaos.
In Charlie’s defense, his and Sandy’s dreams were never the same. Also, it feels like the relationship ends before there’s ever a chance to explore compromise options. That said, Drew Tarver and Scott Evans do a beautiful job of selling the crushing reality of that scene. It’s just the timing that undercuts the characters a bit. Running Point just reaffirmed that relationship with Sandy’s grand gesture. So this breakup is both sad and frustrating. Maybe the latter could be avoided with a larger episode order, so that there is more time between events.
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Appreciating the Star Player
The same would be true about the number of opportunities Running Point could have to dive into the players’ personal lives. Last season, Marcus, Travis, and Dyson were the best in that regard. “MVP: Marcus Very Pissed” follows that as he continues with his leadership role on the team. All of that really works because of all the work Isla and Marcus do in the first season to accommodate and complement him as a player and a person. Cam immediately undercuts that with a few careless comments about Marcus’s form and place in the team.
Where Cam doesn’t care to know anything about Marcus beyond what’s beneficial to him, Norm just needs to try. The same is true with Marcus. Running Point follows that process with a good use of time, using news footage to continue the story both on screen and off it. It doesn’t feel like “MVP: Marcus Very Pissed” misses time. It earns Norm taking up for Marcus with the referee. That scene culminates in the fantastic line: “Even Marcus Winfield can’t win alone.” Hopefully, that sentiment means Running Point intends to invest in other players, too, because it always pays off in the end.
That line naturally folds back to Isla and Ali, as well. I love that romantic comedy moment where Isla runs to Ali – their friendship more than deserves a gesture like that. Both scenes are great reflections of this season’s efforts to show how you can value people within a company beyond their monetary value, especially when that company is made up of so many family members and friends. To that point, “MVP: Marcus Very Pissed” finds an excellent cliffhanger about Jay coming to LA. It’s the kind that makes me wish Running Point had a weekly release.
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