Miracle Workers: End Times 4×3 & 4×4 Review: ‘The Matrixxx’ and ‘The Grouping Ceremony’

In my last review, I mentioned how the first two episodes were primarily focused on world and character-building. The third and fourth episodes of Mircale Workers season 4 continue the joke of melding suburban life in a post-apocalypse setting.

I was provided with free advanced digital screeners for Miracle Workers season 4. The opinions I have shared are my own.

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In episode 3, “The Matrixxx”, Syd (Daniel Radcliffe) and Freya (Geraldine Viswanathan) have gotten to that part of their marriage where sex is just another routine. Worried about what this means for their relationship, Freya gets TI-90 (Karen Soni) to help them spice up their love life and they enter the Matrixxx, basically VR where you can explore your kinks. (“It’s like The Matrix, but with sex,” TI-90 explains as he pronounces each X in talking about it.)

The obvious take on the Matrix movies is golden, especially as we get a “We need dildos; LOTS of dildos” line. Soni’s take on Morpheus is more than just the costume. And Radcliffe has fun exploring the world of sex and kinks. I admit: being old enough to be Radcliffe’s mother and seeing him grow up on screen makes the sex plot a little on the ‘weird’ side for me, especially when he explains to Freya what his kink is and she attempts to work with it.

In the second plot, Morris (Steve Buscemi) is invited to his 40th high school anniversary and decides to attend to show the people who made fun of him that he’s a success. Buschemi has a lot of work to do as the other students he went to school with are all dead and are skeletons. But that doesn’t mean the teasing doesn’t stop… somehow.

In Episode 4, “The Grouping Ceremony”, Freya has to decide whether she can go out partying with TI-90 every night as she has been. The two get on a party train that is an obvious parody of Snowpiercer and TI-90 keeps partying while Freya realizes she’s not as young as she used to be.

In the other plot, Syd is helping Morris with his kid Timmy, who’s getting ready for ‘the grouping ceremony’ – “When you get placed in one of the five groups: strong, heroic, kind, wise, and malicious.”

And yes – Radcliffe’s character seems concerned that those are the only five groups, and that one of the groups is ‘actively called malicious’ in an obvious nod to Radcliffe’s former franchise. Thankfully, they do just enough references to make the joke and quickly move on to the rest of the plot.

With characters and situations set up, the plots get to play a little bit more with the jokes. By taking regular sitcom tropes (bored marital relationship, going back to a high school reunion, etc.) and the accompanying feels and putting them into a post-apocalypse context makes Miracle Workers season 4 funny.

The dual plots help because the chuckles mainly come from that dichotomy – which means playing it out longer would make the joke get old. And admittedly, the humor at Radcliffe’s best-known franchise was great.

Viswanathan holds her own against Radcliffe in the third episode and does a great job of showing the struggle to acknowledge age getting to us all in the fourth episode. However, Jon Bass, who really shined in season 3, is still underused as Scraps the war dog in the show.

The show overall continues to be lighthearted and fun, and a good distraction from the real world.

Miracle Workers airs Mondays, and more information about the show can be found on TBS’s website.

Author: Angie Fiedler Sutton

Angie Fiedler Sutton is a writer, podcaster, and all-round fangirl geek. She has been published in Den of Geek, Stage Directions, LA Weekly, The Mary Sue, and others.

She also produces her own podcast, Contents May Vary, where she interviews geeky people about geeky things. You can see all her work (and social media channels) at angiefsutton.com.

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