Two Against One

Suburgatory, S01E21

Tessa prepared to escape from the new living situation by applying to an internship in Manhattan.  She wasn't sure how to let George know about it, but Eden surprised her by supporting her decision.  George, on the other hand, freaked out when he found out that Eden had helped Tessa apply and let her go to the city on her own.  After George spoke with Dallas, he was a little less angry, but Eden remained in unknown territory when it came to offering opinions about raising Tessa.  Eden tried to make a compromise between Tessa and George by suggesting he let Tessa commute from her summer job, but Tessa was strongly against it.  Lisa and Malik disagreed about which camp they would attend in the summer, and Malik eventually let Lisa have her way.  Shelia continued to stir up trouble with Noah, regarding Eden carrying her child.

I applaud Tessa for handling a new woman (and a pregnant one at that) in her house as well as she did.  She could have been extremely difficult and mean in that situation, especially because George didn't ask for her input at all before he made the decision to let Eden stay.  I would have been much more aggressively horrible to someone who forbid us to use Wifi and cooked us dinners of wheat meat that looked liked dirt brownies with pieces of corn.  I might have run away if I were in her place.  You don't mess with people's food and you don't mess with their ease to connect to the internet.

Even so, I like Eden in their house because it's almost made them seem like a traditional family for once.  I don't know how motherly Eden is, but she at least brings in a different perspective than what George offers.  And she was in favor of Tessa taking the internship and possibly will be the reason she may get it after all.  At first, it seemed like Eden and George were teaming up against her, but then the tables turned and it looked like George was the odd man out (and he couldn't take it).  I was glad to see that--George has been really making things unfair for Tessa lately.  I hope that Eden continues to sometimes side with Tessa and make George a little less stubborn and overly protective.

But I suspect that after the scene with Dallas that George will one day wake up and realize that Dallas is a more suitable match for him.  After all, they compliment each other, for some reason, and like George said, they often are able to solve their problems when they speak with each other.  Dallas may not be the best parent around, but she's definitely a parent who is open to seeing things from different sides (unlike George who usually has to have someone point things out for him).  George is definitely stricter than Dallas, and I think together they would be a pretty good parenting team (at least better than they are apart).  George even said that Dallas was his Scully to his Mulder.  Wow.  Even without Dallas getting the reference (she was later seen watching X-Files at home), that was an important statement.  So, I doubt that Eden will be George's ultimate match,while he still has such a significant bond with Dallas.

As far as Lisa and Malik were concerned, their argument was really stupid.  I don't know why the two of them couldn't do something else fun for the summer (for kids with money, they sure have boring ideas).  Why not take a trip together (although I could see Shelia murdering Malik before that happened) or just go to a normal camp?  But I guess if they did, it wouldn't be typical of the two of them.  They're weird, and they will always be so.

Noah seems to have gotten a bit better about being crazy about his baby, despite being egged on by Shelia.  I'm glad that he is going to back off and let Eden birth his baby in peace, but I am dying to know what Shelia's problem is with surrogate mothers.  It has to do with something that has happened to her personally.  Since Lisa hasn't gotten back her results from the DNA test, we still don't know if it's related to Lisa being adopted.  I doubt that it is.  Perhaps Lisa was birthed from a surrogate, though?  I could see that being a bad experience if some poor woman had to carry Shelia's baby while she complained and dictated every aspect of her life until the baby was born.  If it's not that, I don't know what Shelia's problem is.  I hope next time we get to see that mystery solved.

This wasn't one of my favorite episodes, but it wasn't bad.  At least there was less of Noah to see, and there seems to be some positive things about Eden living with George and Tessa.  I hope that Tessa gets the internship because I think it'll be a great (and entertaining) experience for her (and the viewers).  For her to do it, though, she'll need George to ease up on her being in the city by herself.  If Eden is able to do anything through her relationship with George, it needs to be making George a less rigid parent.  She may not be who I think George will ended up with in the long run, but it doesn't mean she can't be an important stepping stone.  Who knows--Eden may very well be the one who is key in bringing Dallas and George together.