 He praised Alec Baldwin, whose performance he described as "rare and rich [...] perilously close to perfect, beyond improving".Shales said that it was "painful to report" that Jack McBrayer was absent in the episode, saying he was "the show's brightest discovery", and his "performance has been a bittersweet beauty".Rob Canning of IGN said that "30 Rock"'s was "one new comedy we do not want to see taken off the air".