Season 3, Episode 7 (originally aired July 29): “Open Mic Night”
Microsynopsis: Steve is determined to get his bar mentioned in a local hipster magazine in order to gain more customers. He invites a writer from the publication to attend the bar’s open mic night, for which the bar’s regulars have signed up to perform uncomfortably bad acts.
Good: There’s plenty of Susan here. She wins an award at work, and armed with the confidence it brings, she mimics her mother’s accent and character in a way that leaves bar patrons in stitches.
Bad: The excitement generated in the bar for open mic night is simply ridiculous. The whole “let’s put on a show” vibe feels like a summer camp where nobody has any talent. You know that summer camp gag where one person wraps his arms around another from behind, while the person in front puts his arms in a pair of pants and the pair acts like one bizarre little puppet? They actually do that in this episode. And that’s only the second-creepiest, second-most infantile performance on open-mic night.
Hapa moment: Susan gives her mom a hint about what her open-mic act is going to be. In her best impression of Ok Cha, Susan says, “It’s a-not my fadda!”
Overall: This may be the worst episode in Sullivan & Son’s three-season run so far.
Final grade, this episode: D minus.
