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February 10, 2012
 
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Strangers with Candy: To be Young Gifted and Blank

by Adam Finley, posted Jul 28th 2006 1:05PM

strangers with candy(S01E09) This episode begins with Jerri in band practice playing the timpani. Well, she doesn't really play the drums so much as she beats them ferociously. Fed up, Mr. Jelineck kicks her out of band permanently, telling her he'd like to see her "at a quarter after never."

While alone in the bandroom she picks up a violin, and much to her and Mr. Noblet's surprise, she has a natural talent for the instrument. Mr. Noblet takes her under his wing so she can train and win an upcoming music competition, even though she can already play the instrument perfectly. As Noblet explains, "I am the only one who can help you realize my dreams of yours." Strangers with Candy is always packed with that kind of superfluous phrasing, double and triple negatives piled on top of one another, but this episode uses that "trick" quite a bit. That's not a slam against this episode. Quite the contrary, it works perfectly because Noblet is trying to confuse Jerri into thinking he's doing it for her, when in reality he wants to live vicariously through her because he never learned to play violin.

I've seen this episode no less than fifty million times, but I completely missed a very funny gag involving a young Mr. Noblet who comes in from playing baseball ... in a cowboy outfit. That cracked me the heck up. I also loved the violin "duet" between Jerri and Mr. Noblet that played over the end credits.

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