Domestication And Friendship Not So Bad

Suburgatory, S02E06

George's old friends from New York came to visit while they were doing business in town and made fun of George for adapting so well to the suburban life.  Tessa wanted to enjoy spending time with her tablet alone, but Lisa wanted to spend all her time with her now that she was single again.

I think that George still has a little of his edge left from life in the city, but now that he is becoming "twinsies" with Shelia, I could see how his friends would think he was a sellout or too domesticated.  However, I absolutely hated how they were coming down on Dallas, who despite her looks, is a very smart and caring person.  I fell more in love with George when he not only admitted that the all-over phony woman that his friends pointed out was his girlfriend, but when he also defended her when they continued to talk shit about her.  I was worried that he was going to cave into peer pressure and try to relive his days as a "real" man as his friends envisioned it, but George stood by Dallas's side.  To me, that's a real man.  The best kind of person can own up to what they really love and not try to hide it because someone tries to make them feel bad about it.

Equally as great was when Dallas gave George the idea to bid against his friends for some architecture project.  George would have never thought of that on his own.  Plus, Dallas assisted him both in the concept and the presentation--they are a great team!  I was really proud of them as a couple to see them working like a dynamic duo!  They didn't end up winning the bid, but at least they made some waves and impressed the clients.  I could definitely see Dallas and George getting together on some good business deals in the future.

In Tessa's story, I was a little distracted by the open advertising for the Microsoft Surface tablet.  Nothing new to see products in TV shows, but I hate when it's all up in my face.  She even listed some of the great features of the thing at one point.  Wow.  Can't I get a little more of a break from the commercials?  Still, I've been interested in the Surface, so I wasn't too outraged.  I'm sure that they only did the advertising because it was necessary.  If it keeps the show going, I can't be too mad.

I felt Tessa on her desire to be alone with her tablet, though.  It's been a while since Lisa has sort of kidnapped Tessa's day to make her do some kind of dorky activity.  Lisa literally pulled out her trunk of tricks in this story.  If I was Tessa, I might have cut her off the beginning in the hopes that being alone would make her miss Malik.  It's obvious that Lisa is trying to fill her loneliness with Tessa.  I'm glad that even if Lisa isn't aware of it, she's not over Malik yet.  If she was, I'd doubt she'd need to try to shove a smoked fish down Tessa's throat.

I don't know how I feel about a "friendship fish." I thought it was cute that Tessa finally agreed to eat it with Lisa.  No surprise that Tessa got food poisoning from it, though.  I would be pretty nervous about someone pulling a fish out a trunk and asking me to eat it.  But she must really wanted Lisa to be her friend is she's willing to puke out her guts for the sake of friendship.  Her tablet is a nice alternative, but I guess only real friendship is worth all that suffering.

I'm also unsure what Ellen's prolonged stay at the Altman house will bring.  For a woman who knows that her daughter is a mess, she sure doesn't seem to like George too much.  Maybe she wanted to raise Tessa in the absence of her daughter?  I don't know.  But I don't see them getting along too well.  No matter what, George is a good parent, so I think she should at least respect that about him.  But I'm sure as a grandmother, Ellen's going to have a lot of suggestions for parental improvement.

This was a cute episode about George and Tessa sort of coming to terms with what they have become.  George has changed, but it doesn't mean that he's become some kind of pathetic loser.  And I definitely think with Dallas's help, he is going to continue to change and grow for the better.  Tessa's grown in the sense that she can't just sort of fend for herself and has to stick by the friends she's made.  She can't just callously cast them aside for some some wires and a shiny screen.  Lisa, as I said before, needs to hurry up and take Malik back.  Not just for her sake, but so we don't have to see Tessa suffering while wearing an airbrushed shirt and a watermelon hat.