2 Broke Girls, S5E3 “And the Maybe Baby”: A TV Review

Now I’m not television executive or anything, but scheduling a sitcom to regularly air on American Thanksgiving seems unwise to me. Then again, the one and only time I’ve ever celebrated the holiday with a family in the US we gorged ourselves in the early afternoon, opening up our evening to whatever we wanted, so what do I know.

On the other hand, maybe some kind of holiday episode was called for? I guess its absence is what happens when CBS’s comedy lineup is in such flux that 2 Broke Girls‘ season premiere is announced just one month before it airs. At the very, very least you’d think that given the title this week would be covering some sort of pregnancy or infant-related incident.

Nope, this week we get the return of Candy Andy. 

The first episode I ever reviewed actually covered Caroline breaking up with her then-boyfriend, played by Ryan Hansen, so nicknamed due to him owning a nearby candy shop. In rereading my rundown of “And the Bear Truth”, however, I found that it didn’t jive with what the show was selling me now.

See, Candy Andy shows up out of the blue engaged to be wed to another woman. This is a big deal in that the two of them appear to be doing quite well, whereas our protagonist are, as the title implies, not in a great place. Caroline is particularly put out about this because she broke up with Andy and the life that he’s now living could be hers.

Except that in my review I wrote:

“Back at the shop, Andy and Carline talk again, and Andy tells her that maybe they should take a break.”

To be perfectly honest, the conflict of being overcome with jealousy, doubt, and a slurry of other emotions over an ex’s new relationship is a great conflict, and one that many of have or will come across in the future. The issue here is that in my recollection he ended the relationship. On top of that, a lot of his success stems from his fiancee Romy being a very successful hat designer. In other words, his new life is not actually one that Caroline would’ve lived had they stayed together.

Anyway, in the awkward fallout of their bumping into one another Caroline tells Andy that she and Max will provide a wedding cake for his upcoming nuptials. It’s this narrative that the entire episode revolves around, but it’s semi-successful due to Caroline’s steady descent into full-on despair and Max’s repetition of “Oh god” when witness to her roommate’s dramatic downward spiral.

She appears to have hit rock bottom when a handsome stoner groomsman appears to come to the rescue, telling both her and Max that Candy Andy can lose the first part of his nickname due to his business going under. The girls rejoice, not due to his entrepreneurial failings, but because it means he lied to them. Which leads to Andy running through a door, admitting that he was embarrassed about that chapter of his life, and then running back out to get hitched. The girls then admit defeat and leave.

While this is all pretty light and easy stuff it is important to note that we’re witness to Max crying for the first time. This is over Andy telling Caroline “I really did love you,” among other things. It’s a moment of emotional vulnerability, for whatever it’s worth, and in this context it appears to be worth a joke with the audience laughing at her “You could have had it all!” It’s played up for comedic value, and while Caroline points out that she’s never seen this before there’s nothing else done with it.

I’m going to be getting one of my features at the end of the review out of the way now and state that the “Maybe Baby” is a fake human infant that Sophie and Oleg are going to be using to test out their parenting skills. Not that I timed it or anything but I don’t think that plot received more than three minutes of screentime. There’s not really that much more to say about it.

Han’s plot, on the other hand, is hopelessly dated due to it referencing the Ice Bucket Challenge. It’s also in close competition with Max and Caroline’s due to Matthew Moy’s exuberant performance in trying to rope George Clooney into a similar viral event.

At the end of the day we have an episode penned by a veteran writer of the series [Michelle Nader penned 15 others] that ignores past continuity with Caroline and Andy’s breakup while seemingly glossing over potentially groundbreaking emotional events with Max crying. On the other hand the performances, if not the jokes themselves, landed well this week. It may not have been good as the last episode, but 2 Broke Girls continues to press on due to its talented cast. Here’s hope they get more to work with.

Current Total: $264.

New Total: $215. Maybe they spent $49 making the wedding cake? I don’t know. As Dustin Payton mentions below in the comments section, the $49 was likely spent on the dress Caroline bought and wore to the wedding.

The Title Refers To: See above review.

Stray Observations:

• You don’t really have to read between the lines to see that Max gets hella racist: “If you really want this thing to go viral I happen to know that Clooney likes him some spicy sriracha.”
• Garrett Morris gets more to do this week than he has in a while, which sadly isn’t saying very much at all.
• How’s the candy business. Sour, nutty, full of nerds?”
• “I. Broke up. With. Him.” / “Dramatic. Talking. Is annoying.”
• “Weren’t you the baby in American Sniper?”

I ended up taking this screenshot because I thought Max and Caroline were staring straight at the camera in decidedly The Office-esque fashion.

• “You see? All bitter- better.”
• “You know, technically it’s not a yacht unless it’s over 40 feet. [pause] Is it? Okay.“
• “Oh god.”
• “Bummer, looks like I’ve gotta do this wedding thing sobes.” Will we be seeing more of you, handsome stoner groomsman?
• “I, Han Lee, nominate Mr. George Clooney to the Williamsburg Diner Challenge of Packing Yourself in a Suitcase! I’m also a fan of The Men Who Stare at Goats!”
• Pop Culture Put-Downs: Amal Amuddin, sort of, and Katherine Heigl.