Witches And Switches

Suburgatory, S02E02

Tessa was worried that a witch was following her so that she could make her a witch too.  Dallas failed to ask George on a date.  George decided to dress up like Noah for the Halloween party after Noah had dressed up like George.

This was a pretty cute Halloween episode.  First of all, we got to see everyone in different costumes.  The ones I enjoyed best were Malik as Fred and Tessa as Daphne from Scooby Doo.  I would have never expected Malik to pick that outfit (and it was only funnier when Ryan had mistakenly thought to wear the same one), but it suited him.  I also thought that Tessa was adorable in a red wig and her boots.  She totally pulled off that look.  What I didn't like too much was Noah being George and vice-versa.

Although I didn't like their costumes because Noah was being an ass, and George with a blonde wig and lack of mustache (I cried out in protest when he raised his razor to his face) was just so very, very wrong, this situation turned out to be funny.  At the party, George was getting the Noah treatment and Noah got George's.  That was hilarious.  I loved that girls were more into Noah as George and that they escorted his ass out when he seemed to be threatening George.  Love seeing someone like Noah get what they deserve.  But because George had dolled himself up like one of the Chatswins zombies, he learned that he had missed an opportunity to date Dallas.

I felt sorta bad that Dallas, although not completely forthcoming in her invitation, was shot down by George.  Oh, but I also have to say the second I saw her in this episode, I knew that her costume was Barbie.  I just never figured she would imagine that George would want to be her Ken.  But I liked that when Dalia let him know the opportunity he had missed (gotta love that girl for telling him how it is), George basically was Ken by then and he and Dallas had upgraded from "friends who flirt."  But we still can't be totally sure that they are going to make it to couple status anytime soon.

I also liked Tessa's story too because the witch following her turned out to be a feminist hippie of some sort and was played by Rachel Dratch. She's just an odd woman no matter what role she plays.  And it was nice for Tessa to meet someone local who wasn't all about dressing up slutty and getting plastic surgery.  If she remains on the show, she could be a good role model for her.  But I just wonder why it is that Paula can sneak into the school and plant her book in certain places without anyone ever noticing.  That's pretty creepy, no matter what message of feminism she's trying to spread to the clueless students of Chatswin.

And speaking of that book she had planted, I wondered how it was okay for Shelia to just burn it when it was a library book.  Well, I did until I learned that Paula was just putting the book in library on her own accord.  So I suppose it's okay.  But still, the principle of the thing.  That lady is nuts.   And so is Lisa for that matter, trying to convince Tessa to stay by her side and claiming spirits were speaking through her.  I was a little more freaked out by her than I was of the so-called witch.

I liked this episode and I'd want to see it again to take my time to admire the other costumes in the episode that I might have missed.  I liked that it wasn't too cheesy with the scary theme, and it didn't take away too much from the underlying stories of the show (like George and Dallas getting closer).  I would have liked to have more Dalia as usual, and I would have loved to see Malik and Ryan get into more over them both being Fred.  Hell, I just want to see more Ryan period.  Oh, and I hope they can work in some more scenes with George shirtless too (did not know he had it going on like that)!

Stop The Lies. Cuz It Ain't Funny

Happy Endings, S02E20

Penny began a web of lies to avoid an old friend named Daphne, that leads to a fake baby shower and tangles all of her friends within it.  You would think someone who owns a "lieble" would know how to lie a little better, but Penny was simply awful at it (not that her friends were any better).  It was almost like a contest to see who could make the lies worse than the last person (I might have to hand the prize to Alex, whose lies seemed the most unnecessary of all).  Usually I like when one of them takes a problem that could be handled easily and makes it into a monstrously complicated issue, but this time I just wanted Penny to hurry up and tell the truth because it wasn't doing her friends any good, nor doing any good for me humor-wise.

As pushy as Daphne seemed to be, I liked that she kept cornering everyone until they felt so pressured they had no choice but to lie.  I mean, she was all up in their faces and making them feel like bad people (they were right to worry if they would look like mean people because they are).  I liked seeing everyone being on the spot, and Daphne's dead-serious concern about all the excuses they created.

Another nuisance who made an appearance in the episode was Max and Dave's landlord who was trying to cock-block (and evict) the two based on little more than jealousy.  I didn't care for his iron fist attitude toward subletters, but when he questioned them about a purse and Max said it was his, that was a really funny scene.  Max tried to act all stereotypically gay so that the landlord wouldn't know it was Alex's purse, and the guy was so adamant that Max better be as homosexual as he claimed to be.  I don't know what that was about (he was pointing at Max as if they would be hell to pay otherwise) but it made me laugh.  Maybe he just didn't want another Dave living in his building who would be bringing home more beautiful women that he couldn't date himself.

But the best example of comedy in this episode was Max's invention of the trash oven.  It could cook a brisket in 18 hours and emitted such deadly fumes that Dave was certain it would kill them while they slept.  I thought that his homemade infomercial for his oven was so ghetto, but hilarious.  He even came up with a catch phrase:

Set it and forget it.  (Don't forget it.  You gotta keep an eye on it or it will burn your house down.)

If that wasn't enough to make you pick up the phone and buy Max's product, there was a disclaimer that "hand burns are unrelated" when Max finally showed us his hands were bandaged heavily.  Oh, man.  At least with his hands injured we can be sure he won't be building anything else that might burn or suffocate someone to death.

I find myself unable to really enjoy stories that have Penny at the heart of them and maybe it's because she's more of a heavy stone around the others' necks than any one else.  I mean, there was really no reason that the gang all had to start lying (and they did so on their free will), but if Penny hadn't initiated it and made Daphne seem like the black plague, maybe the truth would have come out quicker.  I kinda wish that Daphne had gotten a bit more upset and really made Penny learn a lesson.  But I'll forgive the six of them for not being so funny when they were so cute about the lake house Jane and Brad were thinking of getting.  All of them are such loveable dorks.