Review: ‘Rooster Season 1, Episode 3 “White Whale”

The episode opens with Greg lonely tossing pennies into a jar before Katie takes him to his new house the university is providing. She tells him she can’t take care of them both and that he needs to be able to support himself. He begrudgingly agrees. The next day, he meets his neighbor, Dylan, as they walk across the street for his first day of class. Some reason he’s wearing uncomfortable shows that slip with each step.

At Sunny’s apartment, Archie is driving her and her roommate crazy as the new house guest. He’s trying to focus on writing his novel, but the two make too much noise. Meanwhile, Sunny is stressed to find an advisor. She suggests Walter, but Archie shuts it down. Archie has been heavy in the spotlight lately and thinks she and Walter working together would bring unwanted attention. Plus Walter is the biggest gossip. Sunny agrees not to ask Walter.

At the school, Dylan confronts Walt over Greg’s position that he had offered to her friend Ruby. Greg feels guilty for taking the offer, even though he did it for Katie — which she can never know. Walt explains that Greg was a once-in-a-lifetime option and the only person that didn’t explicitly want something from him. 

Later, Sunny sees Dean Riggs at the gym and asks him to be her advisor. She also wants an internship. Dean Riggs immediately rejects her, as Walter eavesdrops. Walter then offers Sunny some advice: don’t pick your advisors based on what you think they can do. They should have a real connection with you. Sunny conveys this information to Archie and he tells her that he’ll talk to Dean Riggs. 

Katie is in her house with her TA, Lily, when Greg barges in unannounced. He asks if she went through the lesson plan he emailed her. Katie did take a look and thinks it’s way overloaded. She thinks Greg needs to let loose and take a step back. Greg invites her to a hockey game that’s taking place the next night, and she reluctantly agrees. It’s time for class! Sipping on a candy cane hot chocolate, he sees a student take a shortcut up a hill. He decides to take that same shortcut, and hilariously rolls down the hill because of his shoes. 

Greg makes it to his classroom, and his students are not happy to be there. They are bored as his novels  are not their cup of tea. Ronni from Episode 1 is in this class and gives Greg a hard time commenting on his work. He struggles to get the students to open up, and he’s very awkward. When Ronni makes another comment, Greg says that she’ll be his “white whale.” He is immediately called to the Dean’s office as that comment was mistaken for her body. Greg tries to explain that he was referencing a book, which he has never read. Archie is in this meeting and  interjects that everyone messes up from time to time, at the end of the day they’re all good people. Dean Riggs lets Greg get off with a warning. Greg tells Archie that he still hates him. Dylan steps outside her office and there are two huge loud groups of student protestors, the free speech zone is not usually out here. She pulls a student aside and the student lets her know that someone must have moved it. Dylan puts two and two together and storms into Dean Riggs’s office as Archie is leaving. Dylan accuses him of moving the free speech zone right outside her office. He is very petty and Dylan is not having it. She continues yelling at  him as he lets out nasty coughs. Suddenly, Dean Riggs collapses. Dylan finds Archie outside and tells him to call 911.

Greg walks to Dean Riggs’s house with a bottle of alcohol just as Riggs’s wife storms out and asks him to drive her to the hospital. Meanwhile in Walt’s office, Dylan is made interim Dean while Riggs’s recuperates. She has no idea what she’s doing. Katie comes to Dylan’s office and begs to have her suspension lifted. She’s going insane without her job. Dylan agrees. 

The next morning, Greg rushes to class as he spent the night in the hospital. Once Greg arrives, he can tell that everyone is uptight. He decides to take Katie’s advice and loosen up! His students like this version of him! He then goes to high five one of the students and he slips because of his shoes and his hands land on her chest. He is called back into the office once more. Dylan lets him off. 

The episode ends with Greg going to the hockey game alone. Katie blew him off to go hang out with Lily and some of her friends. Dylan meets Greg at the  hockey game because she has to supervise.  She  tells him that this new position was  very sudden. Greg is then seen throwing pennies in a jar once more, but this time he is in his house at school. 

This episode was obviously on the “filler” side. Greg is getting used to his new surroundings and he’s struggling to adapt to the change. It is very heartwarming though because we know that he did this for Katie. Dylan as the Dean is very interesting because she knows what she wants and she’s very firm, so these next few episodes should be fun. It will also be exciting to see Katie back in the office as we can tell that this job is everything to her. She can’t be tied down to Greg. The storyline of Sunny needing an advisor was able to work very well because Archie is visibly scared of becoming a father, but Sunny is doing everything she can to make sure that they both will be successful. Having Walt as the advisor worked well in this storyline because he is the drama and the comedy all in one! 

7/10