Episode '30 Rock' Season 5, Episode 17 - 'Queen of Jordan' Recap

Do not adjust your TV set. That's still "30 Rock" you're watching. To be honest, when the intro to this week's episode was all "Queen of Jordan" from start to finish, my only thought was "Oh god, I hope they're not planning on doing this for the entire episode."

But I have to say I was pleasantly surprised. It's tough to give your audience an entirely new style for an episode (not to mention introduce new characters from out of nowhere) and get away with it, but if anyone can do it, it's Tina Fey.

"Queen of Jordan" reminds us just how bad reality TV can get when it's not done well.

However, the "30 Rock" team never quite nailed the reality TV tone...you get the feeling that this episode was created by people who have seen some reality TV clips, but never really sat down and watched an episode. Or, perhaps the idea was to not imitate reality TV too closely, so that the "30 Rock" tone still comes through.

So what were the issues this week? Tracy is still in Africa, and Liz needs to get Angie to convince him to come back. Jenna is still Jenna and is hungry for more attention (bonus points for the "Jenna's-Side" joke and for the way she says "camera"). Frank, meanwhile, is visited by a love from his past (with a much-welcomed guest appearance from Susan Sarandon) in a storyline that was done by South Park a couple of years ago.

The winner in this episode is Alec Baldwin, who plays the part of a flustered Jack to perfection. The reality show is consistently tarnishing his image, and he makes mistakes at every turn. It's refreshing to see Jack not in control, and Baldwin plays it flawlessly.

The show has been leaving some serious open ends lately, what with Episode 16 ending with the declaration that "Liz Lemon is a Judas to allllllll womankind!"

This episode never really wraps up the Frank storyline, and we end with yet another cliffhanger asking when we'll see Tracy again. Also, what happened with that Alec Baldwin/Chloe Moretz rivalry from Episode 16? Loose ends, guys, tie them up!

Frank's Hats of the Week: "Deli Meat", "Dot Matrix", and if you look really closely in the old school picture, "My First Hat"...adorable.