“He looks like he would take a taser in the nut sack to save his buddies.” – Turbo
Just when I think I have Glory Daze all figured out, the show throws me a wicked curve ball in the form of “Shamrock You Like a Hurricane.”
The good news is the episode didn’t feature any cheesy guest stars. The bad news is the episode basically revolved around a leprechaun. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t have any beef with little Irishmen with affinities for gold and rainbows, per se. I just don’t know what the hell they have to do with young people trying to navigate their way through their freshman year of college.
My best guess is that “Shamrock You Like a Hurricane” is an attempt by the writers to make a Scary Movie-esque horror parody. Only it is neither scary nor particularly funny. Although to be fair, there are a few scene that made me chuckle and one (featuring Stankowski, of course) that made me slap my knee. My other theory is that this is a bottle episode, due to the fact that the vast majority of the episode is spent inside the frat house. But I don’t know how well this hypothesis holds up because there are plenty of scenes shot around campus and most of the cast makes an appearance at one point or another (generally bottle episodes feature a scaled-down cast with only a few regulars appearing on screen). Either way, “Shamrock You” is a completely wacky, occasionally amusing, and ultimately pointless hour of television. Needless to say, I have probably put more thought into analyzing the “whys” of Glory Daze than the show actually warrants.
It’s Rivalry Week at Hayes University, which culminates in a big football game against instate foe Holy Dome (a fictionalized version of Notre Dame). The Omega Sig pledges are tasked with protecting the beloved Hayes statue, a popular target for Holy Dome vandals and thieves. It dawns on the brothers that the pledges would benefit from some leadership, so Turbo (James Earl) elects Joel (Kelly Blatz) as pledge class president because “he looks like he would take a taser in the nut sack to save his buddies” (which he has actually done before). This upsets Jason (Andrew Seeley), who has presidential aspirations of his own. But he eventually accepts his position in the fraternity hierarchy and settles for vice president.
During one of the pledges’ shifts guarding the statue, a group of Holy Domers dressed as Campus PD convinces the guys to let them load Hayes into a van and drive off with it. Christie (Juilianna Guill), who is writing a story on Rivalry Week for her journalism class, just so happens to be on the scene to snap some pictures and get some quotes. Joel is put in an interesting position when Christie comes to him for some advice. Damon (Eric Nenninger) wants her to downplay the story to try to salvage what’s left of Omega Sig’s reputation, but she feels like this is her chance to write about something important. Joel, always the do-gooder, tells her to write what she wants to write. And whether he realizes it or not, he has finally one-upped Damon. This could be the first step towards winning her over.
Before Joel can win over Christie, he’s got to win back the respect of his brothers. After all, he was the one in charge when the Holy Domers absconded with the beloved Hayes statue. He snatches back his frat’s and his school’s honor by kidnapping Holy Dome’s leprechaun mascot and tying him to a chair at the Omega Sig house.
Everything goes crazy when the little fella escapes his binds and gets loose in the house. He terrorizes the guys by cutting off all the power, smoking up all of Stankowski’s (Chris D’Elia) weed and going on testicle punching spree. He uses the ventilation ducts to avoid capture and hands Hector (David Guzman) a pint-sized ass-whooping when he climbs in after him.
Jason comes up with a plan to lure the leprechaun out using “crunchies” (he means munchies). He assumes since the leprechaun smoked all of Stankowski’s bud, he must be hungry. So they set out a delicious spread of food and wait. Sure enough, the little Celtic demon can’t resist and the Omega Sigs pounce. Stankowski blows some of his “Navajo truth herb” into his face and gets him to tell them where the statue is being held. The next day Christie writes a follow up piece about how the Omega Sigs recovered the Hayes statue and the guys are campus heros.
Someone really gets paid to write these scripts? And I work a 9 to 5 job? Life just isn’t fair sometimes.
This review originally appeared on TV Geek Army.