Air Date: Sunday, July 8, 2012, 10:30 pm ET/PT on Showtime
Rating:
Sean (Stephen Mangan) can’t believe his good fortune in bedding Morning (Mircea Monroe); Matt (Matt LeBlanc) attempts to resurrect his friendship with Sean and Beverly (Tamsin Greig); and Merc’s (John Pankow) wife Jamie (Genevieve O’Reilly) continues her sexual pursuit of Matt. In the meantime, Merc’s assistant/lover Carol (Kathleen Rose Perkins) is charged with convincing a studio employee not to sue after being fired.
Thoughts and Observations:
Do they have one-night stands in England where the woman is the one who instigates the sex? I don’t think so because Sean can’t believe Morning wants to leave immediately after waking up. It cracks me up that he takes about five minutes to ask the members of the Pucks! hockey team if they’ve ever experienced anything like that and then one of them sums it up in three words: “You got laid.” I guess that’s the way Sean speaks but if I had to listen to that all the time, I’m sure I’d be saying, “Shit or get off the pot.” However, in this setting, it tickles my funny bone.
Matt’s gift to Sean
Matt delivers a beautiful white Infiniti wrapped in a big red bow to Sean as his way of making up for sleeping with Beverly but Sean can’t be bought that easily. Not even when Matt describes every single deluxe feature that a man could want in a car. He really makes me laugh though when he thinks Sean doesn’t want it because it’s white. Really, Matt? Can you be more obtuse? LeBlanc shines in this scene, making me laugh when Matt vocalizes a heavenly sound after each feature. It’s kind of like the angelic tone that plays when a model on Let’s Make a Deal points to the individual features of whatever prize is being shown.
Sean is appalled that Beverly accepted Matt’s gift
Of course, it doesn’t help that Beverly races onto the studio lot the next morning in a brand new red Infiniti convertible courtesy of Matt. I like her way of thinking. Why shouldn’t she get to tool around in a sexy car? It’s her way of making Matt pay for breaking up her marriage…or so she says. Personally, I think she just likes the idea of a new car.
Morning hit the nail on the head last week when she predicted the ratings for Pucks! would go down after the second showing. Merc pretty much sums up the situation when he blurts out, “We are SO fucked!” What makes it worse for Merc is the talking dog show (not Wilfred) that he turned down airs against Pucks! and is killing them in the ratings. What an awful feeling that must be – to know you let a winner slip through your fingers in place of a second-rate show. And to make matters even worse, Andy Button (Joseph May) is suing Merc for sexual discrimination after being fired for liking the talking dog show when Merc thought it was crap. I guess Carol volunteers to talk Andy out of going forward with the suit because she knows Merc will totally screw it up. Merc wouldn’t know the word “finesse” if it bit him in the ass!
While Carol is at lunch with Andy, she sends Myra (Daisy Haggard) in her place to the table read. I don’t know how Sean and Beverly don’t get up and walk out when Myra begins asking the stupidest questions about the script. I surely would have! But what annoys me even more is the sour look on Myra’s face throughout this scene. It almost looks like Haggard sucked on a lemon before shooting the scene. I think she could have portrayed her character better without the very off putting look. It does, however, make for a very amusing scene.
Matt volunteers to present Merc with an award at a charity function Jamie is running. It looks like the oral sex Matt and Jamie engaged in at the screening is a thing of the past—until Matt asks her if they should discuss it. The next thing you know they’re humping for all they’re worth! I guess Matt didn’t learn his lesson about not sleeping with the boss’ wife after all. Then again, I didn’t think he had. He’s the kind of man who lives in the moment, which is what makes him so endearing.
Memorable lines:
Matt, referring to the Infiniti: “You like?”
Sean, watching his portly neighbor ironing instead: “Not exactly my type.”
Matt: “Oh shit! You don’t think that’s hot?”
**
Merc: “My ball hurts.”
Carol: “Maybe it’s because you’re always touching it.”
Merc: “Hey! When you only got one, you like to make sure it’s still there!”
**
Sean doesn’t completely forgive Matt but he does let him hug him.
I’m happy Sean and Matt make up, so to speak. Sean certainly won’t forget what happened but at least he’s driving around in a brand new car now. Mangan and LeBlanc have wonderful chemistry on screen and I don’t think that would have lasted long had Episodes changed that aspect of the show. At least now, we can look forward to some more crazy antics from the two of them!
While I am enjoying the second season of Episodes, it hasn’t reached the level of comedy it attained in its first season. I am hoping that is due to the friction between Matt, Sean and Beverly, and once their problems have been set aside, the show will be back to its usual high standards of understated, witty and intelligent comedy it became known for. In the meantime, I’ll enjoy it for all it’s worth.
Tune in to Episodes Sundays at 10:30 pm ET/PT, only on Showtime.
Check out the show’s homepage at http://www.sho.com/sho/episodes/home. Like Episodes on Facebook, and follow the show on Twitter using hashtag #Episodes. Tweet star Stephen Mangan @StephenMangan.
All photos © 2012 Showtime Networks/CBS Broadcasting, Inc.
Linda
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