Writer: David Hudgins
Grade: A-
The writers aren’t shying away from how exasperating taking care of mentally unstable elderly folks can be, but wow, Lorraine is becoming quite the irrational old biddy in her senility. It’s not fun to watch, but I’ve always loved that these writers generally refuse to “canonize” the more unfortunate characters. Jason Street may have ended up in a wheelchair, but he still threw tantrums and cheated on his girlfriend. It’s great to see Lorraine getting the same level of brutally honest characterization, even if it does make me think that Matt is a saint for putting up with it.
Speaking of Matt, I’m glad that he got to be relevant to the team again. This is why I so prefer Matt to Jason: Matt triumphed because he worked his ass off for it, whereas Jason triumphed because his best friend prodded him into remembering that he’s really good at manipulating people with big speeches.
The drama between Tyra and Cash played out fairly predictably, but I think he was portrayed with enough complexity to avoid any kind of “He was a monster in disguise, and therefore truly incapable of love” trope. It’s a comforting thought to believe that fucked up, abusive people can’t feel love, but human nature isn’t that simple. Cash cared a great deal for Tyra when they were in a bubble, but when he had to re-enter his own world, his demons were still there waiting for him and he just couldn’t deal. I’m not exactly sure what this relationship did for Tyra’s characterization, though. It put her back on the track to college because it cemented her belief that she has to make her own way in the world rather than rely on a man? Something like that?
As for Tim and Lyla, their conflict in this episode was a complete trainwreck. She was right that Tim was acting like a lazy, self-defeating dumbass, but she was wrong in how she handled him. He may have been reluctant about the dinner with the recruiter, but he was going. She should know Tim well enough by now to realize that coaching him about what to say and emphasizing the importance of the dinner would only make him more nervous and reluctant. Her little “OMG Tim, this is soooo important and you being yourself is totally not good enough, so here’s a bunch of facts to memorize” pep talk just made him feel like shit about himself. In the end, Tim got into college on his own, by being himself and presumably without any of Lyla’s college research. The only real benefit of Lyla flipping out was that it allowed her to “save” Tim, which just entrenches her further into her “life coach” role this season.
Still, as irritated as I was with Lyla in this episode, she was an adorable drunk: “Go away, Billy, nobody likessss youuuu!!!”
No comments:
Post a Comment