Ugly Americans, S02E14
Callie decided to have a gender reassignment so that she could take a new job in Atlantis. As Dick, Mark was reluctant to continue dating her at first, but he came to realize he loved her soul, not her gender. Even though Mark tried to be understanding to make their relationship work, it all turned out to be a plot to screw over the people of Atlantis. Callie finally went back to her original gender, but Mark proved that he was a little more comfortable seducing men than anyone else thought (though, if he were being honest with himself, there was probably no surprise).
Callie as Dick was pretty hilarious from Mark's shoes. I mean, he went from having a cute girlfriend to a handsome boyfriend who was voiced by none other than H. Jon Benjamin. Watching him make moves on Mark was so funny, especially with Mark's unease about kissing or having sex with a man. And no one he worked with sided with him on the ridiculous turn of events, finding Mark to be heartless if he couldn't accept Callie. I love that they practically cheered Mark on to simply adjust to Dick and embrace his homosexual side.
I didn't think that Atlantis would be a male-only city, nor that Mark would have to seduce the King to help Callie stop the Atlantis people from releasing a big drain on Manhattan. Mark had his hands rubbing up on the King's ass with much more skill than I would have thought. His complaints to Dick made it seem like he would be more clumsy and awkward, but the King was ready to take the dive with him within minutes of Mark's nearly expert advances. I could have stood more of Mark being Dick's pawn in that capacity, but Rusty came along and revealed Mark and Dick's deception.
I liked that toward the end Callie was concerned that Mark was a little too comfortable with kissing men (in particular men that weren't her at the moment). If Callie wasn't half demon, I would say that she would probably need to keep an eye on Mark. It wouldn't be a shock at all to see him leave her for another man. Of course, if he did, she would probably pull out his internal organs and barbecue them. For a man or woman, I don't think Mark would be so stupid as to push Callie aside.
Another interesting point of the story was when Twayne, Randall, Leonard, and Grimes thought they had found Mark's corpse. They all act a little selfish and are at different times sort of people who cause trouble for Mark, so I didn't expect them to feel too much remorse for his passing. However, they were all deeply saddened and started fighting over who was Mark's best friend. I was really surprised with Grimes because he had a lock of Mark's hair that he kept on him. What in the world? But they soon stopped lamenting over their fallen friend and worked together to bring down Atlantis and their evil drain. In fact, I think when they found out Mark was still alive, they didn't give one damn by then. That's how I thought they would have acted from the beginning. I guess at least they're not too horrible of people since they can care about Mark (and not just themselves) for even the smallest amount of time.
I think this was a great episode that showed Mark's commitment to Callie. She might not be the easiest person to be romantically involved with, but at least there's a genuine connection between them. And maybe Mark doesn't have the greatest bunch of friends around (he certainly has the dumbest), but they're not all bad and better than nothing. Admist all the sex and grossness in Ugly Americans, there's also a sweetness at the core, which makes me like this show much more than the laughs it can provide.
