I’m of the personal opinion that the best episodes of 2 Broke Girls have always been the ones that focus around the protagonists trying to make money by any means necessary. While I’m fairly positive I’ve shared this before, at the time it came out the show was the closest thing we had to a 99 percent movement sitcom, and that really set it apart; I say “was” because, as Mightygodking points out, other shows are beginning to discuss class as well.
That being said, two of my personal favourites are “And the Drug Money” and “And the Egg Special”, which concerned Max and Caroline doing medical trials and attempting to sell their eggs, respectively. I’ve had times when I was so hard up for work that I considered letting people test drugs on me for two days so that I could make a cool $500. Selling blood, too. It’s a reality, folks.
2 Broke Girls does what it can to keep up with the times, too, so it was cool to see that the get-money scheme for the week would be Kickstarter, a crowdfunding website so effective that it’s been used to finance entire films [and then some]. Except that it’s not Kickstarter, it’s some knockoff called GoFundYourself. And it’s not a fun new business venture, Caroline just needs new pants.
In some bizarre turn of events very clearly suited to elicit a reaction out of the characters a swanky photo shoot happens to be going on outside their cupcake business window. Caroline bemoans how she never gets anything new, resolves to use Kickstarter to get new clothes and then, unsurprisingly, leans over too far and rips her pants. It’s probably for the best, as she’d probably Febrezed them a dozen times too many.
I saw this gif earlier free of context and thought it was some sort of twerking joke but, heavens be praised, it wasn’t!
As a quick aside, Beth Behrs was killing it tonight with the physical comedy. Her stapling the tear in the seat of her pants was consistently funny, and one of her mishaps doing so causes her to make an off-colour joke that brought a pretty big grin to my face in spite of itself: ”Max, I might be a virgin again.” Behrs is definitely the MVP of the episode.
The rest of the episode brings together two parts that never really click. The first is, of course, Caroline’s crowdfunding project which involves her $500 reward as being the chance to slap her in the face. Oh, and she needs more than that because she wants are $1500 Dries van Noten silk brocade pants. 2 “broke girls” my foot.
The other is Max getting a new smartphone. Speaking as someone who would love a flip phone if he could get his hands on one, I have never felt so connected to the character before now. She has fun with apps and stuff. Shenanigans, whatever.
The big conflict in the episode comes not via Han’s proclamation that there’s a new rule of “no making fun of the boss” [which comes to nothing, surprising no one], but through a mass text Max accidentally sends everyone which states how she is “so sick of [Caroline],” who ended up raising enough money to get her new pants. Yes, Caroline is on the list.
This turns the last five minutes into an endless torrent of needless drama. Caroline is very obviously offended, which causes Max to be in a place she normally isn’t, which is apologetic. She throws her smartphone into the deep fryer to prove a point, but even that does nothing. Eventually she admits that Caroline is the only person she really cares about, and they patch up. The end. Max also accepts the slap in her stead [because someone paid $500 just to slap a spoiled rich girl], what a pal.
The Season 2 finale is probably the best example of tension and drama raised to uncomfortable levels, and while this episode doesn’t quite get there it still feels very out of place. This has a lot to do with the laugh-a-minute pace it tries to strike, meaning that when legitimate anger, frustration, or any other emotions boil up things feel like they’re coming to a grinding halt.
We end things knowing more than ever that the girls care about each other [Max says "I love you" for the first time since, well, ever], but that was never really a doubt in our minds. It’s nice that the show feels the need to assure us, but what I really want to know is what the totals even matter anymore [something I should have mentioned in my last review].
Current Total: $725.
New Total: $1010 [Which I'm very confused about. Either this is excess money from Caroline's crowdfunding project or it's just the girls' general profits from the diner and their sidework selling cupcakes].
The Title Refers To: Crowdfunding sites in general, I guess, since Caroline doesn’t actually end up using that service.
Stray Observations:
- The girls who bring up Kickstarter to begin with have their own business venture: candles with arms. That’s money in the bank.
- The first girl’s exclamation of ”I can’t … I just can’t” felt very tumblr-y to me.
- “They’re slut-shaming phones now?”
- [Han to Max] ”One day I’ll show you my penis, and you’ll be sorry.”
- Sophie delivers a line and then looks directly at the camera with crazy eyes, ostensibly breaking the 4th wall and terrifying me at the same time.
- Max’s joke that made me feel legitimately uncomfortable: “My fingers are already too friendly. Ask my fourth grade boyfriend.”
- 2 Broke Girls Cheesecake Menu: Caroline celebrates her new pants by shaking what her mother gave her.
