When it comes to shows like Better Off Ted I don't really require character development to enjoy my viewing experience, but it sure is nice when it happens. That's why tonight's episode was so enjoyable. I worried at the beginning of Season One that goofy scientists Phil and Lem would quickly be relegated to the Land of Inconsequential B-Plots, never to return or ever be more than cartoony distractions from the center-stage concerns of the prettier people upstairs. The show has done a really nice job of deepening Phil and Lem in ways that are both meaningful and entertaining. For a while now we've heard references to Lem's stunning parentage. His father was the first male supermodel and also a heroic firefighter who died saving lives. Tonight we learned more about his mom, a world-renowned scientific genius who casts the longest possible shadow over her son's more corporate-style smarts.

Veridian, being the insatiable multi-national beast that it is, strives to swallow up Dr. Stella Cliffton (played by Khandi Alexander) to swell the ranks of their team of super-scientists. The executives don't really care how this might complicate the life of her son, one of their own long-time employees. Of course, as upper-management icon Chet displays, they may not even be aware that Lem works for them. Ted tries to nip that drama in the bud before it can blossom into a garden of awkwardness, citing the savvy decision not to hire Bob Hitler a while back.

That doesn't stop Dr. Bhamba from inexplicably seducing Stella and making Lem's life difficult in entirely different ways. For the most part, I like Bhamba if only because we get him in small doses. He's the Creed of Better Off Ted, a crazy weirdo whose outlandish interjections and disturbing inner life serve as a keen counter-point to the more mundane absurdities of his coworkers.

In the night's other plot, Linda overshadows Ted when her iffy idea for a scented light bulb takes attention away from Ted's own, more practical long-lasting bulb. Ever the sore loser, Ted alternately sulks and looks for a way to outdo Linda, which leads him to disastrously court Stella Cliffton to the Veridian team. Meanwhile, Veronica tries to teach Linda how to be a super-confident project leader who won't take facts at face value. After all, according to Veronica's business wisdom facts are just opinions and opinions can be wrong, but confidence is never wrong. Once again, bravo to the writers for coming up with creepily plausible corporate speak.

As always, our characters end up more or less where they began, even if their return to form resulted from a little work day enlightenment. But things do come up roses for Lem, who finally got his mother's approval of his intellectual prostitution with the help of a very drunk Phil and some popcorn that puffs using the heat of the human mouth. I'm glad he got something of a win.

Best Moment: Linda's product pitch to the executives was pretty awesome, but so was Phil's tirade after too many grown-up drinks. Let's call it a tie.

Biggest Laugh: "Today we feast on chicken... although you may be getting a live one".

Episode Rating: 4.5/5- The satire was sweet, the jokes plentiful and the premise tight. This episode doesn't get a full 5 because I reserve that rating for the best of the best, like "Racial Sensitivity". Don't look at that 4.5 as a sign of something lacking, but merely as a sign that "Battle of the Bulbs" was good instead of transcendent.