30 Rock Watch: I'm Lizzing! I'm Lizzing!

Spoilers for 30 Rock coming up after the jump:

Now that's what I'm talking about. Easily the funniest 30 Rock in months, and probably the whole season. 

When things don't work in an episode of 30 Rock, I often write in this space about the balance between the believeable character moments and the cartoon wackiness (both of which are good things, in balance). "Apollo, Apollo"—gorgeous title, by the way—not only got it right, it was a kind of direct illustration of of it works on this show.

The running gag of showing how Kenneth, Tracy and Jack view the world (I cannot shake the image of Muppet Liz) was kind of a nutshell description of 30 Rock: it's about a set of eccentric characters and the way that their perceptions of each other and reality change their behavior and expections. In a world where everyone is Tracy—and thus exists to fill Tracy's needs—it makes perfect sense that you can go on TV, ask to go into space (among other things, to "kill an Ewok"), and have your wish granted. The computer voice and the heat lamp may not even have been necessary. 

30 Rock as a whole, I guess, is the visual representation of how Liz Lemon would see the world, and "Apollo, Apollo" nailed it, from the too-many-good-jokes-to-list (seriously, my fingers are sore; if you laughed at it, assume I laughed too) to the sweet heart at the center of each character. 

I'm so happy I could... could... oh, God, not on my new laptop!