Writer: David Babcock
Director: Liz Friedlander
Originally Aired: 10/28/2008
Grade: A-
I really liked the interactions between Megan and Rose in this episode, though more for what we saw of Rose than what we saw of Megan. Their scenes together emphasized what a sweet, considerate person Rose is capable of being, even if she can be misguided in her actions.
I also loved that Sage was utterly disgusted about the dress charity to be begin with, but ended up excited and completely obsessed with it. And while it would have been cooler if they’d been able to transform the original dresses into fashion masterpieces, it’s more realistic that they couldn’t, and their hearts were in the right place with buying the new dresses. Sage also seemed to warm up a bit during the dinner party—she wasn’t hostile until she saw Rose’s bracelet on Lily’s wrist.
Megan’s father was a great piece of physical casting, because their face shape is so similar. He also did a good job in the acting department.
I don’t hate Will. I definitely think he has some redeeming qualities, but dating Lily was just such a bad move, especially once he found out how rocky the Megan/Lily relationship was. I have to say, I kind of hate the way they've set up Charlie and Will. They seem designed to have most viewers take sides and like one or the other of them, but usually not both. Right now, I don't really like either of them, although they both have potential.
Marco continues to be fabulous by listening to all of Megan’s self-absorbed rambling yet refusing to coddle her (“Honey, we’re all grown-ups now.”). His bluntness is so refreshing, and he’s one of the few people who can actually get through to Megan, who is horribly stubborn and determined to have things her way. There were yet more moments of Megan being selfish/self-absorbed in this episode. Even in the early scene with the doctor, she just started yammering on about her personal life, though granted the writers obviously intend for this to be an annoying habit of hers.
I can see where Charlie’s coming from, because Megan has a bulldozer personality, especially with him. It’s partly his fault because he’s always been too nice and let her get away with it, but not everyone can be Marco, and she’s still got plenty of blame to share for not listening to his reservations, for blowing him off, and for just plain not showing the slightest concern for what’s going on in his life, aside from teasing him about his coworker liking him in the Pilot.
When she said to him, “If you felt that strongly about it, you should have said something!” I almost screamed at the TV, “Were you not just listening to the part where he pointed out that he did?!!!” Because as he pointed out, he tried to tell her he didn’t want to lie to her family in the Pilot, and she just ignored it and basically said, “Oh please please please do it anyway” and ran off. He tried to get her to go surfing with him so that he could share something he enjoys with her, and she blew him off because her interests were more important than his. He also tried to tell her in this episode that he could not, and kind of didn’t want, to go to the dinner party, and she wouldn’t take no for an answer. Granted it’s kind of a shitty thing for a real friend to do, but he has the right to tell her no, and it’s also not his responsibility to be her crutch when it comes to dealing with her family problems.
Having said all of that, he was still acting like a dick. If he’d had just calmly said, “Megan, I’m sorry, I know this is really, really important to you, but I just can’t go tonight, and I’ll tell you why another time,” I wouldn’t have been so irritated, but he didn’t. He was taking his anger with himself out on her, which isn’t fair. I also think he has completely valid reasons to be upset with her for being a bad friend, but those feelings shouldn’t necessarily hinge upon his realization that she’ll only ever see him as a friend, and besides, being a bad friend to a bad friend is a “two wrongs don’t make a right” situation. I understand him wanting some space, but that doesn’t mean he has to be an angry jerk about it.
One of the things I really enjoy most about this show is the complexity of the conflicts—everyone is a little bit wrong and a little bit right (or a lot wrong and a lot right, or various other combos of right and wrong). They've created a nice balance, and there's no Mary Sue character ala Lana Lang, where the viewers are disgusted, but he/she is always presented like the sun shines out of their ass by the writers.
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