The Oner

I am a harsh critic. I often have high expectations of my cinema and television, literature and music. I love shows that start with a fantastic script and so much forethought before they even yell action on day one of shooting. I rewatch The Wire and West Wing and The Office over and over again; not for any other reason except they're brilliant!

And I can tell you that this is one of the greatest TV episodes in the history of the medium. The episode title, topic, and shooting style are parallel each other. It's ingenious and funny and heartwarming and awkwardly cringe-worthy as well. Amazing!

When I first watched it, I found Seth Rogan's character to be insanely bumbling and annoying. I kept thinking, "He's the studio head and should know better than to be so distracting on set." But then I realized his passion for making great movies got the best of him. That wasn't what this episode was all about.

The true magic of this episode completely eluded me until I read the reviews. The premise is that they are on set to watch a "Oner." This is where a single camera shot records a very long scene. What I utterly failed to miss was this entire episode was a Oner!!!

I can only imagine the amount of planning and rehearsing that went into filming this episode. Watch it twice. Watch it three times. Every time the camera turns to focus on someone else, you know those other actors are now prepping for the next scene. Also, just maneuvering the camera from the initial car to the entire house shot and then back to the car must have been a logistical nightmare. The camera goes inside and outside from room to room. Everyone had to be ready and in place for this continuous cut to work until the very end when they drove away.

Speaking of driving the car - it's a bookend!

Brilliant television!!!

If your criticism of this episode is that no studio executive could behave so stupidly, you're wrong.

I worked my entire life in film production and I've seen and heard things you wouldn't believe. A set can be a real pressure cooker of barely controlled chaos, full of stressed out exhausted people constantly fighting against the clock, priorities and egos ricocheting all over the place, and stuff can just go epically wrong at the drop of a hat. It's actually unfair to single out executives for blame, since almost anyone who's around long enough will eventually find themselves to be the fly in the ointment at some point.

I know assistant directors who scream commands in their sleep, still trying to control the set even while unconscious. I bumped into one of them at the grocery store the day after this episode dropped and he grabbed me and asked if I'd seen it. I nodded and we both started babbling about how traumatizing it was.

We both had watched the entire episode with our hands over our mouths moaning no no no! It stirred up a lot of memories. Not fears. Not anxieties. Memories.

Well done. It all felt exactly right.

I listened to an interview with Seth Rogan on Dax Shepards podcast before I started watching it. I was looking forward to the series, but this episode is an absolute masterpiece. I'm not going to say it's "classic" Seth Rogan... but it's very Seth Rogan/ Evan Goldberg in every possible good way. Oners seem to be the new trend among filmmaking these days. This episode was so chaotic, hilarious, and intriguing. Im sever adhd so I always need to move or do something... I couldn't take my eyes off it. All the actors were perfect. I didn't give it a 10 but a 9 only because my anxiety was peaked the entire time. But in a hilarious way. Loved it. I don't write reviews, but this deserves one. Proud Canadian (Vancouver Canadian) love seeing a homegrown boy killing it. Evan and Seth (yeah I'm on one named basis) have grown so much and I love seeing it. Superbad was my movie back in the day. I just love seeing their friendship and partnership progress.

This is a perfect episode of television. The pacing, the writing, the acting and most of all...the cinematography! Funny, suspensful and perfectly executed. I wasn't sold on this show after the first episode but I am now!

This almost felt like a Seinfeld episode in the sense of something that seems so innocent and meaningless ends up coming back to haunt the characters in this story. Brilliantly written!

How they shot the episode is absolutely incredible. The cinematographer did an an outstanding simply from a lighting perspective. I can't imagine how difficult this was to film.

I'm very excited to see where this show goes next!