First thing’s first, I’d like to apologize for how poor the quality of these header images has been lately. For some reason the 2 Broke Girls photos page on the CBS site hasn’t uploaded any new preview galleries since the premiere, so here we are, having to screenshot teasers on YouTube.
With that out of the way, this episode bears the distinction of having the A-plot revolve around characters who aren’t Max and Caroline. Instead the primary conflict revolves around the baptism of Sophie and Oleg’s daughter Barbara. In particular Oleg’s mother, Olga [Mercedes Ruehl], who deems the titular duo as being unfit godparents, which really complicates the ceremony actually taking place.
So little actually ends up happening that the twenty-some minutes feel shorter than most weeks. Given that Earl is a Universal Life minister the diner gang decides to do the baptism in secret, which leads to the brief diversion of Caroline stealing holy water from the church. After the christening Olga appears, is angry for half a second, and ultimately blesses her son and accepts her daughter-in-law.
Having summed up “And the Godmama Drama” what more is there to say in this review?
I know for a fact that I’ve lambasted 2 Broke Girls for perpetuating Asian stereotypes before, in particular those of the sexless, effete Asian man. That said, this episode really goes overboard with the Eastern European caricature that is Oleg’s mother. It’s not even so much the jokes, which have been far worse in the past [remember how Sophie believes cats are the reincarnated souls of people who die outside?], but how much her accent is played for laughs. It’s really low-hanging fruit as far as humour goes.
As far as the actual centre of this episode, Sophie and Oleg, I continue to watch the couple for signs that things are changing with them being parents. Sophie entering the diner was particularly troubling to me, because she bangs the stroller violently around which the audience laughs at. She yells “It’s okay she’s strapped in” to calm any concerned viewers who believe that passengers in both baby carriages and cars need to abide by the exact same rules. This just in, CBS, maybe don’t joke about harming literal infants. Sophie and Oleg’s bonding to Barbara isn’t particularly noteworthy either, with the former musing, after the baptism, that “She can tell that she avoided an eternal hellfire.”
All in all this episode continued two characters easing their way into parenthood, albeit not in a necessarily satisfying fashion. Next week “And the College Experience” promises a return to Max and Caroline’s regularly scheduled antics, and hopefully we see how things move forward then. “And the Godmama Drama” was an interesting diversion, but not enough to keep us from wanting to return to the show’s typical flow.
Current Total: $1,050.00
New Total: $1,845.25. Once again, my best guess is that this money is based on the Dessert Bar’s profits.
The Title Refers To: The drama surrounding Max and Caroline’s fitness as godmothers.
Stray Observations:
- The Dessert Bar’s menu is “already a little nipple-heavy,” featuring such items as the Nipple-tini and the Piña Co-nipple.
- Olga actually garners cheers [à la Sophie] when she appears.
- Her and Oleg share the prerequisite uncomfortably long kiss on the lips between relatives.
- Pilatskis: “like pilates only instead of rubber bands you do it with big airplane tires”
- Olga and Sophie both mussing Oleg’s hair was some pretty decent physical comedy.
- “So basically we’re just waterboarding a baby-“
- Max wants to believe in Santa Claus, but “every house in one night? C’mon-“
- Oleg on baby monitors: “It’s a great thing if you’re not home, or if you just don’t trust your baby!”
- Max at confession: “Just to summarize: fires, fires, knife fights, robberies, robberies, knife robberies, but 3rd Grade is where the real sinning began.”
- “Oleg I’m glad you’re not wearing your vagina tie.” / “It’s dirty.”
- Given the next three lines, I actually want to award Jonathan Kite the award for comedy MVP; his line delivery was flawless.
- “Damn you Curves, I forgot it’s an hour workout packed into 30 minutes!”
- “Mother, here’s the truth, whether you like it or not: my friends and I like to dress up and put on pretend baptisms.”
- “Are you gonna spank me here, or can we go in another room? Because I don’t love, love, love the underwear I’m wearing.”
The third and final US Presidential Debate may have taken place last week, but fact-checking is never far from my mind. Now given that this show once played up the fact that an 18-year-old was a minor I may be asking for too much here, but allow me to put aside some space to create a new feature that I hope continues on past this week-
2 Broke Girls Fact-Check:
1) Max implies that she hasn’t been inside of a church in recent memory when she says: “Wow, haven’t been to a church in a . . . have I ever been in a church?”
FALSE-ISH: Max was last in a church for Sophie and Oleg’s wedding, which took place in “And the Disappointing Unit”, the Season 4 finale. The third item on this list actually addressed the timeline, but given what we know the event occurred within the last year or so. That’s not nearly long enough for Max to have forgotten, though this can be chalked up to poor memory or a bad joke.
2) Caroline states that, according to Scripture, baptisms must occur inside a church: “Anyway, where is it written that a baptism has to happen in a church? Other than the Bible-“
FALSE: The first baptisms, as recorded in the Bible, actually take place in the literal wilderness. There are no verses that state that the ceremony must in fact take place in a church. This could be explained by Caroline’s poor understanding of Christianity.
3) Max compliments Caroline’s jug, to which she responds, “Max I’ve been waiting six years to hear you say that,” implying that they have known each other for six years.
FALSE: In my review of this season’s premiere I noted that Caroline describes a character who appears in Season 2 as someone who “tried to sue [them] two years ago”. In other words, the only possible way for them to have met six years ago is for the first two seasons to have taken place over the course of four years, which is essentially impossible.
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