This week opens up with the strangely comforting scene of a table of eccentric [see: easily mockable] diners and the two girls’ reactions to them. Instead of hipsters or, I don’t know, bronies, we have half a dozen cumberbitches fresh from Sherlock Con. I had planned to live the rest of my life without ever typing out that term, but that’s behind us so let’s move on-
What you all have to understand is that I take everything I watch on TV very, very seriously. This means being extremely perplexed upon hearing Max insinuate that she never went to high school, particularly because it makes the story of how she lost her virginity [see the Stray Observations here and here] that much more disturbing. The thing is, I don’t think you have to be a stickler for continuity to see the gargantuan staring-you-in-the-face error in this episode.
The A-plot [and I'll be getting to the B-plot later, such as it is] concerns Caroline getting fed up with Chef Nicolas’ excessive flirting and sending him a text that reads “I’ll have dinner with you when you leave your wife.” Oleg convinces her and Max it’s a bluff to get into her pants, but when Nicolas issues an exact time of when he’ll break things off [via video chat, no less] they have to rush over to keep his open marriage from falling apart. After all, Caroline is “the almost girl”, she only almost breaks up open marriages.
So they head over to his apartment and, after Caroline spurns his advances, he realizes he can’t end his open marriage. The girls think this is great so he should just not Skype his wife. Except that she’s actually in the building and is coming up the stairs and goodness gracious, their open marriage is in real jeopardy he can’t be alone, so Max and Caroline need to go hide in the bathroom because who knows what his wife will think.
I now present exhibits A and B:
EXHIBIT A: An excerpt from last week’s review of the show.
Let me make it even more painfully clear: Caroline was given permission by Chef Nicolas’ wife to have sex with him; that is what open marriages imply. His wife “catching him” with two girls in his apartment should cause him zero problems.
Which is unfortunate, because I actually think the girls hiding in the bathroom and then making their way unto the ledge outside the window is really fun. It starts out raining, because of course, and then proceeds to hail after they quip that “at least it couldn’t get any worse.” It’s hitting classic comedic bits, but pulls them off very well.
It’s not only pretty funny, but it looks great, too. I was just thinking to myself how cheap the bathroom set looked, but everything outside of it turned out really well. Multi-camera sitcoms often struggle with outside shots, but colour me impressed by how great the ledge made the entire scene.
After everything that happens after they crash in through the window you see on the left [Caroline slips, but when muted it looks like Max saves her from leaping to her death] I think it’s fair to say that this particular chapter of the show is closed. Chef Nicolas has realized that he will always almost have sex with Caroline, and we should see an end to his attempts at wooing her.
In other news, they appear to be giving Garrett Morris lines again. I remember back when Earl played more of a father figure to Max, helping to instill the idea that she valued others and had created a pseudo-family to make up for her own childhood, and that’s revived in a very short reference to how he cares about her being around.
Let’s be real with ourselves, Han should’ve fired both Max and Caroline a long time ago. Not only do they not respect him a whit, they don’t listen to anything he says and he is their boss. All that being said, I’m giving him the B-plot because of his adventures with the spider communities in the walk-in and dishroom. Things began escalating quickly, and a discarded piece of ham proved to be a matter of contention between the two kingdoms claiming ownership. It’s all so wonderfully absurd, and I enjoyed every second of it.
Current Total: $840.
New Total: $824. Please don’t ask me where or how they spent the $16.
The Title Refers To: Max and Caroline’s near-death experience out on the ledge.
Stray Observations:
- “Do you have eggs Benedict . . . Cumberbatch?”
- Tumblr is alternately giddy and scornful over the Sherlock fandom making an appearance,
- “Didn’t I tell you to keep my name outta your mouth?”
- Nicolas’ appearance at the diner elicited Sophie-esque whoos, which was interesting.
- Sophie’s movie biz fling “drives the Miramax party bus and [. . .] wears a big wig.”
- Earl is apparently an easy Morgan Freeman stand-in: “And if you need god, a judge, or an old guy sitting on a porch, I’m your man.”
- Deke’s absence explained away by him having the flu.
- There is a sweatshop in the same building as the pastry school, where “10 Vietnamese women are making next year’s ‘Prada.'”
- Lots of John/”Big Mary” in this episode.
- Max’s favourite Seuss book: The Whore He’s Leaving Her For
- Look, I struggled through two semesters of college friend and I know for a fact that “toilette” is feminine and therefore would use “la” and not “le”.
- 2 Broke Girls Cheesecake Menu: Nothing this week, folks.
