TVSquad

(S05E09) I'm so glad Hank sucked, because it allowed me to establish a new two-hour block of comedy on Wednesday nights. Just substitute Christine for Hank, and then flip over to The Middle and ABC for the rest of the night. What a satisfying night of laughs.

There was no Thanksgiving trimmings for Christine this year; instead it was date night. And while the episode did fall victim to some predictable set-ups, it was still a lot of fun to watch. I particularly liked the twists and turns of Barb's date with Dave. She dragged Christine along to make sure Dave didn't propose to her.

Meanwhile, now that New Christine is pregnant, Richard is ready to woo her as well. But he needn't worry about cleaning up or even trying. Just get her into bed: that's where he really shines.

It was funny that that was a recurring bit throughout the episode, brought home by New Christine declaring it as well toward the end. Matthew had it right; he must be really amazing in the sack to overcome his many shortcomings in almost ever other area of his demeanor.

This new dynamic with Matthew and Richard living together is really working for the show as well. It adds dimensions to both characters and shakes up the relationships we've been watching for the past four-and-a-half seasons. More importantly, it gets Matthew out from under Christine's crazy, which is good for both of them.

Her crazy was in full effect with Barb, though. She couldn't remember who Dave was or what he did throughout the episode, but she was still determined to be a good friend. It was a little disconcerting to see Dave so vehemently admit that he hates Barb, and in fact Christine as well. I appreciated that it was a different turn from what you expect in scenes like this.

Especially when things started getting formulaic, like Barb aggressively bullying Christine about how she doesn't assert herself. I've never been a big fan of the set-up, punch line formula, unless the jokes are just spot-on amazing. Or I already like the characters, as is the case here. So while I suspect we all saw it coming a mile away, it was still funny when Barb accepted Dave's proposal.

See, that was Christine's idea, and it was actually indicative of Christine being a good friend underneath all that wine and... well, whine. Barb's reaction should have been to freak out and break up with Dave, so what the hell was that? However, if it keeps Dave a part of the stories for a bit, I think I can get behind that. He actually became a much more interesting character when he declared his hatred of Barb. And she is everything he said she is, but we still love her.

[Watch clips from The New Adventures of Old Christine on SlashControl.]