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First thing’s first, I had every expectation that this episode was going to be super duper racist. It was not, but I’ll get to that in a bit because of how much of a big deal my second point is: Dang, this one lady could not get a enough of the jokes this week. She had one of those high-pitched shrieky laughs, too; it was nearly impossible to block her out and concentrate on the actual episode itself.
Now, if you type “2 broke girls racist” into Google you get 4,310,000 results. That speaks for itself, really. My review of the third episode of this season even received a few comments from an honest-to-goodness Polish person who wanted to assert that they do not believe that cats are the reincarnated souls of people who die outside. To be perfectly fair things were far worse in the first season concerning Han in particular. That being said, racist jokes on this show used to be a problem. They still are, but they used to be, too.
Similar to Saturday Night Live, the 2 Broke Girls writers took note of the flak they were receiving and took action. Unlike the former, which took to promising change without one anywhere in sight, the latter chose to veer away from making fun of Han’s race and instead focusing almost solely on his size. It’s not ideal for the character, especially since he hasn’t been able to dish it back in quite a few episodes, but it’s a step in the right direction. Which is great, because it’s the Max, Caroline, and Han Show this week.
Basically what happens in the episode itself is that Mr. Lee hires a prostitute to fake being his girlfriend to impress his mom in a trope so classic that Hollywood has a self-imposed rule that they must create a film based on that premise every four years. As an abrupt segue what I really want to focus on right now is Max and Caroline’s foray into a strip club to hire Korean Beauty June Kim AKA Sapphire for their boss, which led to this:
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Soon after Caroline says: “”Can we turn the music off? Cause, I’m getting disoriented, and, in all honesty, a little turned on.”
Cue a few choice posts from tumblr as I searched in vain for relevant 2 Broke Girls gifs to add to this review:
“Caroline we knew you got turned in by girls come on” - amsayy.tumblr.com
“Part of me hope caroline’s freak out about “latent bisexuality” is because of a recent revelation of her feelings for max.” - graphikdesign07.tumblr.com
“isn’t even 15 minutes in and so far caroline and max have gone to a strip club where caroline admitted she was “turned on” and max cheered the stripper on
try to be more gay, i dare you” - shawsonduh.tumblr.com
There’s clearly a fraction of the show’s viewers who ship a romantic relationship between Max and Caroline, and it got me wondering if that plays into the writing of the show at all. A sexual pairing of the two is unlikely if we’re being realistic, but that doesn’t mean that the creators involved won’t seed potential hints at such a pairing just to appeal to a part of their audience. This is of course me putting far too much value in one of tumblr’s much, much smaller fandoms, but it’s best to never underestimate the internet.
I wish I had more to say about the plot itself, but it really is a pretty standard execution of the aforementioned trope which led to an overall unexceptional twenty-something minutes of television. There are minor additions to how things normally play out, such as Max giving Han marijuana to calm his nerves, but that’s about it. In the end Han’s mom finds out and she’ll always love him no matter what. We get a slight subversion of expectations in Korean Beauty June Kim AKA Sapphire actually knowing how to play the piano [you can see everyone's reactions in the image up top].
There was very little of either Oleg or Sophie this week, but Earl had a bit of fun dialogue with Han. Really, Ally Maki and Karen Maruyama did just fine as Korean Beauty June Kim AKA Sapphire and Mrs. Su-Min “Han’s Mom” Lee, respectively. No real complaints, but not a great deal of praise, either.
Creativity points to Korean Beauty June Kim AKA Sapphire’s orgasm prayer that was primarily just “Oh God” said progressively louder and louder. If that didn’t make the following scene come to mind, however, know that you are dead to me:
Current Total: $2,162.
New Total: $2,280.
The Title Refers To: Han hiring a prostitute to be his girlfriend. Alternatively, a reference to a Steven Soderbergh film by the same name starring porn star Sasha Grey in the titular role.
Stray Observations:
- Instant laugh out of Max asking Han if he had a mother. That is laughter post set-up/pre-punchline, folks.
- “Catfishing, right. That’s when you pick up a woman in a bar and when you get her in the light you realize she has whiskers.”
- Caroline is afraid of catching “syphi-gono-titis” at the strip club.
- That black light visual gag was delightful.
- “Earl, we’re talking about our Lord Jesus Christ!”
- Some of the audience laughed at Mrs. Lee speaking Korean. I can’t explain that.
- Mrs. Lee’s disapproving frown/headshake combo was so, so great.
- Chamomile tea: the drink of choice for divorced women on their balconies in the fall.
- Han described his fake girlfriend as “a Harvard educated Christian doctor and also a renowned classical pianist.”
- Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.![]()
- Mrs. Lee’s body strength is all core.
- Max’s joke that made me feel legitimately uncomfortable: “What!? I was unconscious when I lost [my virginity] and want to see what it’s like!” This is in addition to what we already know the guy, which is that his name was “Coach Something.” Eesh.
- 2 Broke Girls Cheesecake Menu: This entire section goes to Korean Beauty June Kim AKA Sapphire, for obvious reasons which involve her sexy dance. Honourable mention goes to Max’s cleavage.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.Clik here to view.
