The Body is a Sweetie

 Suburgatory, S01E14

 

 If I had to summarize what this episode was about, it would be winners versus losers.  The winners were mostly those being good at sports.  Ryan, aka "The Body," has a taste of being a loser after getting injured during a wrestling match.  Tessa tries to run for student body president in order to prevent the "K" twins from initiating a double-gym requirement.

I will say as stupid as Ryan is, he is a pretty likeable character.  He seems like just an airhead jock, but he does have feelings.  His parents, who are one moment carrying him to his car one day and then giving away his dessert on another, are pretty fair-weather guardians.  While Ryan sulks upstairs in his wheelchair, his parents shift their attention to Lisa, who after being neglected by them so long is oh, but so eager to bask in their spotlight.  The moment when Ryan is crying upstairs makes you go, "Aww," but at the same time made me laugh.  It's just so ridiculous.  What terrible parents he and Lisa have.  They throw a funeral-like procession just because their son can't compete anymore.  Maybe if they achieve a little more in their own lives, they wouldn't have to mourn the loss of being a champion's parents.

I was sad to see that Tessa's run for president pretty much ended before it started.  She wisely realized that she wasn't going to win a popularity contest when she had the coordination of a two-headed worm, but I wish that she had a more fighting spirit.  Lisa was all gun-ho about it, but that was just because she wanted to have her first victory dinner as Tessa's campaign manager.  She realizes that just because everyone there is sport-oriented that it doesn't mean those so called "jocks" are not worried about their grades and maybe she needs to try harder at sports.  Good for her.  I like that she opts for the growth route, rather than denouncing the school system and stirring up more trouble than she would have liked.

My favorite thing about this episode was Ryan and George hanging out.  They just seemed like such a random pair.  George tries to get Ryan to see that you can always reinvent yourself, but it sort of backfires and convinces Ryan to force himself to literally walk through the pain.  I didn't think that someone as dumb as Ryan would have a huge revelation and find meaning in his life outside of sports, but I didn't expect him to hop out of his wheelchair and run away from becoming someone like George.  Before he did this and George was explaining his old band, "Alt Man," they had a great funny moment:

[George] Do you get it?

[Ryan] No, but I trust you.

He gets it later.  Haha.  I'm not surprised that George had a band.  He seems like someone who might.  He almost reminds me of that dad on Gossip Girl.  Although, George doesn't seem to have much talent to write his own stuff.  Maybe we will see him sing in another episode. 

Oh, and thanks to George, Ryan does a sweet thing in his own way for Lisa.  Instead of asking for another of his favorite marinara-sauced dishes, he asks his parents to cook Lisa's favorite tuna and shells.  Aww...  That moron is a sweetie pie.  If he wasn't so thick-headed, I'd want to see him get together with Tessa again.

I have to say that I love how positive Dallas is being during her divorce.  She is determined to let no one get her down.  I was confused why Noah was trying to get in her way of self-empowerment, until I remembered that he and Steven were friends.  He needs to get over it because he's not going to stop her from brightening her teeth and her outlook on life.  Yay!

I just really like this show.  It might be one of the few that I really look forward to in the week because it hardly disappoints.  This may not have been the best of stories this time, but I still had a good time watching it.  It's nice to have that fresh feeling of hope now that so many of my long-time shows are starting to get a little boring.