TVSquad

(S01E04) Holy cow ... this episode took a turn for the weird. I really didn't picture Liza as the weirdly stalkery kind of person. That Photoshopped picture of her and Eddie together sure was a slap in the face. Plus, what exactly is she concocting in that garage of hers? I'm a sucker for science geek girls, but I'd also hope they weren't going to end up blowing themselves up at some point, or spend too much time with toxic fumes. I thought we'd find out what Liza beneath, but what she reveals is just about the most predictable thing you could imagine. What happened to all the mystery and intrigue from the pilot?

As jerky as Cliff can be, it's hard to (at least sometimes) not feel sorry for the guy. He's got a real character for a mom, and she's dating a complete bonehead jock to boot, so he's got problems of his own. Maybe underneath it all he's actually a fairly decent guy. Although I guess calling the episode "What Cliffy Beneath" wouldn't have made any sense. I kept hoping he'd slipped a horse laxative into Travis' drink or something when he was playing pool. At least he got a tiny bit of payback on him, and it was nice to see his mom's other side.

The return of Jesse Jo and his wit and wisdom! He's like a sassier version of Greater Tuna all packed into one tiny little package. I liked him in the pilot episode, but his southern charm is starting to grate on my nerves ever so slightly. It would help a lot if he was actually written into the plots, and not just shoehorned in as "sassy gay character who ribs Johnny and dispenses knowledge." He's like a tiny little Texan buddha, although isn't offering Nikki his couch to sleep on a bit of a conflict of interest since he's Johnny's sponsor too?

Overall, this episode felt better than last week's, but Greta still felt different. What's going on with her? I prefer the dark and mysterious Greta from the pilot episode. This Greta seems a lot more whiny and needy ... up until her reveal of the big secret. And wow, as far as secrets go, that was a doozy. It was much better than "What Liza Beneath" (ouch, can I stop saying that now?).

The best part of Johnny and his mom reminiscing about his dad. It's a nice reminder that Johnny's where he is now because of what happened with his pop. I actually hope they have some flashbacks with Johnny's dad, because he keeps things grounded in a strange way. Away from the bright sun and spinning wind turbines of Palm Springs.

One thing I really have to say here is that if this show comes back, they really need to stop with the overdone commercial break dramatic fanfare. Like tonight when Johnny went to Eddie's mother's house (and ... ouch, is it just me or was she a bad actress?) and told her he lived in her old place, she gave him a dark look and the music got all dramatic. Then it faded into a commercial for Evan Almighty. C'mon CW, spare us the melodrama.

Also, one more little aside here, I have to say that as a big Halo fan, and as a writer for Joystiq, Johnny and Liza are two of the worst Halo 2 players that I've ever seen in my life. And I've seen a lot of 'em. Trust me on this one. What, they couldn't find a bored PA who could pwn while they filmed?