TVSquad

(S03E19) I was a little disappointed that this week's episode didn't start with a woman in her underwear, but the later appearance of Julie Bowen's pregnant stomach more than made up for it.

I was also a little put off by the appearance of Frank Whaley because I remembered what a tool I thought he was the day I worked with him on Buddy Faro. What I had forgotten is what a fine actor he is. His performance in this episode was perfect. In a very short amount of time he was able to create a character that I knew enough about to actually care what happened to him. His flashback scenes, in particular, were very good.

The flashbacks reminded me of another reason I love this show. It seems to be able to go back and forth between comedy and drama so quickly and effortlessly that you usually don't even notice it. Case in point, I was really enjoying the comedy team of Paul & Brad when all of a sudden Brad revealed his loneliness and the scene wasn't quite as funny as it was a second ago. I usually am against workplace romances on TV, but I actually felt bad for Brad and I am hoping that he and Denise can stay the course.

As I've said before, I am not a big fan of Constance Zimmer, but her performance tonight more than met my expectations. The romance between Claire and Clarence is so ridiculous that I enjoy seeing how they have the same problems that so-called normal people do. When I first saw Clarence with the blonde, I immediately thought "sexual surrogate." It's been done before, right? The only part of that story that I didn't like was Alan's attempt at playing matchmaker. I get that he is a romantic and all but when did he suddenly care about Clarie's love life?

Lastly, I really wanted Raquel Welch to make an appearance, but seeing Phyllis Diller made me laugh out loud. I don't know how they kept that a secret but it worked on me. Well done.

On a scale of one to seven, I give this episode a five.