It sure is weird that CBS released their first 2 Broke Girls episode of the season on January 5th, and then skipped a week. Not a great way to build up momentum. Not that I’m complaining, honestly, because a) it’s always nice whenever I get to take a break and b) that last installment was super racist and I was not having it.
Thankfully the worst part about this episode is that I can’t find any gifs of Jenko freaking out about lambos from 22 Jump Street. Man, that’s a franchise I am always going to be behind. Anyway, to the episode-
This is one of those weeks where not a whole lot happens in these twenty-some minutes of TV. In fact, I think I can summarize it in half a dozen bullet points:
- It’s Caroline’s birthday! She is optimistic.
- Her dad, Martin Channing, bought her a Lamborghini Aventador LP 700-4 Roadster! But they have to return it in the morning.
- Caroline is now pessimistic.
- Max roofies her and drives her to the Hamptons, which she waxed poetic about.
- They squabble at the beach, but make up and return to the diner!
- Oleg means to propose to Sophie and then does so.
That being said, this was not a bad episode overall.
It’s been a while since I’ve linked to it, but allow me to once again bring up the concept of the “hang-out sitcom”, or the sort of show where the audience basically enjoys watching people enjoy spending time with one another. Now the writer of that article, Todd VanDerWerff, condemns them, or at least their oversaturation of the airwaves, but while watching 2 Broke Girls tonight I actually found myself liking that aspect of the show. Or, that is to says, I found myself gaining an even greater appreciation for Beth Behrs.
Now it should be no mystery to any of you that I consider her the most consistent comedy MVP of every Monday night on CBS, but her character is actually not terrible to be “around”. While it’s hard for me to fathom that there might be people who feel this way about Oleg or Sophie [the studio audience’s cheering notwithstanding] it started to make sense to me why people continue to tune in week after week. 2 Broke Girls has become a half hour timeslot where audiences can watch characters they like and not be bogged down.
Bogged down by conflict, to be more specific, and [really, read that article I linked to] while this episode has it you can rest assured it doesn’t exist for more than five minutes. As weird as it is to write, I feel like the show has pared away the thorns of crude humour [which will sprout back] to make way for the soft, pillowy, comforting petals of feel-good TV. There’s a lot to be said about that, especially taking into consideration Gordon’s earlier discussion of what art should be, but I’m going to leave it as is and see if next week backs it up anymore.
Lots of great lines tonight too, which certainly doesn’t hurt.
Current Total: $13,945.
New Total: $13,545. I’m going to assume it was spent on gas. That’s all I’ve got.
The Title Refers To: One of my all-time favourite film franchises [alongside the 2_ Jump Street movies, of course], or at least the one that started with Fast Five and turned the Vin Diesel vehicles’ [pun fully intended] focus from street racing to insane heists.
Stray Observations:
- Oleg’s familiarity with the CPR doll [“Oh. Hey, Judy.”] Made me think of “Exodus”, a short story from Chuck Palahniuk’s Haunted. If you’ve read it you know how uncomfortable that train of thought made me.
- He’s also popping the question to Sophie, which Max makes that super gross by saying that he’s “already popped everything else.”
- “I thought a girl’s best friend was someone a little fatter than her.”
- Oleg’s whole story about his ring that culminated in it being “doody free” was actually really impressive, comedically. Props, writers’ room.
- “All my father gave me was that one iffy chromosome.”
- Caroline’s impression of Sophie was a pure delight.
- Han, in reference to them not being able to use the car in spite of it being there: “That’s like me having you two for waitresses-“
- “I would’ve gotten the car and driven up to the Hamptons and we’d sit on the beach all night, have lobster caught by one of the townies, drink champagne while taking duck face selfies until the sun came up.”
- The duck face she made right after that line was great.
- “Max, you did it again, you roofied me didn’t you-“
- Max on never having been to the beach: “No, what’s the point, I don’t own a metal detector.”
- “We are in very big trouble and we’re not even in the GOOD Hamptons!”
- “I am a ride or die kind of bitch!”
- “Are you Googling ‘ride or die kind of bitch?'”
- Caroline’s age dating window tops out at 40. Max’s is twice that.
- Oleg proposes to Sophie in a) the place they met, b) the place they’ve had sex most often, and c) the place they’ve had sex most recently. It’s her booth.
- Maybe It’s Maxoline: Some people on tumblr thought that their scene on the beach was romantic, but I wasn’t really feeling it.
- 2 Broke Girls Cheesecake Menu: Caroline’s legs on the beach, I guess. No, I don’t guess. I know.
