Fighting Like Sisters Already

Suburgatory, S02E09

After Tessa made her feel bad about her SAT scores, Dalia invited Tessa to her hip hop class to show off her dancing skills.  Their fight encouraged a fight between Dallas and George as well.  The Shays kidnapped Malik in hopes to exchange him for Ryan, but ended up going to Malik's for dinner and pleading Ryan to come home.  Jill and Noah also asked Mr. Wolfe to train Opus because he wasn't exceptional enough to get into their first choice preschool.

I was surprised that Tessa was being so cocky about her SAT scores to Dalia.  I know they aren't best friends or anything, but it wasn't like Dalia had started anything with her, so it came off as pretty rude.  I'm guessing that she was just too jealous of Dalia who gets big rewards like cars for doing the bare minimum, while she scores in the top percentile and gets a measly card.  What I like most about this behavior is that the girls are sort of acting like sisters already.  I can imagine why otherwise Tessa would expect George to reward her in a similar manner when she knows full well that in her own family they don't have the means to be handing out cars like candy bars.

I was nearly ready to feel bad for Dalia until she got to shine at the hip hop class.  I love seeing Dalia dance!  She's not only good, but she maintains that expressionless face the whole time doing it.  It just gives her movement even more attitude.  Plus, I thought her outfit was cute.  Tessa wasn't too into the dancing, but once she felt upstaged, she started to get into it.  I don't think she was as good as Dalia, but she was putting up a decent fight.  At any rate, their dance-off was entertaining to watch.

It was interrupted by Dallas and George's own beef with each other, concerning parenting.  I was surprised at Dallas telling George that he lets Tessa act any way that she wants.  She was tripping.  Dalia is not innocent in that area, either.  But they both made good points.  George could stand to be a little less cheap, at least in showing his daughter that he's proud of her.  She doesn't need to get a new car, but something nice might keep her from getting jealous.  My favorite part of their dance-off was when George started break dancing and Tessa wondered where George had magically gotten some cardboard from.

In the Shay story, I was surprised at how far they would take their insanity.  Malik didn't feel very scared, but he was still kidnapped, nonetheless.  And worse than that, he was lured into the Shay's trap by Lisa pretending to want him back.  That was damn cold.  But I guess she'll do anything to get back her brother.  It amazes me how much she loves him, considering she always seemed to resent being in his shadow.  Anyway, it was ridiculous that they took him and tried to disguise their identities.  They're not just crazy, but they're idiots as well.  Lucky for them that Malik's parents didn't think anything of it and invited them to dinner.

One thing that made me laugh at Malik's house was when Malik's dad first opened the door:

[Edmond] Did you do your homework?

[Malik] Not yet, I was  kidnapped.

I just love how no one took the kidnapping seriously.  They might have just shown up for dinner without going that far.  Later, I was sort of bothered at the way Malik's parents were supporting Ryan's decision to get emancipated, as if he had been abused in his life.  He shouldn't have been lied to for so long, but he certainly wasn't treated badly at any time.  He was living the life of a king, which took a vegetarian meal and a lack of pudding skin before Ryan could remember.  It's ridiculous that it took him so long to think of all of the benefits of being a Shay.

I was happy to see Ryan finally return home, but not so much to see him eating a big thing of pudding skin.  It looked really gross to me, but if it got him home again, then it's all good.  It was cute that he was saying that skin was thicker than water and then Lisa couldn't let it go and had to correct him.  It really made me laugh.

I sort of felt that the story about Opus was unnecessary.  It was adorable to see Mr. Wolfe talking to Opus as if he could understand him and judging him seriously on an impossible scale, but it didn't really add to anything, except to the idea that Noah and Jill are bizarre parents.  It's almost as if they haven't a clue about what babies are capable of (which really makes it obvious they didn't raise their first child).  I guess it was an all right story if they just needed to fill up some extra time, but they could have extended one of the dance-offs in the Tessa story instead.

It was great to watch this show again after the holiday break because I've missed the weirdness of Chatswin.  I like that Tessa and Dalia seem to be bonding as sisters, even though their parents aren't even married.  It makes it seem like it's possible that their families could successful join one day.  Dalia and Tessa are never going to be thick as thieves, but I could see them functioning as arguing sisters in the future.  The Shays being reunited again is wonderful because it means they can stop committing crimes to get Ryan back.  Most of all Ryan can stop acting like his parents stole his liver while he was sleeping or something and get back to being the Shay's shining but dopey star.  Opus is a cute little baby, but he doesn't really need any stories about him that aren't related to the main characters.  That time can better be spent on settling another beef between Tessa and Dalia.