2 Broke Girls, S4E20 “And the Minor Problem”: A TV Review

I like DC Pierson. He’s one of the members of Derrick Comedy, a YouTube comedy group that featured the now relatively famous Donald Glover, AKA Troy from Community, AKA Childish Gambino. He actually appeared in a few episodes of the former-NBC-sitcom, and it saddens me to see him again here. Mostly because he doesn’t do anything of note.

No, DC Pierson merely serves as yet another eccentric diner customer, and one who doesn’t contribute to the overall plot at all. As far as I can tell, anyway. He plays “a legit psychic” who doesn’t tip Max but does end up reading Caroline’s palm where he initially sees two M’s and then “a small failure”. What could those letters represent? She comes up with “male”, “model”, “making (it with)”, and “Max”. That’s all pretty relevant to the happenings in this episode, except that she misses out on one key word: “Mother”.

[I’d just like to very quickly mention that Pierson has his own Wikipedia page, so who am I to criticize, really {and I mean that sincerely}]

Now I’m sure you were wondering just as much I was what the “minor problem” alluded to in the title of this episode was referring to and, well . . . it’s Nashit. Except it’s not really Nashit, is it? See, his mother, Maeve [there’s another “M”!] barges onto the set of his photoshoot to drag him back to Ireland and announces that she’s allowed to do so because “he’s just now 18!”

Admittedly, I am not a lawyer or a student of law or anything like that. Having stated that, they definitely treat him like a child, comparing Max’s sleeping with him to the actions of “Woody Allen, Roman Polanski, pretty much any of your big time 70s movie directors.” By making that comparison the writers are basically forcing us to view what took place as statutory rape at best, which seems like something they would not want us to do. But hey, they also had an episode that centred around a man who kept women captive presumably for sex and skimmed over the horrifying ramifications there, so I suppose it’s all par for the course.

In trying to continue this review I’ve come to the realization that this episode is a mess. Which isn’t something I’ve said since four episodes ago, so maybe I’m allowed? See, Nashit’s mother spiriting him away is a big deal because it puts them in the bad books of Joedth’s girlfriend, which of course puts them in hot water with Joedth, which isn’t something they want since the owner of The High is planning on opening up a new location and wants Caroline to manage it who wants Max to be head pastry chef there. It’s this whole thing.

So of course Max and Caroline race off to the airport to stop Nashit not for love, but for their own brighter futures. They’re literally in the middle of a scheme to sneak him away from his mother when Joedth lets Caroline know that they are not in fact getting fired and oh, by the way, Nash has been replaced by some other model, a “hot orphan” with no parents. He and Max exchange a few words and that’s that.

Now we all know that Deke didn’t exit the show gracefully because they straight-up disappeared him suddenly without giving us any time to grieve. With Nash it’s completely different, because what we’re apparently supposed to do is be fine with what they had ending due to him being a little young. And no, he isn’t a minor in the sense of the age of consent, but he is a minor when it comes to drinking age [in the States, anyway]. And no, I’m not all that torn up about it because who was Nashit [Presumably-Indian-Surname], really? The closest we ever got to him wanting anything was him telling his mother he wanted to stay in America. He doesn’t even really look like he wants the girls to sneak him away.

It’s also revealed at the episode’s close that the new location for The High is actually the terminal where they were going to spirit Nash away from his mother. This is seen as a horrible thing. [The new location being in an airport, not their scheme to kidnap him.]

I am aware that we have two more episodes left before this season comes to an end. Two more weeks before I can enjoy a span of months where 2 Broke Girls is nowhere on my mind. I know this, yet I feel like I still need to let out some frustration at what I had to watch tonight. Fair warning for people who don’t need anymore negativity in their lives [I know that I don’t, so I’m just letting you know] what comes below is going to really pick this apart.

Current Total: $1,211.

New Total: $2,261. How did they make $1,050? If anything this should be an episode where their total drops drastically because Caroline bought them both first class tickets to Paris in order to get into the airport.

The Title Refers To: Nash being a minor. Which makes zero sense because if anyone had done their research they would have seen that in Ireland you can leave home at age 18 without parental consent. That’s right, legally his mother could not have forced him home, he’s only a minor in the sense that, as mentioned, in America he cannot drink alcohol. Wow, this episode sucks.

Negative Stray Observations:

• Use of the word “gay” in a derogatory fashion: “Well, not to me, but I’m sure the Amish are pissed that you’re gaying up their look.”
• An exchange between Oleg and Sophie, “Oleg, I think you crushed my seating arrangement.” / “I’d like to think so.” elicited such emphatic oh’s from the crowd that it sounded like they were reacting like normal human beings to any of the numerous rape jokes that’ve been uttered in past episodes.
• Lesbian jokes: “Of course she did, we’re lesbians, talking is most of what we do.”
• More lesbian jokes: “an embarrassment in the lesbian community is worse than not owning a dog.”
• Max makes the following joke and the live studio audiences acts like it is the Second Coming of Christ: “the right [breast] just started a Fleetwood Mac cover band. You know how I know? When I take my bra off it goes its own way.”
• There is a stereotypical Black female TSA agent working at the airport. That’s all I have to say about that.
• The writers tear into Will and Jada Pinkett-Smith, Tom Cruise, and Bruce Jenner in a way that actually feels cruel.
• Max utters the words “Oh my god I screwed a baby.” I’m just going to leave that line there for you to mull over.

I feel like I got most of that out of my system, so here are the gems, few and far between, that I took note of:

• In spite of my irritation that he puts up with them at all, I do enjoy Han dishing out what he receives [too much of]: “If you two quit the diner how will I ever replace you? Unless I hire literally anyone else.”
• I strongly dislike Joedth’s new girlfriend, but I did kind of enjoy her lines: “Oh, do girls eat now? Wow, Lena Dunham changed everything.”
• On the same note, Maeve’s accent is actually worse than her son’s, but this still amused me a fair bit: “Y’checked into america on Facebook y’bleedin’ idiot!”
• Props to the show for making me believe for a few short seconds that Max and Caroline might actually be leaving to go to Paris. Pretty impressive, actually.
• No other features, though I think it fair to present what may be the last item in the 2 Broke Girls Beefcake Menu for some time:

Sorry it’s so grainy.

I want to end by saying that while I think the character he played was just awful I really do wish Austin Falk all of the best. He is a real life existing person and as far as I can tell a pretty decent one. How can you hold anything against a guy who pinned this specific tweet on his page? Just adorable.