2 Broke Girls, S5E8 “And the Basketball Jones”: A TV Review

I’m gonna start by reminding all of you nice people that this show’s creators were paying so little attention to last week’s episode that they didn’t even bother changing the “Current Total” or the “New Total”, features that were once the entire crux of 2 Broke Girls. Once upon a time this show was all about Max and Caroline saving up for something big, and it’s very telling that this once important detail was recently overlooked.

As for this week, well, it’s another one of those episodes. And by “those episodes” I mean that not a lot happens. I was going to add more to that description, but it says it all. At this point the overarching narrative of the season appears to be Sophie and Oleg’s efforts to have a child together, and to that effect they take a significant step forward while the titular characters just live their lives as usual.

This episode focuses somewhat on one of the primary differences between Max and Caroline: the latter’s determination to achieve success with their business and the former’s seeming indifference to that goal. It also features what looks like product placement by Periscope.

All I really know about Periscope is that JP Lambiase of YouTube channel HellthyJunkFood® uses it as a way of getting content to his followers. It appears to be some kind of livestreaming service that people can use on their mobile devices [I didn’t do any more research beyond snagging the image above off of Google], and Caroline is all about using that to strengthen the social media presence of Max’s Homemade Cupcakes.

At this point I have to actively fight the temptation not to simply list out the events of this episode in bullet form. To really boil it down, though, Oleg’s cousin Gortek is in town as he’s signed on to play pro basketball. As a quick side note, Max quips that she thinks her wallet is made out of that stuff. People laughed, but they were all thinking of one thing and one thing only:

Initially Caroline wants to go to some sort of fair or something to promote their business, but ends up going to the game with Max instead. They’re up in the nosebleeds but end up sneaking their way down to the VIP section and passing off popcorn-covered tickets to an usher to get away with it. Caroline Periscopes their experience, inadvertently causing Max to spill beer on the floor. The beer on the court causes players to slip and fall. The girls run away and hide in the locker room. Somehow the guys pouring ice into the tub they’re sitting in don’t see them until they are wet and screaming-

Their definition of “scary cold”.

-and that’s pretty much it.

Oleg’s cousin isn’t so much a character as he is simply a means for the two girls to get the basketball tickets; he doesn’t even really reappear at the game. Max considers inviting Earl, letting her friend and roommate attend the event to do some PR for them, but that’s nixed in a wonderful bit of comedy I’ll mention below. The biggest consequence the girls even face is that they get cold and wet, which, given their shower situation back at the apartment, shouldn’t be a big deal.

On the flipside our favourite Eastern European couple [on 2 Broke Girls] has a little more of an interesting plot as Sophie is planning on selecting the perfect genes for their shared progeny. There are a few gags, with a handful of lines made at the expense of Anne Hathaway’s forehead, but ultimately it all culminates in the last few minutes with Sophie saying that she’s given up on the endeavour. As long as she has a “healthy, happy baby” she’ll be fine. It’s some significant maturation for her, and it’s odd that she gets so much character development when the show’s two leads get . . . well . . . nothing.

As usual my favourite bits of comedy are in the Stray Observations below [amid other lines I considered notable for whatever reason], and there are some pretty great moments. They’re still not enough to buoy a flagging show, however. It remains to be seen where Michael Patrick King and co. are taking us, and when this vehicle is going to start picking up speed.

Current Total: $197.

New Total: $280. I want to note here one more time that last week’s episode left the New Total at $140.00, unchanged from the episode before. They appear to have amended this error. As usual, I have no idea why this amount increased.

The Title Refers To: I initially thought that Earl’s surname might be “Jones” and that he would be playing a much larger part in this episode, but I was wrong. I can’t for the life of me recall a single mention of the name, so this feature is coming up with a big question mark this time around.

Stray Observations:

• Han [after having left Early in charge]: “I’ll be gone for . . twenty.” / Earl: “Speaking of 4/20, Max, do you wanna smoke some weed?”
• Caroline has to tell Max that “PR” stands for “public relations” and not “Puerto Rican.”
• “Your cousin’s in town? That’s weird, I didn’t get an alert on my phone.”
• Earl quips to Gortek- “You look familiar. Didn’t you brave a dragon on Game of Thrones?” -which is strange since confusing him with The Mountain would have been so much better.
• I’m sure it’s been done before, but Oleg and Gortek speaking to each other in Ukrainian about Han, interspersing English words like “jackass boss” and “virgin” is actually incredibly funny. Well done, too.
• “No, you know, I’m sorry; I’m out. Tonight I have to genetically modify a person while I watch The Good Wife.”
• Caroline: “Would it hurt you to ask me to go to the game? You know I’m not going to say yes.” / Max: Do you want to go to the game-“

“YES.”

• “My father got me front row seats in the Inability to Love Awards,” a line met with equal parts laughter and awws.
• “Max, our seats are in a shantytown. I think someone tried to sell me a hubcap on the way up the stairs.”
• “Max, I haven’t been called a rich pig in five years!”
• “Ooh, here comes the nanny.” “Fran Drescher’s here!?“
• “Oh. My. God. This is where the 17th team in the league gets naked!”
• “Oh, you two sick? Stay away from me, I can’t get sick. When you’re 78 it takes about two days to go from sniffles to getting eaten by your cat.”
• Sophie’s tongueless aunt: “Do det what do det and do don’t det updet.”