A special guest star and strong scene writing take LA to Vegas’s third episode to new comedic heights.

On this week’s star-studded episode of LA to Vegas, “Two and a Half Pilots” Captain Dave, Ronnie and Bernard deal with a flashy new pilot while Colin and Artem comb the seedy underbelly of Las Vegas for a place to hold his son’s third birthday party. 

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The episode opens with Ronnie and Bernard speculating about why Captain Dave is running late.  Captain Dave arrives, reluctantly admitting he injured himself moving an armoire.  He shows off a wrist in a cast, which means he can’t fly the plane.  Bernard goes to alert the airline to bring in a replacement pilot and we’re wheels up for episode three. 

Colin and Artem discuss Colin’s elaborate plans for his son’s third birthday and a storyline which will take us off the plane is set in motion before Captain Dave’s replacement, Captain Steve makes a slow-mo entrance to “Rock you Like a Hurricane.”  Captain Steve is played by Dermot Mulroney, who viewers may remember from Season 9 of FRIENDS when he played Gavin, one of a dozen guys Rachel Green should’ve ended up with instead of Ross Gellar.  People often confuse Mulroney and McDermott as they are both sexy DMs, but there’s no confusion about it this week: Captain Steve is everything Captain Dave isn’t.  He’s comfortable anywhere, he flies internationally and he’s instantly respected by Ronnie and Bernard.  Though Captain Dave plans to ride in the jump seat of the cockpit, Captain Steve reveals Dave will have to ride with the passengers because the jump seat is occupied by a 200lb kettlebell.  (Michael Chiklis delivers an unforgettable cameo as the kettlebell). 

Dave takes his place among the regular passengers, a fallen king, and the episode moves deeper into a series of stories about fish out of water.  Ronnie and Bernard continue to be smitten with Captain Steve, who expresses interest in taking over the LA to Vegas route permanently.  Colin arrives at the location he booked for his son’s birthday only to find the venue has been shut down because anti-vaxers caused some sort of outbreak.  As Ronnie and Bernard discuss which of them Steve is most attracted to, Steve reveals himself to be a demanding dick and everyone’s happiness is threatened. 

In a completely tone-deaf moment, Ronnie and Bernard plot to make false sexual misconduct accusations to bring down Captain Steve.  It’s worth pointing out this episode was written months ago, before the #MeToo and #TimesUp movements changed the way we think about and discuss sexual misconduct. Nonetheless, the moment creeped me out more than the moment last week when Ronnie and Bernard carried a corpse down the aisle. The heaviness of the sexual misconduct scene is quickly forgotten as we pick up with Artem and Colin looking for a new location for Colin’s son’s birthday at The Crib, a Vegas-nightclub-style venue for baby parties, complete with bottle service.  One of the funniest scenes the show has done plays out as a super douchey baby party planner sells Colin a club-like birthday blow out for his three-year-old, which proves too rich for Colin’s blood.

Ronnie and Bernard meet up with Captain Dave to plot to bring down Captain Steve, but Captain Dave balks.  It turns out he might be able to get Captain Steve’s international route if Captain Steve wants to stay on LA to Vegas.  Ronnie and Bernard are furious.  To win them back, Captain Dave admits he lied.  He didn’t hurt himself helping someone move an armoire, he hurt himself moving an armoire by himself, because he has nobody in his life he could call for help.  The moment plays out with humor and heart and reminded me of “The Injury,” the Mindy Kaling penned episode from THE OFFICE’s second season, which is among the funniest half-hours of network television you’ll ever see.  To be clear, “Two and a Half Pilots” is not “The Injury,” but the moment reveals character and deepens our connection with a jerk, which was pretty much THE OFFICE’S whole shtick. 

Colin still hasn’t found a venue for the birthday party but Artem talks him into going to Nichole the stripper’s club to get party favors, like balloon animals made out of condoms.  The strip club winds up being an ideal venue for the party and we get some great shots of kids having a blast at a frolicking daytime, clothes-on strip club birthday party.  Viewers checking their phones may have missed a fully-clothed little girl sliding down a stripper pole in the background. 

In a showdown between the Captains, Steve and Dave go eye to eye and we learn the ‘international’ route is really just Canada. Tension escalates and Captain Steve punches Dave, who is still considered a passenger.  Steve is removed. Colin feels great because his kid loved the party. In a touching beat, Ronnie gives Captain Dave her number, just in case he ever needs help moving an armoire.  The episode ends with a joke about another replacement pilot, the even handsomer Captain Kyle, played by Josh Duhamel. 

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As I said, this episode was the funniest LA to Vegas episode to date. Not only did the DMs have great chemistry, Peter Stormare and Ed Meeks are starting to work as a solid odd couple and Matula and Graham continue to develop as a duo.  While McDermott/ Mulroney is getting all the press, for me the funniest moments in an episode packed with them were Colin and Artem struggling to find a place for Colin’s son’s birthday party. Almost none of this story took place on the plane this week and I certainly didn’t miss it. I hope the show will continue in this direction as there’s a ton of comedic ground to be mined from Colin as a fish-out-of-water straight man in Las Vegas. I missed Kether Donohue as his wife Meghan, though.  I did NOT miss the romance storyline between Colin and Ronnie, which was thankfully omitted this week. 

After three episodes, LA to Vegas’s strength remains the quality, frequency and tone of its jokes and humor.  In terms of story, the show seems to be trying things out and finding its way, figuring out which characters work well together.  The show’s biggest weakness to date is that I don’t feel particularly emotionally connected to any of these characters, with the possible exception of Captain Dave.  Then again, it’s a network sitcom.  Maybe it doesn’t matter if I’m emotionally connected to the characters.  Maybe it only matters if I laugh and enjoy watching it, which I absolutely do.