2 Broke Girls, S6E6 “And the Rom-Commie”: A TV Review

So not only has CBS stopped updating the 2 Broke Girls page on their site with advance stills, but this week I was unable to find any trailers uploaded to YouTube to use in my header image. It’s like they don’t want anyone online to get excited about this show anymore.

Which is actually a darn shame, since this week’s episode was pretty good! Not only did we have some genuine character progression with one of the two leads [it’s always Max, please never put your money on Caroline] but there were some really solid jokes! I’m not even mildly disappointed that the actual events that occurred only barely mirror the synopsis that the Google search up above provided; it would’ve been nice to see Earl take centre stage more, but I enjoyed 2 Broke Girls this Monday, a rare enough occurrence to invalidate most other criticisms.

It’s a surprisingly plot-heavy installment, with two of the threads even tying together. As the header image indicates Earl’s past lover Pilar, who absconded from Cuba to the States, is in town to see the sights. On Max’s end Randy texted her, not a picture of his junk as per uje but letting her know that he has a layover in Newark. While Caroline is over-the-moon excited about a rom-com staple come to life, her best friend is hesitant to make any big moves at the risk of embarrassing herself. Cue, in the last third of the episode, Earl telling Pilar that he’s just not up to it, and the Cuban escapee responding that that’s life: nothing risked, nothing gained.

All the while, just off centre stage, Han and Oleg have their own thing going on. Max has made a disturbingly decadent cake for an Overeater’s Anonymous group’s big cheat day, and the diner owner accidentally drops the aforementioned dessert on the [presumably filthy] kitchen floor. Cue his begging the fry cook for help:

It’s a genuinely funny moment, and it made me realize that 2 Broke Girls may have more mileage in it that I originally thought. While other sitcoms have exhausted unorthodox character pairings long before their sixth season, this show’s tight focus on its leads has kept that to a minimum. Even with the small cast size there are still a number of combinations left to be made, and I hope the writer’s room continues throwing them together to see what sparks.

To return to the Max’s character progression, however, her and Randy end up sealing [or re-sealing] the deal on their relash [that’s pronounced “re’laysh”]. While not huge compared to other romantic gestures, especially given that her trip to the airport was so straightforward, her meeting with him results in a very casual exchange of words.

“I want something more. I want a relationship.”

“I wouldn’t hate that.”

While it’s strange to see her get back to Randy just a few episodes deep given what happened last season finale, it’s that unexpectedness that’s helping to keep the show fresh. It also doesn’t hurt at all that CBS et al. continue to make 2 Broke Girls a place to help those with an iron deficiency get a little beefcake in their diet-

All of the above, on top of how many jokes stuck the landing, actually gave me hope that watching 2 Broke Girls on Monday nights, as well as writing these reviews, might actually be something I genuinely look forward to. And let me tell you, given this US election season any excitement at all is much-needed excitement.

Current Total: $2,710.65

New Total: $3,710.65. I know exactly how they made this money! This was payment to make a cake for that Overeater’s Anonymous cheat day! I guess Max was able to throw another one together off-screen.

The Title Refers To: This took me a while to figure out, since it wasn’t really explicitly spelled out in the episode, but it’s a portmanteau of “rom-com” and “commie”, the latter referring to Pilar who once lived in a Communist state.

Stray Observations:

• Han signs his letters “From the desk of a Jellybean Addict”.
• “I have to use the bathroom again, my prostate changes faster than the lineup of The View.”
• Earl’s last name is Washington! Max had no idea as his license just says “Earl”.
• Pilar manages to recognize him in spite of the fact that she last remembers him as 6’2″ with an afro. That’s love for you-
• “No thanks, if I liked porn I wouldn’t’ve thrown away Sophie and Oleg’s ‘I’m having a baby’ card.”
• Sophie’s trying to make baby Barbara laugh this episode, and it leads to Max trying the ol’ I-got-your-nose trick on Caroline-

Beth Behrs is a pure delight.

• “What if Barbara has no idea what’s funny. Like a Netflix comedy!” [insert quote about living in glass houses]
• “You thought when I first said ‘hi’ to you it meant I wanted you to move in with me for six years.” At this point I’m willing to concede that the timeline is hella borked. [see my previous comments about it in this review]
• re: Han being a notary- “There’s a lot of sides to being a square.”
• I’ll try to remember to take a screenshot later, but there’s a really well-done exchange where Max asks Earl if he needs his walker and then hands him a bottle of whiskey. It’s very good.
• “I guess Crossfit failed me again today.”
• Oleg repeats his nonchalant response to where the cake disappeared to a second time, and extremely quickly. It’s one of the best performances I’ve seen out of Jonathan Kite.
• Sophie still not a great parent: “She’s gettin’ real monster truck rally with that carriage.”
• “Prepare to meet your maker, Han. Which I’m assuming is Mattel.”

While Family Guy has long had this same accusation leveled against it in regards to its predecessor The Simpsons, a similar one arises from time to time with live-action sitcoms. That leads me to our newest, hopefully weekly feature:

Friends Did It First

Max first introduces her cake as being a “maple vanilla rum cake with a raspberry cheesecake filling and a chocolate crumble,” which is fine, and also sounds delicious. Where she really begins to court danger is when she mentions that “also there’s a layer of ham in it,” as well as one of hotdogs.

Even the most casual Friends viewer knows about Rachel’s infamous trifle that appeared in “The One Where Ross Got High”, the ninth episode of the show’s sixth season. Here that is for all of you nice people:

While Max’s creation is clearly intentional and not a mistake, like Rachel’s was, the similarities are starkly apparent. This is a rich, irresistible confection that has its ingredients listed only to have an outlier, meat, come out of nowhere. In Friends it’s it’s beef sauteed with peas and onions, whereas in 2 Broke Girls it’s hot dogs, potatoes, and even “a ham”.

As one last quibble I do want to mention that that’s how Max refers to its inclusion: “also there’s a ham in it.” The entire episode I was intrigued by the idea that she had fit an entire ham into the cake, only to find, once Han drops it on the floor, that it’s just a slice of ham. That’s false advertising at its finest, Ms. Black. That Overeater’s Anonymous group will be very disappointed.