If there is anything that 2 Broke Girls excels in doing it’s creating outlandish characters. Whether it’s Dennis Endicott III, the self-proclaimed Thrift Shop Scout and Brooklyn’s Crazy Kitsch Genius [“And the Window of Opportunity”], Cronut Craig the black market baked goods dealer ["And the Cronuts"], or the simply-named Catherine, who had altogether too many cats ["And the Kitty Kitty Spank Spank"], these are individuals who stick with you in how truly zany they are.
This episode the girls’ travels to the latest restaurant, Harlow and Daughters, whose likely Mumford-and-Sons-inspired title aside is the setting for two brand new eccentrics. There’s Brian-Brian, the gay waiter in fashionably[?] old-timey garb and, one of my all-time favourites thus far, York the drinks waiter. It’s just York. “York as in York.”
It wasn’t even her general appearance or anything [you can see her above on the left], it was entirely the way she spoke. You’re going to have to check out at least that part of the episode to see for yourself, but the way she delivered the following line just really got me:
“Our special libation this evening is the Smallpox. It’s absinthe, cloves, orange bi-tters, hand-muddled in a mason jar.”
This is all a pretty good segue into talking about the show’s characters as a whole. Max and Caroline are constantly bumping into weirdos in their day-to-days, but the truth is that the diner already has so many that they couldn’t swing a dead cat without hitting one. Speaking of which, Nancy is back! We will make no mention as to what Polish people do or don’t believe about felines.
Seriously, though, we got some pretty decent Earl material out of this episode, with the gif on the left being the joke that most audience members will be taking with them. Luis, [Luis is back again!] is back around calling the girls “broke-ass divas” and generally livening up every scene he appears in. Even Sophie has a lot of material this week, particularly in doing a bit of back and forth with Caroline about the latter’s prep work for her date.
Now this is all well and good, and offsets my concern which is that the writers do not have that much faith in their existing characters. Han, Earl, Oleg, and Sophie are all just as wacky and full of personality as the next, yet we’re constantly presented with exotic flavour-of-the-week men and women who will undoubtedly never appear again. If they could just have Oleg regale us with tales about another cousin every week [this one was disabled, and the last had but a single testicle and committed suicide] that would make me happy.
If 2 Broke Girls wants to be an ensemble comedy, and to be fair maybe it doesn’t, we’re going to have to stop devoting so much time to one and dones and concentrate on the people we already know and, presumably, are meant to love. We can still have characters like York, because they are extremely entertaining, but we should still keep some focus on the cast outside of Max and Caroline.
Anyway, as mentioned this week gives a number of characters more material than they’ve seen in weeks, even in an episode that could’ve been entirely devoted to the titular ladies. Caroline being stood up for a date was preceded by a good amount of time in the diner and apartment with others, and culminated with Oleg and Sophie having roughed up a guy [not the guy, but a guy; it's the thought that counts].
I also want to end this review by touching on the supportive words Max gives Caroline, which were not necessarily meant to create an emotional beat due to the response she got from the latter. To cheer up her friend who was stood up she says:
“Look, I don’t give myself letters in life, to me it is clearly a pass/fail situation. and you’re sitting up, not drooling on yourself, so pass.”
That is by no means a cynical sentiment. That’s something everyone needs to remember, and it was actually kind of jarring for me to hear such optimistic words exiting her mouth. Keep that in mind, ladies, gents, and others, it’s legitimately good advice.
Current Total: $2,280.
New Total: $2,420.
The Title Refers To: The following exchange between Han and Max:
“How come this isn’t the ‘it’ place?”
“This isn’t an ‘it’ place, it’s more of an ‘it’ hole.”
Also a clear reference to the term “sh-thole.”
Stray Observations:
- “The only waves you get in Brooklyn are heatwaves and crime waves.”
- While I enjoyed Nancy’s return, what I really want to see more of is Ferguson on New Girl.
- Caroline used an English muffin to exfoliate. Then she ate it.
- Max’s idea of a joint credit card: “Whenever you make a dumb purchase you owe me a joint.”
- The complete lack of applause for Sophie’s entrance threw me for a loop. I was actually stunned.
- Brian-Brian is the second character, by my count, to straight-up tell Max she’s funny. The first is, of course, Luis.
- Max went to a father-daughter dance with her mom’s weed dealer.
- Guy complimenting Caroline: “You’re pretty. You have a good body.”
- “pull out the possum” does not sound like a euphemism for masturbation. Maybe for defecating, but not masturbation.
- Seriously, though, that possum was adorable.
- 2 Broke Girls Cheesecake Menu: Okay, first of all Caroline’s skirt with those heels made it look like her legs went all the way up. To her hips, I suppose, but honestly who knows? Then there was her date get-up which provided the following risque action and hilarious line:
“It’s just a push-up bra, chicken cutlets, a little tissue and some tape, you know, natural.”
