Summary
The Studio‘s ending is unexpected, since it finally delivers Matt a well-deserved win, though not without another helping of anarchic stupidity.
Based on everything we’ve seen from The Studio thus far, it was hard to imagine that even its ending would give Matt a break. And all throughout Episode 10, “The Presentation”, it seems like he isn’t going to get one. There’s a laundry list of things going anarchically wrong, and with the future of Continental Studios hanging in the balance, the chances of a last-minute Hail Mary are exceedingly slim. This is probably why it’s so satisfying to see one, for us and Matt both.
Fair warning: If you didn’t like the nonstop manic tone of the penultimate episode, you probably won’t care much for the finale either. It is what it is. As if it wasn’t obvious enough that this was the back half of a two-parter, an opening “previously on The Studio” narration from a fantastically drunk and high Dave Franco makes the point clear. Amazon is about to buy Continental unless the presentation for their upcoming slate goes over well. Everyone is dangerously high, but especially Zoë Kravitz and Griffin Moll, the two most essential cogs in the machine. And Patty, unaware of the planned acquisition and out for revenge on Griffin for firing her, has called Matt Belloni to catch Griffin in lewd acts with a statue of Aphrodite.
Thus begins a string of ridiculously overblown efforts to get Griffin and Zoe ready for the presentation without alerting anyone to the fact that he’s almost dead. This includes “puppetting his limp carcass” through the casino, playing it cool with both Dave Franco and Matt Belloni himself on the way, getting him dressed in a pair of Speedos, and in a masterstroke from Sal, force-feeding him cocaine to sober him up.
Zoë presents a slightly different problem, both because she’s in the throes of ego death and because she’s surrounded by her PR people who know better than to send her up on-stage calling people “skin sausages” and repeating everything that’s said to her back at whoever’s saying it. Patty also wants to pull the plug but Matt, in classic Matt fashion, is adamant about continuing the show. There’s simply no way this can go well, is there?
Chase Sui Wonders, Seth Rogen, Catherine O’Hara, Kathryn Hahn and Ike Barinholtz in The Studio | Image via Apple TV+
The clever aspect of The Studio‘s ending is that it somehow, miraculously, does go well. I don’t think this is a subversive point, unless it’s one about how truly great performers can turn it on whenever they need to whatever the circumstances, but it’s more likely a commentary on how eagerly consumers will gobble up anything as long as there are some big names attached and a big spectacle is made of it. But the presentation itself is great because of how it eases off that madcap backstage chaos to let each cameoing star have their moment in the spotlight.
Dave Franco, covered in blood after being beaten up by some goons after he used tricks from Now You See Me to beat them at cards, goes up first and nails it. Patty, sent to promote her prestige film and buy time for Zoë Kravitz to sober up, fares less well until the teleprompter kicks in, but I, for one, would like to hear more of her family stories. Zoë sneaks onto the stage without anyone realizing, let alone her team, but she promotes her new franchise movie expertly. Sure, she wets herself the second she gets backstage, but the audience doesn’t see that.
And then it’s just down to Griffin, who is wheelchair-bound and monosyllabic, which isn’t ideal, so Matt is forced to take the stage in his stead and delay even further. His master plan is to introduce the entire Continental team and explain to the crowd how important they all are to him while Griffin is strung up to wires. When he’s finally introduced, he descends from the ceiling like a puppet and crashes into the floor. His efforts to read the teleprompter amount to him catatonically repeating the word “movies” again and again.
Matt takes the initiative and turns the efforts into a chant, which eventually the whole crowd enthusiastically joins in on. Griffin is dragged to and fro on the wires in what looks like a dance but is really a man in his 80s having lost control of his entire body. But, again, the crowd doesn’t notice. The Studio ends with Matt smiling out into the crowd as confetti falls around him, finally the star of the show.
