Better Off Ted: Secrets and Lives

The upside of Better Off Ted getting dragged around ABC's schedule like a bunch of tin cans tied to a "Just Married" sign on the back of a car is that we're only going to have to wait a few months until we get new episodes. Season 2 is slated to air in the show's regular time slot in Winter 2010. The Season 1 finale felt appropriately like a confident beginning and not like a possible end. Our characters have gotten deeper, the comic rhythm of the show is steady and it's even gotten to the point when self-reference is viable. Let's hope it keeps going like this for several years.

"Secrets and Lives" wasn't the best episode of the season, but I think it's an excellent sampler of what makes Better Off Ted a good show. All of the principle characters got to be at their best and everything felt very balanced. The main plot surrounds Veronica's secret life as a magician's assistant. She'd kept that part of herself under wraps until Veridian's new image-based search engine uncovers a photo of her performing with Mordor The Unforgiving.

A side note: There was no Veridian commercial in this episode. I know I've been critical of them, but I actually missed it this time around.

I'm not gonna lie, a big part of me wanted Mordor to be played by Will Arnett, but I'm pretty sure Fox would've already served ABC with papers by now if they'd gone for that joke. Instead we just had to settle for Portia de Rossi proving once again that she's ten kinds of awesome. When Veronica's not putting on one hell of a magic show with Mordor, she's forced to relieve her stress by slapping everyone on the Veridian staff who even mildly annoys her.

Meanwhile, Linda tries to set up Ted with her friend Rebecca, a veterinarian who's a solid 5 on the 1 to 10 Goofball Scale. Of course, Linda's just doing it to take Ted off the market so she can get over him. By the time Linda realizes that she loves Ted and breaks up with her boyfriend, Ted is already hitting it off with Rebecca. I hope this factors into a significant portion of Season 2 now that the Ted-Linda-Veronica love triangle has been rendered moot by Veronica's love for Mordor.

I'm glad we got some Rose moments in this episode, too. She's another character who needs to get more screen time in Season 2.

I'm running out of space here, but I don't want to leave Phil and Lem out of this review. I can respect their function as solid B-plot characters, but I really hope they get to run an A-plot every now and then in future seasons. In fact, an entire episode from Phil and Lem's perspective would be really nice as a change of pace for the middle of Season 2.

Best Moment: Ted and Veronica's slap fight. I swear, more classic exchanges have taken place between these two characters than anywhere else in the 08/09 TV schedule.

Biggest Laugh: There were a lot of great jokes in this episode, so I'll just list some of my favorites. Dr. Bahmba's endless handkerchief, Rose buying a yacht on the Internet, the running gag of Veronica's magic dove.

Episode Rating: 4.8/5- "Secrets and Lives" wasn't as good as "Jabberwocky" but it was still a solid episode. I'll be looking forward to Season 2 and will be covering it here on TV World. Thanks for sticking with Better Off Ted, readers. It survived thanks to viewers like yourselves.