It should be just the two of us. It's what Amber would've wanted, says Cyrus as Buffy stands behind him, looking ready to plant her running shoes so far deep up Cyrus' ass Cyrus could probably taste the school's track surface.
Well the good news is that I have stuff to talk about other than to just fanboy endlessly about this show.
The bad news is, the streak's over.
I suppose this episode was inevitable - oh, I don't mean kicking the A streak, though that's inevitable too, but I mean the "CeCe and Bex are gonna play a game of chicken to see which one can admit being in the wrong first" episode. These obligatory episodes are a double-edged sword: on the one hand, because they feel so obligatory it's almost impossible not to see where this is going. On the other hand, it's obligatory for a reason - sometimes you just come to an impasse in the narrative and the only way through is through, as they say.
It's only natural that Bex would either want or need a place of her own and it's equally naturally that there's going to be a few hiccups along the way and a lot of "I told you so's" thrown in all directions. And of course her apartment's going to be crap for a variety of reasons that boil down to comedy, but at least some of those other reasons are in play here so I can look past that too. And no duh it's going to be a major adjustment for Andi who's been living a pretty danged privileged middle-class life so far to be knocked down all the way to...middle-class-but-the-electricity-doesn't-really-work.
I mean...I have to take back what I said at the beginning because I really can't say anything here. I mean, you've all seen family sitcoms before. You know exactly how this plays out. If you've never seen an episode of Andi Mack before, if you spared yourself the major "twist" and are wondering why is the show named Andi Mack and they keep showing a girl and why are they spelling Andi with an "i" you can still accurately predict exactly what happens in the A-plot, probably right down to the exact dialogue.
The big problem is that, like I just got done saying, this and all the obligatory episodes are kinda necessary for progressing the characters to a certain point. I'd like to say skilled writers can work around it anyway, but there just comes a point where there's only one bridge left to cross. And they kinda work their way around it at the very end by refusing to let everything just return to the previous status-quo, so, now Andi truly has an expanded family and household.
And then we get to the B-plot which is...yeah. If you're running a show with an A-B plot structure and you find yourself having to get through the Obligatory Episode(TM), another way to help power through it is to pair it up with a really good, strong B-plot. Which is to say, your B-plot cannot afford to be super-weak. So of course they pair this episode's A-plot with a super-weak B-plot, the weakest of the entire series so far in fact. Way to go there, writing staff.
The B-plot...yeah, let's just say it: it's fucking garbage. Absolute, utter, Bunk'd-quality garbage. Cyrus is all in a tizzy because Iris hasn't texted him back, he's going on a double-date with Jonah, he begs Buffy to be his plus-1 and then it turns out Amber canceled out on Jonah too so it's really a guys-only nite with plus-zero invitations. And then Cyrus has to act like a moron about it in front of Buffy and Jonah, and that's were we get our lovely opening quote for this review.
This B-plot pretty much resolves with Cyrus just standing there like a dope. What a fuckin' waste of time.
Episode Grade: B-. The A-plot was, for like what the third time now?, of the completely obligatory variety but at least it ends strongly. Then it's entirely undone by the garbage B-plot.
Episode MVP: Lauren Tom because reasons.
Extra Thoughts:
- I'm impressed that Amber manages to be a massive bitch to everyone without actually even being there.
- Yeah I think needing coffee in the morning to be human is pretty much just being human
- Phil Baker wrote this episode which probably explains why the B-plot was so damn weak. Good Luck Charlie did have a tendency to go all over the place with it's A-B-C plot structure.
- And this is why we always check our pockets before throwing pants into the laundry, kids!
- Oddly, Spongey (one of our regular commentators - the commerateri, as they say on The Truth About Cars.com [don't ask]) thought She's Turning Into You was one of the weaker ones and that this episode makes up for it. Well that's why Mike's here to make sure I don't get any backwards opinions (and Spongey too, I guess, in the commerateri...which is made up of like two of you, counting him).
- Seriously though, Mike's awesome and his opinions are awesome and they really are there to help check my bizzaro opinions and what not. And I really wish you people would comment more!
- ...like, the five of you who read this blog. Yeah I'm looking at you, Patrick. As in the Starfish. Yeah I know you're there on your couch eating Cheerios or something. And Matt. Uhhh...eating...Spongebob-Os. Or something.
When you said i was gonna "love" this one, I figured "Nice, we'll be on the same page" but then I realized what that means in Internet and was like "Oh'.
ReplyDeleteI mean, what are the freaking of odds of us being on the opposite. The episode that makes up for two straight episodes of "Decent but nothing too great compared to what came before", ends up breaking your straight of A quality episodes.
I don't really get it. It has the usual things i can nitpick (At first i wasn't sure about the ending of Andi going back to Bex but the Mom thing made up for it) but otherwise it was really strong with what it explored, especially with Bex realzing what she did was a tad foolish and Cece finally starting to be humanized a bit more.
The subplot was the same as the previous few subplots with it being more or less filler but i think it worked a lot better, or at least was more interesting than "omg he called me girly...oh wait, nevermnd".
The strong emotional writing i think returned here, not that it wasn't gone in the last 2 episodes but just not as strong, especially with last weeks which as i said, pretty had no idea what to do with itself until half way through.
I'm reviewing a Good Luck Charlie episode "Soon" that sums up the problems with the ABC thing.
And of course, thanks for the shout out, lol.
It'd probably gotten an A grade if it had a stronger B-plot. The B-plot as it is...did nothing for me. It was pretty much there.
DeleteAnd thank you!
Thank youu for this
ReplyDelete