The season finale of Happy Endings titled “Four Weddings and a Funeral (Minus Three Weddings and One Funeral)” made me realize that I will miss this show until its return next season because it left me with several burning questions. Are Dave and Alex back together? Will Brad find a new job as an “aside guy?” Will Derrick and Eric be able to put the drama from their reception behind them? Was this the only appearance of Mandonna (Max’s all-male Madonna tribute band) I will ever witness? Will every wedding of the future feature a Skype table for the guests who are unable to attend in person?
God, I hope not. Can you imagine the awkwardness of being seated at a table of virtual guests and being forced to make conversation with them? It used to be all you had to worry about was being seated with the “mutants at table 9” via The Wedding Singer. Now we have to worry about being seated with guests that aren’t even really there? What’s the world coming to? In the olden days, if you couldn’t attend a wedding, you couldn’t attend and that was that. Excuses were made, pleasantries were exchanged and occasionally the stray gift card was sent with best-intended wishes. Now thanks to technology, I wonder is it going to be harder to make fake excuses when you’re simply not interested in witnessing someone’s nuptials?
When the entire gang attended Derrick and Eric’s lavish wedding extravaganza, of course it was poor Penny, “veteran of the singles table,” who was dateless and therefore subjected to the fate of being the keeper of the virtual guests. However, to her credit, only Penny could manage to meet someone interesting while seated there. Brian Austin Green, of Beverly Hills, 90210 fame, guest-starred as Penny’s virtual love interest Chris, who was unable to attend the wedding because of a broken leg he sustained while “ski-boxing.” Is ski-boxing an actual sport? I may not exactly be Sporty Spice, but I’ve never heard of it.
Penny reminds me a lot of my former single self, always looking for love in all the wrong places. My heart broke for her when the Skype connection failed just as she was beginning to connect with Chris. It broke again when she had to dance with creepy “Uncle Jerry” via Skype and again when she thought maybe Dave was in love with her until she saw him looking ultra-cozy with Alex. However, she rose up against the odds and I found myself rooting for her when she was given her own happy ending of sorts. Was it just me or did it feel like a John Hughes movie when Chris showed up to meet her in person at the wedding?
One aspect of this show that I have come to appreciate is the camaraderie among the six main characters, which was especially evident this week as they helped each other feel better through their many “world-class” pep talks. From Dave trying to convince Penny that she is a good catch to Penny helping Max squeeze into his Mandonna pants to Alex making Max feel better about himself until he was willing to reunite with Mandonna for their special wedding performance, we really got to see everyone’s benevolent side and that was a welcomed change from last week’s web of deceit.
Everyone looked fabulous in their tuxes, but the highlight for me was hands-down Max as the lead singer of Mandonna, belting out “Like a Prayer.” Although he may have had his initial misgivings about his physical appearance, he made an adorable, albeit hilarious male version of Madonna. I would love to see his over-the-top Super Bowl halftime show. My one disappointment was we didn’t get to see more of Mandonna, especially in flashbacks of their glory days. Do you think Mandonna will appear on the show again?
Memorable Quotes:
Alex: “Do you guys realize that their Brangelina name is gonna be Derrick? Wait, wait, wait. It could also be Eric. Whoa, did we smoke weed?”
Max: “All weddings are pretty gay when you think about it. If you wanna know what else is gay, you can visit my website: www.thingsthataregay.biz. I tried to get .gov but it was taken.”
Jane: “I haven’t seen anything that choreographed than Colin Powell’s U.N. testimony on WMD’s.”
Max: “Are you really cleaning under the couch or are you just waiting to slide out with an outdated zinger?”
Jane: “I haven’t seen anything that unnecessarily complicated since the third season of Lost. Am I right?”
Max: “Asking ‘am I right’ is not going to make it funnier.”
Derrick: “There is no drama at this wedding. And you know my motto, ‘Save the drama for Wilmer Valderrama.’”
Penny: “Quiet Jane is the scariest Jane.”
Alex: “The world’s most dangerous Jane.”
Max: “No, I will not save the drama for Michelle Obama, Derrick.”
Alex: “You guys were one of my top three favorite Chicago-based all-male Madonna cover bands, right up there with Macdonald and Material Earl.”
Max: “That part of my life is over. I hung up my cone bra and headset a long time ago. Though I will always love Sean Penn no matter how creepy and thin his mustache gets. He looks like a Hulked-out, ‘roided-up John Waters.”
Brad: “Hey, my man, throw in a couple bottles of champagne and smelly cheese. Real smelly. I wanna walk in the room and think the maid dumped out. Then realize, no, that’s just the great cheese I requested. Make it stink!”
Jane: “Nice gift bags, huh? I got a chip clip and, um, some Tums. What did everyone get in the wedding party?”
Max: “I don’t think anything really special. I got a candle, some chocolates and whoa, Beats by Dre headphones!”
Jane: “That’s cool, you know what ‘cause I got ear-buds by D.J. Jazzy Jeff.”
Max: “Ugh, you hear them trying to push their liberal lunch agenda on me? Elitists. Eating three meals a day as opposed to one day-long super meal? That’s disgusting.”
Max: “I used to be this like super-skinny hot front man lead singer, you know? The guys wanted me, the girls wanted to be me. I could eat a whole pizza and three chili dogs without gaining a single L-B. Then I started eating two whole pizzas and five chili dogs, and I turned into Tom Arnold. It’s just, the Mandonna guys look amazing and I still look like me, or Tom Arnold. … I know everyone thinks I’m crazy beautiful, Alex. But I don’t feel beautiful on the inside.”
Max (to Mandonna): “Guys, your harmonies are intoxicating except for you, Pitchy Pete. Pitchy as always, bud.”
Brad: “So, you’re sending a black guy to an Irish funeral to steal their booze?”
Jane: “Good point. You know what? I have foundation and powder in the room. We will do a real quick ‘whiteface’ makeover. What am I saying? What is wrong with me?”
Brad: “What am I going to do now? It’s like for the first time in my life I don’t know what’s going to happen next.”
Jane: “None of us do. I mean, that’s kinda the beauty of it. Look at me. Two hours ago I wasn’t even in this wedding and now I run this bitch. And one of these days, you are going to run whatever bitch you want to run.”
Clacked by Kim Tibbs
on Apr 05, 2012 @ 13:26 EST5EDT
I didn’t love this episode for a couple of reasons. One, it didn’t have any scenes that took me by surprise and sent me into a fit of giggles. Also, I don’t need the Dave-Alex-Penny triangle … Ross-Rachel-Joey, anyone? I really didn’t need Brad to get fired either — I’m not sure the comedy that can come out of that. Maybe I need the summer to accept change, LOL!
See, I didn’t really see the triangle as anything lasting past a moment. Penny ended up where she was supposed to :)
I hope so! I’d like to see more of BAG next season, it would be fun for Penny to have a steady boyfriend for a bit.
Last night was only like the third or fourth complete episode I’d ever seen. By the time the credits rolled I was officially hooked on this show.
*POST AUTHOR*
I’ve missed some episodes here and there…the Penny/Dave thing took me by surprise. Do they have a history together or any reason why she would’ve thought he had feelings for her other than this episode? I know Dave & Alex’s history. I doubt BAG will be back, but that would be nice to see.
.gov he said that he wanted .gov but it was taken
*POST AUTHOR*
I had .gov, but for some reason, it was changed during the editing process.