When
I saw Greg Germann sitting there at the bar in the opening scene, I
almost jumped up and down with glee. I loved him on Ally McBeal and oh, how I've missed him (turns out he's
been doing B movies and such these past several years)! Is he joining the show?
Um, no. He's the very epitome of the bad date, told in one of the most charming ways I've seen recently. Mary Ellen's voiceovers make everything just seem so infused with destiny. It's really a lovely trick and, in this scene, its played to maximum effect.
Susan, she's not loving the boor German plays at all. Much better: the doctor that treats them both for a vicious accidental head-butt. (heh. "in some cultures headbutting is a mating ritual!" heh heh). He's certainly a hotty and Susan proceeds to pursue him in the awkward way that no one but Susan could.
Her tour de force: she fakes symptoms that will entrap the hot Dr. Rob, setting up a series of increasingly funny scenes. My favorite, when the doctor (who's come to tell her that her set of symptoms is some rare immune disorder that will kill her) is told of her deceit and asks her out to sushi. I'd type out the dialogue but it's the delivery that makes it work. His closing zinger: "Not tomorrow. I'll still be mad at you then. But Friday: I'll have cooled down by Friday." Yeah, it sounds better on the telly.
Not getting such entertaining treatment by the writers: Lynette. She's gone from most-sympathetic character to tying
for least (there's lots who rival for the absence of empathy). The nail in her coffin is her behavior when Tom tells
her he'd rather not have the snip, just in case something should happen. Her hypothetical jealousy is ridiculous,
childish, pointless, immature. It causes a rift in their marriage that's all her fault - and the whole first
season we were sure that Tom would be the one to cause problems with his roving eye.
While Tom certainly plays the injured party to the hilt - I almost want to cry in that closing scene when he confronts her in their dining room - I have a hard time believing that Lynette can be so cold. I've said it before, but I hate her transformation from Mommy Madness battlecry to hostile working woman (I want her to work, don't get me wrong, I just don't want her to be so heartless about it!).
There's a
lot more good in this episode, and already I've been going on and on. This week had some of my favorite scenes so far
this season. #1 most excellent: when Gabby does nude yoga on the front porch to make a point to her not-jealous-enough
husband. That made me laugh out loud. (could have done without the gratuitous de-fingering, though. was there a sale on
fake blood or something?) #2 most excellent: Bree in prison after having been arrested by the detective for DUI. Her
cellmate thinks she's a high-priced callgirl and wants to know how she does it. The lady doth protest, then gives up
and says coolly that she makes $5,000 a night. I almost wish she would get into the profession.
Now then I'd like her.
I know I've left out a couple of major revelations. Tell me: what are you talking about this morning?
Seven greatest hand cannons in TV history
TV Squad previews NBC's new shows (part 1)
TV 101: How ESPN controls the world and what the other networks can learn from it
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
1-16-2006 @ 11:10AM
onecharmingbastard said...
Okay, the season has been a chorus of singing and dancing sharks (in cute little top hats and canes no less), but since Cherry's return to scripting back in November (or at least putting his name on them), it's jumped back. "We're Gonna Be Allright" is no exception - top line from start to finish, with a ton of great bonus bits - and next week looks even loopier (and better!)
Yay. I love a comeback.
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1-16-2006 @ 11:15AM
Bebop said...
Gabby storyline is so entertaining albeit outrageous as it is you all know you are waiting with bated breath for the nun showdown next week.
I actually watched DH this week because there was no family guy to distract me(i usually switch back and forth between DH and American Dad during the last half hour)
Susan is getting cartoonish almost with the extremes that she goes to. The doctor is hot though(what is the name of the actor? i want to imdb-him because he looks so familiar)
Bree's storyline is alright they are finally tying in the applewhite storyline with the other housewives, which is what i believe was the problem with the whole thing in the first place.
Finally Lynette's storyline is so sad and she's basically become a doppelg?er of season one Lynette. Funny how everyone, or rather the writers, seem to forget tom's confession to his father during the last final moments of that episode. Hopefully we'll find out soon why he is unhappy and what exactly he's been hiding.
Hopefully the last half of the season will get better and have them meeting together like they used to which was the moments like those which made the first season so great.
Oh and i still don't buy Edie as one of the official Housewives.
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1-16-2006 @ 12:59PM
Jimmy said...
Last night's episode is the closest we've come to a season one episode in a long, long time. I'm not a big Susan fan, but her story last night was quiet funny. Since I'm really tired of the plumber down the street, I hope Jay Harrington's doctor sticks around for awhile.
I agree with your thoughts on Season 2 Lynette. First, we have the engineered kidnapping of her son to prove a point, then we have the rat in the house to show her husband can't quite do as good a job as she did, then we have the firing of her boss and most of the staff at her job, let's not forget the slopping kiss with Carlos, and now we have the vasectomy. Is there really a woman out there who could be so selfish and cold as to demand her husband get snipped just so he will be alone and sterile after her early death? Hell, I thought she was going to engineer some way for her husband to be infected with Chicken Pox just so he would become sterile! Granted, Lynette makes a valid point about not having any more kids and getting off the pill, but as usual she goes about it the wrong way. I know this is meant to be a caricature and over-the-top, but you're right: it's turning Lynette into the most unsympathetic character.
I have to say, Doug Savant's Tom has really shined this season. And you're right: the last few seconds when he tells Lynette how emasculated he feels having lost his job (thanks to Lynette), having to become to housewife, and how he can't even take care of the kids when they're sick was the most touching scene of the night. Yeah, Tom has done something in his past we don't know about yet (and it may just be forgotten), but Lynette is damn lucky to have Tom. She's just too stupid to realize it. They're really the best couple on the show; due in no small part to the great chemistry between Felicity Huffman and Doug Savant.
On another note, I'm really disappointed in the whole Applewhite storyline. I don't know if the producers plan to keep them around for season three, but if they do I hope they can find a better way to utilize a great actress like Alfre Woodard. The introduction of the Applewhites has always seemed forced, like Cherry was embarrassed by Oprah's remarks there was were no African-Americans on Wisteria Lane. It's fine that he decided to add an African-American family, but can't the writers do better than this sad storyline? They deserve so much better. I did love the confrontation between Bree and Betty. Bree can be quite scary when she's backed into a corner.
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1-16-2006 @ 1:24PM
Brent McKee said...
I have to say though that my favourite moment was when Carlos was told by the photographer - who he wasn't going to beat up - that Gabby wasn't "Internet pretty", which prompted him to beat the crap out of the photographer. I'm going to come off all "Star Trek Geeky" here but it reminds me of "The Trouble With Tribbles" where Scotty isn't going to get into a fight with the Klingons until they insult his ship.
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