It’s morning round-up time, with quick thoughts on last night’s “Suburgatory” and “Don’t Trust the B—- in Apt. 23” coming up just as soon as I box weave you a noose…
Late in the “Suburgatory” episode “The Great Compromise,” George admits to Noah, “I think we can all agree we’re in a negative space.” He’s talking about the messy situation with Eden, but I unfortunately feel that way about what the Eden arc has done to the show. Whatever nostalgic power came from the sight of Jeremy Sisto and Alicia Silverstone together again has long since vanished, and what we have is George inexplicably falling for an overbearing woman with whom he has no chemistry, and whom he invites into his home without the first thought of how Tessa would react. One of the more fruitful themes of this show has been the moments when George realizes he has to be Tessa’s dad and not her friend, but this isn’t him being her dad; this is him being an unthinking jackass. (And it doesn’t help that “The Great Compromise” brought back George’s irrational fear of Tessa ever going back to New York City, which the show has never effectively sold and which also makes him seem like an idiot.) And whatever struggles the show had with Noah in the earlier going, this story has only made him worse: more cartoonish, more obnoxious, and someone I’d rather not be spending time on.
Lisa and Malik’s camp debate (including Malik macrameing himself a fly Jackson 5-style outfit) was amusing, as was Dallas’ reaction to finally watching “The X-Files”(*), but this is a situation where a show I had grown to really like is stuck in a storyline that’s not working at all at least through the rest of this season. Only one episode to go, and I’d hope that Emily Kapnek and company put Eden on a bus back to Montana before season 2 starts.
(*) What are the odds that both “Suburgatory” and “Don’t Trust the Broccoli” would do “X-Files”-watching jokes in the same night? Combine that with a similar bit in last week’s “Awake,” and we officially have a trend!
“Don’t Trust the B—- in Apt. 23,” meanwhile, has continued to walk that very fine line of Chloe and June becoming friends without making Chloe less of a Bruschetta. If anything, as happened last week, June is becoming more like Chloe than the other way around. “Making Rent…” also made an effort to better integrate both Robin and Eli. I’m not sure either is ever going to become more than a cartoon character, but at least the writers are aware that it’s an issue they should be working on.
The ABC upfront is on Tuesday. “Suburgatory” is all but a lock to come back, and if the rumored “Cougar Town” to TBS deal goes through, then that’s one less bubble comedy standing in the way of “Don’t Trust the Bison.” I don’t know that the show is there just yet, but I’d like to see it get as much time to find itself as “Suburgatory” had over the course of this season, even if that season is having a bumpy finish.
What did everybody else think?