Finding Frances

2017 season-ending episode of a television show

Rating: I can't rate a television episode.

Plot: See below.

Nathan for You is one of the funniest shows I've ever seen, and if you haven't seen it, you should stop what you're doing and watch some immediately. Watch them in order from the first season to the fourth season because you'll see characters recur. The show has Nathan Fielder, whose deadpan expressions would make Buster Keaton envious, helping out struggling businesses with terrible ideas. He's helped a realtor by teaming her up with a ghost whisperer to make her the only realtor in Los Angeles able to guarantee that houses are free from ghosts. He's helped a movie theater fight popcorn sharing and masturbation. And he's rebranded a struggling coffee shop as a "Dumb Starbucks" to compete with big business.

One of those recurring characters is William Heath, a Bill Gates impersonator he used in an effort to help out a souvenir shop in Hollywood. At the beginning of "Finding Frances," a film-length final episode of season four, it's revealed that Heath keeps showing up at Nathan's office to visit or drop off little presents. He mentions a long-lost love named Frances, and Nathan decides to use the show's resources to help the old man find his old flame.

The more brilliant episodes of Nathan for You start with a germ of an idea and evolve or mutate in these unexpected ways. As Nathan and William head to Arkansas to find Frances, it starts a trip down a rabbit hole that is as hilarious as any of the stuff in his shorter normal episodes but also becomes surprisingly touching. William Heath becomes more mysterious and more fascinating as the episode progresses, and it builds to a climax that nearly brought tears to my eyes. At the same time, Nathan reveals things about his character--or at least the character he is playing--which provides some meta commentary on the nature of the show.

The entire season is really good, but there's something extra special about this final episode. It's one of the best things I've seen from television in a long, long time.