Episode 2, Season 1 "Dan Vs. New Mexico" - INDY'S REVIEW

E2, S1 "DAN VS. NEW MEXICO"

The idea of an entire state having it out for Dan sounds silly and ridiculous. And it is! But as we've come to expect, Dan is usually in the right- no matter how much Chris tries to convince him otherwise. This is just a typical fun episode, and I love it!

PART 1: SUMMARY

After Dan begrudgingly wakes up in the morning, a series of unfortunate events unfold. He hits his head on a ceiling light, slips on a "New Mexico Bell" burrito, stubs his toe on a New Mexico replica thing, and trips on an armadillo outside of his apartment. Once he arrives at his car, he sees a cactus, an adobe brick through his window, and a New Mexico postcard. Clearly, New Mexico is out to get him!

As per usual, Dan calls up his buddy Chris and they try to research New Mexico's weaknesses. They kicked out of the first library they go to. However, they find a helpful librarian at the second one who agrees to help if Dan and Chris deal with his cheating wife's new boyfriend. After helping the librarian, he tells them that New Mexico loves hot air balloons. So Dan and Chris plan to disrupt the annual hot air balloon festival, and Elise tags along, since apparently she has some grudge against New Mexico as well.

After stopping at a gas station for snacks, they continue driving, and Elise asks to be dropped off in the middle of the desert. While she does her business at a nearby military camp, Dan and Chris stop to eat and steal a liquid hydrogen truck and start filling balloons with it. Dan uses his lighter to start a fire, successfully destroying the festival, but angering a group of balloon cultists in the process. In the middle of their conflict, a UFO flies by, saving Dan and Chris by abducting them and flying away. The driver is revealed to be Elise, and she stole the flying saucer from the aforementioned military camp.

Elise helps destroy New Mexico by flying around and using a 'death ray' to demolish different landmarks and buildings, and Dan has succeeded in exacting his revenge once again!

PART 2: THOUGHTS

In this episode, Elise's personality is more flushed out. This was a relief to me, since I was expecting her to be another two-dimensional female character who only existed as an accessory to her husband. I am glad that she got more screen time, and I can't deny how cool she was in this episode! She's always girl-bossing, especially later in the show!
Also, as I mentioned before, the whole premise of this episode is silly. I love how nobody believes Dan no matter how many times he's in the right. But, honestly, I wouldn't believe him either...

PART 3: DEVELOPMENT

I'm happy that we got our first taste of Elise's character in this episode! She's shown to have some sort of backstory, and we learn that she's actually some sort of ninja/spy/government agent who is extremely well-versed in combat and is extremely intelligent. 

We also actually get to see more of Dan and Elise's relationship in this. Clearly they both dislike each other, but Dan is much more childish in expressing it, while Elise is much more mature. Elise seems very reasonable and tolerant, even if she clearly dislikes the fact Chris is friends with him.

PART 4: HUMOR

This episode, as always, had some amazingly clever jokes. Here are some honorable mentions:

Dan, after stubbing his toe on the replica thing, kicks it a second time, hurting himself again. He goes to kick it again, before stumbling back, claiming; "See, I learn!" before instantly hitting his head on the ceiling lamp again. Such a simple joke but done so well.
When the librarian tries to give them directions on how to find books, Dan mistakes it for code, becoming extremely angry- resulting in this hilarious visual gag: