Showtime Episodes Season 2 #9

The final episode of Season 2 aired on Sunday August 26.  “Episodes" doesn’t have names for their episodes, so I will name this episode, “It All Boils Over.”

The episode opens with Carol chasing down the information about Jaime and Matt’s affair. She literally chases it down, chasing Bev on the hiking trail, until Bev is forced to tell her. Then Bev adds that Matt is also getting it on with his stalker, Labia. Carol responds with her insult-three-birds-with-one-stone moment of the week when she says, “That guy will stick it anywhere.” Then she adds, “No offense.”  It’s a putdown of Jamie, Labia, and Carol who all got “stuck” by Matt.

The studio head, Elliott, has decided to fire Merc. In the last episode, Elliott offers the job to Carol. In this episode ,Carol turns the offer down because of her loyalty to Merc.  She later tells Merc, “I love you. I could never do that to you.”

Her decision may have been helped by Merc announcing to Carol that he will leave Jaime. He’s made this decision because he is hurt and angry when Carol tells him about Jamie’s affair with Matt. Carol has adroitly maneuvered him into this decision.

Merc is getting the “Man of the Year Award” at a gala dinner.  Merc, who doesn’t yet know that he is being fired, is giving a speech about how the industry is “family.” Shots of him standing at the podium giving his speech are juxtaposed with shots of workers packing up his office--a wonderfully effective juxtaposition.

The speech over, Merc is in the men’s room at the urinal. Matt just happens to be standing next to him. Merc starts checking Matt out; Matt gives him a look, and then Merc turns to face Matt, directing his stream at him. Matt runs out of the men’s room into the dining hall screaming that Merc has gone crazy. Here is where everything boils over. Merc attacks Matt and a brawling fist fight ensues. The men are rolling on the floor trading punches. Other men drag them apart and get them on their feet. Merc is struggling to break free from the men who are restraining him when he accidently Strikes Bev in the face by Merc. From across the room, Sean shouts, “Hey, that’s my wife.” He wants to join the fray to attack Merc, but Carol gets Merc to leave.

Merc is yelling that he is going to fire Matt and cancel "Pucks." Carol says, in that quiet understated way she has, “Yeah, about that, there’s something you need to know.” She drags him into a broom closet and tells him that he is going to be fired.

Later Carol is driving with Merc as a passenger, as she talks about their future together.  Merc tells her that he can’t leave his wife now, he has just lost his job, he can’t give her half of everything. Carol boils over. She stops the car and screams at Merc to get out. She’s so forceful that Merc leaves the car, and Carol drives off leaving him standing in the street in a pouring rainstorm. (It's always a pouring rainstorm in scenes like this.)   

As the episode ends, Bev and Sean are boiling over too; but in a good way. The love that they never stopped feeling for each other, the love that has been simmering all season, boils over. Sean realized how much he still cares for Bev when Bev was hit, and Bev was impressed with Sean for defending her. They kiss repeatedly.

The season ends with the closing credits and a voice-over of a gossip reporter explaining how Merc has left the network to spend more time with his family.

 

The Showtime website says "new season coming soon."  No date is given, I hope it really is soon. I love this show.

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episodes on Showtime #208 Carol

My title for this episode is “There’s Something About Carol.”  Carol, at first was rather a cold fish, but I now find her very likeable.
 

She’s become good friends with Bev. They get together for girl talk, hikes in the mountains, and the occasional session with the giggle weed.

I think they are both lonely.  Bev is lonely because she’s English and doesn’t like living in America very much and she is separated from her husband Sean. ( She desperately wants him back.) Carol is lonely because she has been having a five-year dead-end affair with her boss, Merc. 

By the way, Merc is no way good enough for her. She is blond beautiful and classy; he reminds me of the wolf in Little Red Riding Hood. What does she see in him? I think he is just a bad habit.  A habit that she was ready to break.  A couple of episodes ago, she broke it off. It’s not clear if she kept her resolve; that question will apparently be resolved in the season finale on Sunday August 26. Stay strong, girl!

This week’s show posed a major dilemma for Carol. A network executive asks to meet with Carol alone. The network wants to fire Merc. Carol is shocked to learn that they have chosen her as his replacement. Here is where we see just how classy and inherently good she is. She is so loyal; she defends Merc. She tries to get the network executive to change his mind. She doesn’t appear to have been successful. I guess we will have to wait for the next episode to see how this dilemma works out.

Carol is played by the actress, Kathleen Rose Perkins.  Kathleen does a wonderful job with her role. We discover that office Carol who is cool-as-cucumber totally-in-control, unflappable and confident has another side.  When she is with Bev, she is vulnerable and sweet. She even has a different way of speaking when she is with Bev—less automaton, more human.

I’m trying to find the words to describe Carol.Perhaps this example of some dialogue from the show will give you the idea.

            Sean:            You told us not to worry about the ratings.

 Carol:            Yeaaaah (she drags out the vowel sound and pauses before continuing) you can start worrying now.

 

 

And I am nominating the above as the best-line-of-the-season moment. It's all about the way the actress delivers it.

 

I found this picture on www.ordershowtime.com

 

Showtime Episodes #207 Big Screw-Ups

Matt LeBlanc is big. A running joke in the series concerns Matt’s large equipment in the crotchal area. In this episode while filming a scene, Sean and Bev notice a bulge which they attribute to the aforesaid equipment. They send the director over to direct him to adjust his equipment. It turns out that the bulge is the result of Matt stuffing his pockets full of what appear to be peanut M&M’s and what appears to be a giant size bar of Almond Joy. Candy is removed; crisis is averted.

Matt has indeed been growing larger—at the waist, not below the waist. He’s feeling depressed about no longer being the big star of the show--he was demoted from the central character on “Pucks” to a peripheral character on the show. He’s over-eating. The producer, Merc, and the others are calling a Matt a “chunk.”

Bev and Sean are sent to speak to Matt about his weight. It always seems to fall to them to play nanny to Matt. Matt is offended and gets even more depressed. He gets so super sensitive that he images his lover, Jaime (who is also Merc’s wife), tinds him unattractive. She assures him that her ardor is not diminished even a tiny bit. Matt won’t accept her assurances, they end of having a fight, and Jaime leaves, Now Matt is alone more depressed than ever--he sitting on the couch methodically consuming what appears to be an entire cheesecake.

And, here is where Matt screws up big, really big. He craves some “love” to boost his deflated ego. He makes a phone call and the next thing we know, his stalker, Labia, is at the door being ushered into the apartment. For years he has tried to discourage Labia from forcing her unwanted attentions on him after a long-ago one-night stand. But now, Matt is craving love, and perhaps feeling a bit self-destructive, and the ever- eager Labia is there to provide the comfort he needs.

Bev is also screwing up. She has agreed to go on a date with Morning’s brother, Rob. She is so nervous about her first date after her ten years of marriage that she is screwing up the date with a little help from various intrusions. Not to worry, Rob is a really nice guy, and he offers Bev a do-over—another “first date” the following night.

When Bev tells Sean she is on a date, you can read his shock on his face. It looks like he is realizing for the first time Bev might actually be moving on. I think he expected her to just wait patiently and faithfully for him to get over his funk about her one-time sexual infidelity with Matt. He thought he had total control. Perhaps, he is just now realizing that he has screwed up big, and he may actually lose Bev.

I found this pictue at http:the tvaddict.com 

Episodes 206 I Can't Do This Anymore

Since "Episodes" does not use titles, I will make up my own title for episode 206 (season 2, episode 6):  “I Can’t Keep Doing This.”  
 
We get to see more of Labia, Matt’s stalker, in this episode. A whole lot more. And there is a whole lot to see. 

Matt arrives home to find Labia in his kitchen. She got into the house through an open laundry room window. Knowing Matt’s history, you would expect sex to ensue. But, Matt doesn’t want to do this anymore. He demands that the naked Labia put her clothes on and leave.

Trying the sympathy ploy, Labia says, “I have cancer.”  Matt says, “You had cancer.”  I think we are going to learn that Labia is no longer in remission before the season is out.

Matt tries to recruit his “friends” from “Friends” to appear on “Pucks.”  He calls all five of her former co-stars. We only hear Matt’s end of the conversation, but apparently he has been quite obnoxious with each of them.  And apparently, appearing on a TV show with Matt is something the friends won’t do any more. 

In the finally scene, Sean and Beverly are working late. They are trying to write a speech for Matt to give at an award ceremony for Merc. They are having a really hard time coming up with something nice to say. They find a bottle of liquor in someone’s office and appropriate it, hoping they will find inspiration in the bottle. Instead they get tipsy.

One thing leads to another and they end up having sex on a desk. They are going at it hot and heavy, while murmuring how much they have missed being together.  (Well, they work together every day, but they have not been together in this one special way since they split.up.)  Suddenly Sean stops.  He says “I can’t stop seeing you with him.”  And then as he walks out he says, “I can’t do this anymore.”

I’m sure they will get back together eventually. For one thing, this is TV. For another, they are so good together. They fit together like two matched pieces of a jig saw puzzle.    They genuinely like each other. They make each other laugh. They react to the world in the same way. 

Beverly turned down an opportunity to take up with Morning’s very hot brother who was who she met on the set. She tells Carol that she is saving herself for Sean. She even tells Sean that there has been no one else because she is saving herself for him. It may turn out that she can’t do this anymore. The “this” being hoping and waiting for Sean to forgive her.

I found this picture at www.tvequals.com

Episodes #206

"Episodes" doesn’t give titles to their episodes so I am entitling it myself: “Affairs of the Heart and Other Bodily Organs.”

Two pairs of star crossed lovers get their signals crossed which makes them very cross indeed.

Carol demands that Merc recognize the fifth anniversary of their first hook-up. He agrees and suggests a weekend in Cabo. Merc calls his travel agent to arrange the trip. Merc then calls his wife, Jamie, with an excuse about having to go to New York for business over the weekend.

Jaime immediately calls Matt saying that she will be free for the weekend, and how about they go away together. Matt agrees to go to Napa with her. Jaime calls her travel agent to arrange the trip.

Here is where the stars and signals get crossed. Jaime and Merc use the same travel agent. The travel agent does not realize Merc and Jaime are going on different trips.  The travel agent thinks that the trip to Cabo is being cancelled and replaced with a trip to Napa.

Merc must now cover-up and pretend that he had been planning to surprise his wife with a trip to Napa. The result: Merc and Jamie are going to Napa—by the way, Merc hates Napa and Jaime hates Merc— but they each keep up the pretense of a happy marriage. 

Matt tells Sean his history with his stalker, Labia. It began innocently when Labia was a child with cancer and the Make-A-Wish foundation granted her a wish. The young Labia was a big fan of “Friends” and wanted “Joey” to take her t Disneyland. After that trip, the two stay in touch and Labia is cured. After she turns 18, Matt has sex with her, just the once. She has been stalking him every since. Sean is disapproving of all the casual sex in Matt’s life and the complications that ensue from his thoughtless encounters.

But Sean is on his way to his own thoughtless encounter. It is with Morning again.  Morning has had some cosmetic surgery on her cheek that has gone wrong. She refuses to leave her house. Sean goes to her house to try to persuade her to go to the studio for the shooting of the show. He’s shocked by her appearance, but he assures her that they can work around it. 

Morning, maybe because she is so relieved by this news or maybe because she is so depressed by her condition, gets a bit “cheeky,” and initiates a little “afternoon delight” with Sean. Sean is reluctant and tries to back away so Morning has him pinned against a wall. The camera stays on Sean’s face as Mourning’s face slides down Sean’s body until it is out of view. Sean’s face is marvelous to watch—he moves through a series of expressions first showing resistance, then arousal, and finally release. 

The love story this week is Carol and Merc. Carol is feeling newly empowered by the knowledge that she can stand up to Merc and ask for what she wants … and get it. But her disappointment when Merc tells her they can’t go away for the weekend is the last straw for Carol. She breaks it off with Merc.

Hooray for Carol for ending her dead-end affair. But, at the end of the episode, we see that her resolve is already wavering. She loves Merc. If only there had been more love in this episode, I could have entitled this review “What I Did for Love.”

Episodes "Labia as in Labia"

The relationship between Sean and Beverly is the heart of the show. It is very much the heart of episode 4 of season 2.

Beverly is still very much in love with Sean, despite learning of his sexcapade with Morning. Sean, however, appears to be moving on. He’s joined facebook. He has a lot of new facebook friends.  His relationship with Beverly is more “old friend” than husband. 

Sean and Beverly continue to work together on the show.  Professionally, their chemistry is as strong as ever, despite their marital separation. (Sean left Beverly after he discovered that she had drunken sex with Matt because she falsely thought that Sean was having sex with Morning.  He wasn’t then, but he is now.)

Sean and Beverly have been told to take the show in a whole new direction. The focus will be on the young boys of “Pucks,” with a lot less emphasis on the coach, played by Matt LeBlanc. It’s usually women who are pushed aside in favor of younger actresses, but Matt is getting a taste of age discrimination.

 

When Matt discovers that he only has a handful of lines in the episode they are currently shooting, he gets very angry. So Matt does what Matt always does when he gets angry. He heads to a bar, he gets drunk, he calls Sean and/or Beverly.  As usual, Sean and Beverly come running to save Matt from himself. 

This time Matt is threatening to tell Merc, the producer of “Pucks” about his affair with Jamie, Merc’s wife. Sean and Beverly beg him not to do it. It will mean the end of the show. Matt doesn’t care about that. He won’t stand for being a minor character on the show. He feels insulted, and he wants to do something to get back at Merc.

Beverly gets Matt alone for a moment and begs him not to tell Merc about the affair.  She has a very personal reason. She wants Sean back. She tells Matt, if the show ends, she and Sean will return to London, and their marriage will be over. However, if the show continues, they can continue to work together, and perhaps Sean will take her back.

I told you Matt was a good guy, way down deep. He agrees not to tell Merc about the affair for Beverly’s sake.

At the end of the episode Sean and Beverly are ice skating. Sean is trying to teach Beverly how to skate. To keep her from falling he skates behind her, with his arms around her waist. Beverly leans her head back against his shoulder. She smiles with the bliss of being in Sean’s arms. You can not only see, but feel how much she wants Sean back.  

As for Labia, that is the name of a woman who stalks Matt. (Her name is pronounced labia as in labia, the lady part. Hence, the title of the episode.) Sean is friends with her on facebook.  I’m using my psychic powers now to predict that this means trouble for all.  Very funny trouble.

Episodes Season 2 Episode 3

I’m in love with Sean and Beverly.  I want to be Beverly.  I want to marry Sean.

Stephan Mangan who plays Sean Lincoln, and  Tamsin Greig, who plays his wife Beverly, are so perfect together that it is hard to believe that they are not actually married in real life.  In fact, it is hard to believe that they are not actually writers from across the pond who have moved to Hollywood to write for an American TV show called “Pucks.”  In real life they are both actors who are married to other people.  At least, they are both actually English.

Sean and Beverly separated at the end of Season 1 when Beverly had drunken revenge sex with Matt LeBlanc, (played by Matt LeBlanc), the star of Pucks.  Beverly was getting revenge because she thought that Sean was having an affair with sexpot Morning Randolph, played by Mircea Monroe, the female lead of “Pucks”.  Sean learns about Beverly’s lapse of fidelity; Beverly learns that Sean is innocent.  The result—it’s splitsville for the happy couple. Sean cannot forgive Beverly, not just for her infidelity with Matt, but her lack of trust in him when he denied that there was anything between him and Morning.  

In season 2, it looks like they are moving towards reconciling when Sean is seduced by Morning.  Her motivations are not too clear.  She clearly does not want an ongoing affair.  Maybe she did it just because she could, a conquest born of boredom.  Or maybe, she believes that the occasional roll in the hay will mean better parts for her character on Pucks. 

Beverly quickly learns of her husband’s indiscretion.  It seems neither Matt nor Morning is able to be discreet when it comes to sex with someone else’s wife/husband.  Perhaps it is because actors have too much egoism. 

Now that Sean and Beverly are “even,” so to speak, will this help them to get together? There is perfect symmetry: The male writer has sex with the female lead and the female writer has sex with the male lead. Or will it sabotage their tentative movement towards getting back together?

You know Sean and Beverly so much want to return to their marriage.  Even separated, they have such a great relationship, a bond that many married couples probably only wish they could have. They are still so much on the same team.  I want to see them back together by the end of Season 2.  (I’m talking to you , real-life writers of “Episodes”)

Episodes on Showtime

Lisa Kudrow is not the only former “friend” to star in a smart and funny cable TV series.  Have you seen Matt LeBlanc in “Episodes”?   Please, see Matt LeBlanc  in “Episodes” on Showtime. 

Just like “Newsroom” is a show about a fictional newsroom, “Episodes” is an ensemble comedy series about making a ensemble comedy series.  And a darn good one. (I mean that the Showtime TV show is darn good, the show within the show is delightfully dreadful.)

Episodes tells the story of a British couple Sean and Beverly Lincoln who wrote a critically acclaimed hit TV series in England. They are the center of the show—the action revolves around their experiences.  I consider them to be the “straight men” of the show—the “normal” people for the other “wacko” characters play off. This is not to imply that they do not have their foibles and quirks as do all the other characters; it is just to say that they are the relatively normal characters that viewers can identify with.

Sean and Beverly have been brought to America to do a knock-off of their British show.  Of course, the American show is tweaked for American audiences until it no longer resembles the British show at all.  Sean and Beverly cope with the indignity of having their show transformed from a high brow comedy to a silly sitcom called “Pucks.”

Sean and Beverly have a lot to cope with.  Matt LeBlanc (played by Matt LeBlanc), the star of “Pucks,” is an egotist with good intuition about what makes for a successful American TV show, but who is rather dense about everything else. But he is essentially goodhearted (in his own selfish way) and wants very much to be friends with the Lincolns.  The Lincolns tolerate him for the sake of the show, but they gradually are warming to him.  At the end of season one, the friendship, and the marriage, is derailed when Matt seduces Beverly.

The characters on Episodes are wonderful.  They are just real enough for us to see them as “real”, and just exaggerated enough to be comical.  Although they are all people behaving badly, we, as viewers, are captivated by them. Every character is perfectly drawn: The producer, Merc, and his show runner, Carol, (who is also his mistress) and his blind wife--literally blind—Jamie; the actors on “Pucks”, Matt, and the sexpot, Morning, and various other co-workers and family members. The complex interactions of these characters are laugh-out-loud funny.

This show is on my I-can’t-wait-for-the-next-episode list.