I realize that it’s unrealistic to believe this, but I’m going to do so anyway — it seems that all of my offers of constructive criticism finally paid off: Rules of Engagement has once again picked up on Jeff and Audrey’s surrogate mother plot. Boy was that a good idea by somebody!
I loved the interviews Audrey and Jeff conducted with the potential wombs. The first woman was the right kind of feisty, a trash talking Yankees fan who knocked Jeff’s Mets every chance that she got. I actually think she would have been perfect: she’s enthusiastic about sports. Team loyalties can be learned at home, but a love for sports might come from nature. And she did a great job standing her own against Jeff.
Potential mother number two was overweight, and what did Jeff do? He assumed that she was pregnant, and made mention of needing to wait until she gave birth. It’s inappropriate, but I would like to think that assuming someone’s pregnant is better than simply calling them fat. I know it’s not acceptable to say in polite society, but this lady had more than a belly.
Anyway, with no surrogate potentials left Jeff and Audrey headed to Jeff’s softball banquet … real swanky party. As insignificant a role as it plays, I’m enjoying the fact that Jeff’s softball team has contributed some amount of continuity to the show. It’s like in the early days of Seinfeld, when Jerry and George playing on the Improv Comedy Club’s softball team popped up a number of times. There have to be things that characters do more than once, so why not showcase them on the show?
What I was expecting from the altercation with Brenda (Sara Rue) the token lesbian was some kind of crazy proposition toward Audrey. Instead, what we got was an offer to be Jeff and Audrey’s surrogate — the fact that she’s a lesbian could make the potential lifestyle awkwardness even better, assuming she moves in with Jeff and Audrey, or at least becomes a staple in their lives in some significant way. I was a bit surprised that there was no buildup to why Brenda might make such an offer — a ticking clock and a fear that she’d never have a child, for example — but so be it. Jeff and Audrey have found their womb.
The rest of the episode was no better or worse than the last couple weeks have been, which is to say that it was kind of dumb. Russell’s mother Bunny (Joan Collins) blew into town and expressed her love for him in gifts. Timmy intervened, and the result was Bunny cutting Russell off so he could become a man. I’m assuming the savings from the high paying job he’s held at daddy’s company for years will help defray the new expenses he’s bound to incur in life. But sure, throw a 40+ year-old “out in the cold” because his South African assistant suggested you show him some emotion. Is that the best they could write for an actress like Collins?
And I don’t know what was going on with Adam, but it’s not worth our time to ponder it. Just dumb.
Clacked by Aryeh S.
on Nov 09, 2010 @ 11:00 EST5EDT
