Tessa Needs To Think Again

Suburgatory, S02E10

Ryan and Tessa made their love public, and Tessa was induted into the group of the football girlfriends.  George, Noah, and Fred formed together to make a rock band, and the dynamic was in danger when George wanted Shela to be their vocalist.

I am really loving the reboot of Ryan and Tessa dating.  Last time, it was like they were just having this fling where they just made out and nothing else really.  Ryan was so cute when he was literally shouting about their love in the halls.  I didn't see anything wrong with that until Amber came along to introduce Tessa into the "football girlfriends club."

I could see that entering that cult of girls only living to pump up their jock boyfriends would rile Tessa up enough that she would conduct a rebellion.  Usually, I'm on board with her outrages at school and all, but this time I couldn't ignore that she is now Ryan's girlfriend and shouldn't try to screw up things for him.  Sure she felt like she was liberating all those girls, but it felt more like she was doing it all for herself.  She had barely dipped her toe into Ryan's world before she abndoned ship and started destroying things.  I was pretty afraid of what was going to happen once she "freed" all those girls from the sweatshop.

However, when Ryan and the other players arrived to the pep rally without their paper banner and no enthusiasm from the bleachers, I was cracking up at Ryan's rage.  Lisa was so right that Ryan would be on kill mode when he saw all of that--he was shouting for the person responsible like he was going to tear them apart.  I was laughing so hard, especially when Tessa ran for dear life from the gym.  I was scared that even when she confessed her responsibility for the failed pep rally that he might still throw her into some lockers or something (not really, because Ryan's a sweetheart).  I was, though, afraid that he wouldn't forgive her because he made it clear that Tessa had barely given any effort to fit in with his friends and experience his world.  I really wanted to shake Tessa then when she tried to make what she did seem all right because it's what she always does.  Ryan didn't really have the vocabulary to shoot her down, but I still enjoyed him telling her to "think again, thinker."  What was important is he got across that he was pissed and what she did was not cool.

I was taking more of Ryan's side when he grabbed her in the hall after their fight and cutely said "interception" (Tessa didn't care for it, but I liked his goofy attempt to make up).  Instead of staying mad at her, he made her a paper banner for her to run through with her name on it.  It might have been of poor quality and unnecessary because she was just going to class, but I think that was just about the nicest thing he could have done to smooth things over and make Tessa walk in his shoes for a second.  I was a little angry he had to convince her a bit to do it, even if it was silly.  Geez, Tessa, show a little more remorse for mocking his way of life and not really seeing that it isn't all terrible.  Anyway, I loved when she ran through and looked like an idiot, but she enjoyed it.  And Ryan cheering her on about math--wonderful.  Tessa might have been a bit of a jerk in this episode, but as long as they were able to get a little closer despite some problems along the way, it's all good to me.

George's story was just silly.  I was surprised, though, that they were all good musicians.  I expected them to sound like a bunch of random dads trying to be rock stars--in other words, like they had never played an instrument in their lives.  But they were pretty good.  Shelia wasn't bad either, but I was just as displeased that he let her into the band as Noah and Fred were.  Like, the point of the band was to have some fun and not be bothered by the pressure of the women they loved, and yet George threw that all away so that he could make a band that sounded amazing.  Good thing that Shelia dissed Dallas, so that George could see the damage his new band was doing.  Casting aside his friends is one thing, but treating Dallas like a groupie or something was starting to cross the line.  Anyways, I just really didn't want to see George and Shelia hanging out.  She's just so overbearing that I can't stand to see George around her.

This was good episode, but I was just really loving the start of Ryan and Tessa.  They had me worried that they were going to let their differences throw them for a loop straight from the beginning, but now they have made me a bit more confident that they can work through their issues where they don't particularly agree.  I really want to see Tessa make more of an effort to accept Ryan and change a little instead of him doing all the changing and compromising for her sake.  Now that this relationship is in round two, I can't bear for it fall apart again.