Key & Peele

“Georgina and Esther and Satan”

Season 4, Episode 3

Chad White, RATING: Oh Yeah!

Holy crap. This episode was one of the best episodes of Key & Peele hands down. There are a minimum of three iconic sketches and several other classic jokes to boot. The ideas got wild this week.

Cold opens are usually one off jokes that aren’t meant to mean much to the rest of the episode. But this weeks’ cold open was just as funny as the twenty minutes that followed. We hate those people that sit outside of retail stores and try to get us to donate to their causes. You know you do, admit it. I like to donate and stuff but why the crap would I care about your dumb kids’ boy scout/girl scout fundraiser? I’m barley an adult myself! Anyways, Key and Peele have a unique spin on this with Key being confronted by Peele who is offering children’s freedom with the donation of money. But he means it literally. And when Key caves and donates, a white van pulls up releasing five out of the six kids inside. It’s very funny when taken on a serious level.

Here’s where the vignettes come back in. Key and Peele are still off on their road trip to some unknown destination but now the stories are getting more personal. Keegan reminisces about the time that he said “fuck” in front of a woman at church. And the other sequences involve Peele’s attempt to freestyle. This became something more than two friends goofing around; there’s something there. We just don’t what that something is yet. Heck, we don’t even know their destination.

One of the funniest sketches tonight and possibly the entire series followed. Two older women (of course Key and Peele in drag) are sitting in church talking about their week. Key says that the devil has his grip on someone he loves. What follows is the darkest threats from old women I’d ever expect to see. Threats include ripping off the dick of the devil, seducing him then kegel-chopping his dick, and other genital mutilation. Here is an example of a sketch that could’ve easily ended two minutes earlier. The devil himself enters the body of Key. We finally get to see the old women fight it but the scene just drags on.

The next sketch is a simple one where the men play themselves. Keegan misinterprets all of the texts that Jordan sends him. He gets riled up and believes the two are about to get into a fight. There’s not much to this one except for the miscommunication. I liked it enough to where I would love to see their friendship explored a bit more.

Remember when The Chappelle’s Show had that sketch where Tupac was still alive and making music? It was a club scene and the audience could clearly hear Tupac say he was alive and things of the sort. Well, Key and Peele do a modern take on that. Sort of. The announcer of the club gets a little too real by asking strange questions about people’s personal self. Dancers throw their hands up when they agree with something he says but let them down when things get out of hand. Confusion is the key here and it works.

The last sketch worth mentioning is about a nerdy Peele trying to buy a mattress from store owner Key. Nerdy Peele lets the owner know that things “get freaky” in his bedroom to which he gets the typical male I understand response. It’s upon him trying out the mattress that the tone changes. He thrusts his hips in the air shouting “WHO GOT THAT GOOD D? I GOT THAT GOOD D!” in a move that shocks Key. It’s so unexpected and ironic that everyone is caught off guard. Key’s genuine reaction to the event that comes up on every mattress that is tested (uneasy swallowing of spit, stuttering, no eye contact) steals the show just as much as the humping does. A wholesome sketch turned sexually humorous in a matter of moments with everything coming together. The pans of the camera, the echoing of Peele’s shouts as it bounces off the wall of the empty store, the unsure looks of Key. Everything works so well here. Direction was great during this episode as was the writing.

Should you watch “Georgina and Esther and Satan?”

Yes. Following a so-so episode with three incredibly insane sketches and some other funny contenders is just what these guys needed.