Tag Archives: Matthew Moy

2 Broke Girls, S6E10 “And the Himmicane”: A TV Review

himmicane

First thing’s first, let me just say that I love the title of this episode. It’s just such a ridiculously simplistic play on words, but one that suggests at a number of entertaining possibilities. Or, at the very least, everyone’s favourite song by the appropriately named Weather Girls. That said , it’s with great sadness that I must reveal that “And the Himmicane” does not live up to those hints at greatness.

For one thing, there are absolutely no references to it precipitating male individuals. There’s also no plot that revolves around what’s a very fitting male alternative to “bridezilla”, a man whose very presence is a force of nature. No, the focus of this particular episode is Max’s relationship with Randy. And an actual hurricane as well, I guess. Continue reading

2 Broke Girls, S6E9 “And the About FaceTime”: A TV Review

facetime

There are many things I expect from 2 Broke Girls. Off-colour humour and painfully bad puns number among them, of course, and as of this season solid jokes/gags as well. What I don’t tune into this CBS sitcom for, however, is a strong theme that is heavily featured throughout an episode. All that said, “And the About FaceTime” was a pleasant surprise, especially after having taken last week off.

A fairly successful cold open kicks things off, with the gang trapped inside the Williamsburg Diner due to aggressive canvassers blocking off both exits. Nobody wants to be confronted by the unnervingly gleeful young people, and it’s that same procrastination and fear of facing things head-on that will be experienced and dealt with by various members of the cast moving forward.

For Oleg it’s putting off selling his beloved Toyota Yaris, as Sophie wants them to become a minivan-owning family. For Caroline it’s the fact that she hasn’t had sex in two straight years, the implication being that she’s been too preoccupied with her business and the rest of her life to give it any attention. For Oleg it’s death [wow, making old people jokes really is that easy]. When it comes to Max, however, it’s not made explicitly clear until over halfway through the episode. Continue reading

2 Broke Girls, S6E8 “And the Duck Stamp”: A TV Review

duckstamp

While it’s certainly disappointing to have to write, a run of two decent consecutive 2 Broke Girls episodes is really not bad at all. I thoroughly enjoyed “And the Rom-Commie” as well as “And the Sophie Doll”, and even though they weren’t incredible or even the best the show has ever been, their airing one week after the next felt like an encouraging change of pace for the CBS sitcom. It’s unfortunate that in spite of the season’s eighth installment continuing to land successful physical gags and better utilizing their cast neither are enough to prop up a paper-thin plot.

Which doesn’t mean that those two points are unappreciated, by any means. Han is actually the driving force of this episode, and while he’s been the focus in past seasons this week he manages to participate in the joke without necessarily being the butt of it. Also notable is the fact that, besides being POC on ensemble comedies, this is the first connection I’ve ever made between him and Sergeant Terry Jeffords on Brooklyn Nine-Nine.

The clue lies in what he’s holding.

Continue reading

2 Broke Girls, S6E7 “And the Sophie Doll”: A TV Review

sophiedoll

So first thing’s first, and just because it’s the first thing you see when you open up one of these reviews, the header image is very clearly of subpar quality. The best I could find as far as promos was this one video on YouTube which, as you can see, isn’t great. I’ll try to to step it up moving forward but I can only really work with what’s available.

Given that this week’s episode actually fell on my birthday I wasn’t sure how to feel about it. Were my expectations made that much lower due to my having to watch and review it when I could be doing almost anything else? Or were they perhaps on the higher end due to last week’s surprisingly decent installment? Regardless of where my expectations actually ended up falling, 2 Broke Girls served up a decent enough episode that more importantly continues to keep things fresh.

The highlight of “And the Rom-Commie” was the decision to pair Oleg and Han together, a coupling that ended up paying off surprising comedic dividends. While I don’t think that Matthew Moy deserves all the credit for how enjoyable the show has been lately, his performance opposite Kat Dennings is what I want to shine a spotlight on this time around. While his cherubic looks and high-pitched voice have more often than not been openly mocked, which in turn helps perpetuate the stereotype of the effete, sexless Asian man, they also end up adding a genuinely funny mischievous quality to his performance in “And the Sophie Doll”.  Continue reading

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

maybebaby

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.  Continue reading

2 Broke Girls, S5E2 “And the Gym and Juice”: A TV Review

gymjuice

A lot of the time, when I wish I had implemented a grading system into these reviews when I first started two years ago, it’s because I want to underscore how truly bad an episode was. Not this week. This week I wish that I was able to qualify how good 2 Broke Girls usually is so that I could give “And the Gym and Juice” an A.

And no, this isn’t a particularly groundbreaking twenty-something minutes of situation comedy, but it is exactly what it needs to be, which is to say that it’s funny. Just two episodes into their fifth season and 2 Broke Girls appears confident in allowing its titular characters to truly carry the show, and they do so in a truly admirable fashion. I’m not sure if there was a shake-up in the writers room, but whatever happened it has me generally looking forward to future installments of the show. Continue reading