2 Broke Girls, S3E5 “And the Cronuts”: A TV Review

I’m not going to bore you all with the same  old “this show has lost its premise” talk again; we’re past that, it is now the topic that shall not be named. What I do want to focus on, however, is how much this show appears to struggle with conflict. There’s a simple formula in sitcoms [and every other form of media] that goes as follows: (a) a problem arises, (b) that problem is solved. I cannot boil it down any simpler than that. I obviously don’t speak for everyone, but for most viewers what’s really important is what happens between those two points.

Let’s take this episode and view it through the formula above:

(a) The words “Cupcakes are so over” spell out doom for the girls’ business, and they must find a way to make their product appealing once again.

(b) Max’s tendency to dip french fries in frosting leads to “Cake Fries” which are a huge hit both flavourfully and monetarily.

That on its own is really not a problem. I’m always going to be down for an episode of television that revolves around chimeric foodstuffs [though adding too many parts lead to disaster], but as mentioned it’s not so much the end result as it is the journey that takes us there.

In between points (a) and (b) Max and Caroline go out of their way to buy black market cronuts to lure sheeple into forming a long line to their shop, hoping to seamlessly switch to their cupcakes as soon as their illegal goods run out. That’s also fine. I liked the fact that their dealer was a male prostitute on the side, and that the 2 Broke Girls wiki refers to him as “Cronut Craig.” So far so good, everyone.

Where things really fell flat for me is that once their scheme fails Caroline laments aloud:

“Max, cupcakes are over! And you know why? Cupcakes are one thing, if we get two things then we’d be something.”

And not ten seconds later Max starts taking fries, dipping them in frosting, and sticking them in her mouth.

“You’re really going to compare 2 Broke Girls with Breaking Bad?”

Now I am going to make a Breaking Bad comparison which hopefully most of you will get. This is like if Walter White lamented aloud:

“Skyler, my life is over! And you know why? I have lung cancer, but if I could find a way to make a lot of money fast maybe my life could mean something.”

And then the camera followed Walt’s gaze over to where Jesse Pinkman was exchanging a hefty bag of methamphetamine with another man for a large wad of bills. After which Walt approaches him excitedly saying “That’s it! That’s what we’re going to do!” and on and on, I’m not that devoted to this parallel.

This week’s episode has jokes about a bulimic girl, Oleg’s one-testicled Croatian cousin’s suicide [his nickname was Cronut, get it?], a torso man on a skateboard, and Max having been assaulted at one point. I took all of that in, but what really got me was how easy this show has begun making things for its protagonists. Season 1 of 2 Broke Girls had Max and Caroline stalking Martha Stewart to promote their business; “And the Cronuts” has them wait a few seconds before arriving at their solution.

I do give the writers of the show [very] mild praise for focusing on trends throughout the episode. They began with Han’s juice cleanse, moved on to cronuts, spotlighted zany trendchasers Jerry and Gary, and finally followed it up with Sophie hopping on the bandwagon to try bisexuality with her girltoy Veronica. As far as how “trendy” the latter is . . . well, the way the shoe deals with orientation is the focus of a different review. Anyway, credit where it’s due. 

Current Total: $1,512.

New Total: $2,012 [I’m going to assume that Cake Fries are what accounted for the extra rise in weekly profits of roughly $200].

The Title Refers To: Cronuts, which Wikipedia tells me were invented by one chef Dominique Anselin New York City. He trademarked the name back in May, so they’re very much old news. Oh, and they’re basically half-croissant half-doughnut, duh.

Stray Observations:

• Max being ashamed of her mistake in the cold open and letting the customers have their meal on her seemed really out of character, and is the basis for a theory I’m going to be sharing with all of you in next week’s review.
• I was devastated that Luis wasn’t in this episode after how into him I was last week. Ah well, we’ll always have the memories.
• Jerry and Gary have followed all the trends: Pinkberry, Dippin’ Dots, kale, quinoa, kombucha. 
• Things you don’t want to yell on the streets of New York “We hate back people!” and “All that work for some stupid fad?”
• You could have an entire running gag about how bad Caroline is with codewords.
• Han telling the girls to look away as they’ve “released the kraken” with their new snack food was delightful.
• Veronica: cute, Black, has short blonde-hair, exciting, and never to be seen again.
• 2 Broke Girls Beefcake Menu: Switching things up this time around, Han shows off some belly for ladies [and some gents]. It’s at least a two-pack, you guys.