Very enjoyable episode. I have to admit that my favorite parts were the least substantive. The opening review had me in stitches, but it was all just fun observational stuff. Vladimir Putin crushing children's dreams on his annual call-in show feels like the perfect sort of unintentionally existentialist, vaguely totalitarian comedy that one would expect from the Russian Prime Minister. An English MP calling David Cameron "Dodgy Dave" and the purely British commotion that followed had the dignified adorableness one comes to expect from that August body. And the leader of Turkey punishing people for comparing him to Gollum is as funny as it is a horrifying trampling of free speech rights. Plus, the montage of WCBS2 headline stacks the scare tactics, and frankly bizarre nature of their bumpers one after the other to a very humorous effect.
The main story on lead poisoning feels like one of those issues where there's probably a little more to it than Oliver lets on, but I just don't have the expertise to dispute it. That said, poisoning children does seem like it could be a straightforward enough issue that there's nothing really noteworthy he finessed or left out. Nevertheless, far and away the best part of it was the Sesame Street scene at the end (hooray for HBO synergy!). Sure, it's pretty blatantly manipulative, but I'm a sucker for Oscar the Grouch, and Oliver's comedy fit surprisingly well in a muppet-filled setting. (Shades of Stephen Colbert, Grover, and Spike Jonze!)
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParent2016-04-19T01:25:43Z
Very enjoyable episode. I have to admit that my favorite parts were the least substantive. The opening review had me in stitches, but it was all just fun observational stuff. Vladimir Putin crushing children's dreams on his annual call-in show feels like the perfect sort of unintentionally existentialist, vaguely totalitarian comedy that one would expect from the Russian Prime Minister. An English MP calling David Cameron "Dodgy Dave" and the purely British commotion that followed had the dignified adorableness one comes to expect from that August body. And the leader of Turkey punishing people for comparing him to Gollum is as funny as it is a horrifying trampling of free speech rights. Plus, the montage of WCBS2 headline stacks the scare tactics, and frankly bizarre nature of their bumpers one after the other to a very humorous effect.
The main story on lead poisoning feels like one of those issues where there's probably a little more to it than Oliver lets on, but I just don't have the expertise to dispute it. That said, poisoning children does seem like it could be a straightforward enough issue that there's nothing really noteworthy he finessed or left out. Nevertheless, far and away the best part of it was the Sesame Street scene at the end (hooray for HBO synergy!). Sure, it's pretty blatantly manipulative, but I'm a sucker for Oscar the Grouch, and Oliver's comedy fit surprisingly well in a muppet-filled setting. (Shades of Stephen Colbert, Grover, and Spike Jonze!)