As you probably know, it's been a couple of weeks since the end of Portlandia season three. And in its absence I've been forced to do a lot of soul searching and reminiscing about the season as a whole. As a result, I've come to the decision that, for many reasons, season three was the best season yet. Don't wanna take my word for it? Well, check out a few of my reasons below.
1. Season-long character arcs: Although I do love the the standard, disjointed Portlandia skit format, this season they switched it up with some of our favorite characters existing within storylines that developed over the course several episdoes. There were still a lot of crazy stand alone skits that were never referenced a second time, but having running plotlines throughout the season really served to bring more closure in the season ender. Peter and Nance became B&B owners, Fred and Carrie were almost torn apart and in the last episode we were left with a sense of finality and fulfillment which was a refreshing change from the previous two seasons.
2. Winter special: Airing a few weeks before the actual first episode of season three, the winter special, "Winter in Portlandia", served as a good way to ease us into the season. There were very few things from the episode that were carried through into the next ten episodes, but it was nice to get a special, extra episode before the start of the real season to set a tone of sorts. Not to mention, it was just a really good episode.
3. Use of the word "shit": In the previous two seasons of the show, there was little to no swearing, but it seems they got a little more lax in the third by throwing the word "shit" into the mix. Still no sign of an uncensored "fuck", but I'll take the occasional "shit". Not sure why I find this so exciting, I guess I just like swearing.
4: Roseanne as the temp mayor: Initially, I wouldn't have necessarily thought that Roseanne would make such a great addition to the show, but, for me, she was one of the standout guest stars of the season. As much as I love Kyle MacLachlan as the official mayor of Portland, Roseanne's few episodes as the temp mayor were great and just watching her walk around the city judging the Portlandia natives was possibly one of the funniest things to happen all season.
5. Carrie finally in a relationship with a girl: Carrie Brownstein and Chloe Sevigny guys, this cannot require much explanation. I know I can't be the only one who was hoping that the show wouldn't deny Carrie's occasional love for the ladies. So, after three seasons of the Carrie's character exclusively dating men, it was a nice change of pace for her to get a bit of action from Chloe Sevigny. Furthermore, and on a slightly more political note, I really appreciate the way they approached the whole "girl on girl" subject by totally going for it but, at the same time, not making a big deal out of the fact that Carrie is into girls. There was no big coming out or dramatic "I don't know what to do, I think I'm into her". It was just, "I'm into this girl, whatever", the way it should be, so thanks for that guys because, not gonna lie, this scene accounts for about 35% of my love for season three.
