Drop Dead Diva‘s fourth season returns the show to its season one awesomeness. It’s all about the Deb/Jane dynamic, quirky law cases, and well-developed side characters. Although season two dropped Jane’s personality, reduced the intelligent law, and became a soap opera, season four returns to what Drop Dead Diva does best: defend the little guy while showing the internal struggle between delicious Deb and judicial Jane. If you stopped watching Drop Dead Diva or you haven’t watched it yet this season, let me catch you up with the five latest changes.
Change #1. Deb has a new guardian angel
That’s right. Fred’s gone. I’ll miss Fred, but Carter MacIntyre‘s delectable guardian angel addition as Luke Daniels re-tightened existing storylines. During season two, Fred spent more time worried about Stacey and Kaswell while letting Jane do what she wanted. Luke’s character re-focuses the plot on Jane by dropping the Stacey/Fred storyline and adding more tension as a less permissive guardian.
Carter practically reprises his Undercovers Leo Nash role as the too-good-looking jerk with too-blue eyes (and too-large teeth) who’s there when his charge (or charges) need him. His role as the firm’s financier wedges him more solidly into the main plot than Fred’s fringe role as messenger/assistant.
I love the natural chemistry between the two. While I’d love to see their relationship go further, even if it stays in the friendly competitor zone, I’m on board 100%.
Don’t worry, Fred isn’t fully gone, but I suspect Ben Feldman‘s new Mad Men gig meant he couldn’t maintain season regular status.
Change #2. Deb has a boyfriend
Yup. And, a stable one. I hated when season two introduced and then disappeared Jane’s potential love interests, including her ex-husband and hunky lawyer boyfriend, without fully fleshing them out. After watching episodes two, three and four for the current season, Judge Owen might go the way of past lovers, but he’s well-developed and, for the interim, here to stay.
Change #3. Grayson suspects Deb is Jane
At this point I’m over Grayson. He had FOUR freakin’ years to realize that Jane is Deb. Instead, he dated, moved in with, kissed and practically proposed to every single single skinny female from here to Kalamazoo, including Kim and Stacey. However, he consistently overlooked Jane who played their favorite song ALL THE TIME, rocked Deb’s polish and invoked blatant Deb-isms. Yet, he STILL didn’t notice the Jane-Deb parallel until Stacy spilled the beans. FUH-WHAT?!
At this point, Grayson’s a size-ist. That’s the only reason I can ascribe to his deliberately overlooking Jane while looking for Deb in EVERY single OTHER skinny bitch under his nose. Grayson’s current Jane interest isn’t healthy. He only wants Deb back, not Jane or the combined Jane-Deb personality. He’s more intent on who she was, than who she is.
I no longer see the initial Grayson-Deb relationship as ideal. Deb was sunny, happy and fun; but, she was also selfish, shallow and ditzy. Sure Grayson’s smart, caring and good, but he didn’t care about people like Deb, socializing or appearance. Their love is the only thing they had in common. It’s awesome they remember each other for their best points, but most relationships have their ups and downs. Their original relationship seemed more ideal than real.
I hope during season four the show points out the weaknesses in their relationship (and the problem with Grayson’s current obsession).
Change #4. Stacy is no longer a model
That’s right. Stacy dropped the model-actress title. Giving Stacy a “Pake,” pie-cake business, opens up new storylines for her. Additionally, with Fred’s absence, we’ll see the character develop outside her love life. Although Cougar Town gave its blonde bombshell a similar I-suddenly-have-baking-skills-and-want-to-launch-my-own-baking-business plotline, I won’t fight it. Considering Stacy tried to remove carbs from Jane’s diet during season one, I wonder if she’ll fight a similar battle herself.
Change #5. Kim and Parker have competition.
I’m not averse to putting the Parker-Kim relationship on hold. They’re made for each other, but I don’t want their relationship overshadowing the main story or Jane. Surprisingly, Parker’s child adds to the storyline and his character. Although Brandy still looks like a 20-year-old (which makes her Parker relationship slightly creepy), the production staff cast a boy who literally looks like their love child.
I’m definitely looking forward to season four. The show isn’t called Drop Dead Fred, Drop Dead Gorgeous, or Ding Dong the Witch is Dead, it’s Drop Dead Diva and the writers finally realized that.
I love that the show has so many awesome guest stars in the form of Patty Duke, Valerie Harper, John Ratzenberger, Anne Ramsay, Liza Lapira (NCIS, Don’t Trust the B**), Alimi Ballard (NCIS) and Megyn Price (Rules of Engagement, American Dad, Grounded for Life), that after a point they stopped trumpeting them and just focused on the show itself. Sure, they paraded Brandy and Kim K as guest stars, but Kim K as the passive-aggressive backstabbing friend and Brandy as Parker’s unlikely love interest fit both women naturally. While we won’t see Deb struggle with her weight like during season one, she’s aware of her body and how the public perceives it. I love when she mocked Grayson’s pretty Prom King face for not knowing the world is easier for him.
So, triple-D lovers, it’s OK. Drop Dead Diva is back in top form. Brooke Elliott remains a treasure. She continues to mine new Deb-like facial expressions and gestures. So, while you might want to skip the premiere, the second, third and fourth episodes of this season show what I missed in season two. So, divalicious ladies unite! Drop Dead Diva is back!
Don’t forget to watch it every Sunday on Lifetime!
Clacked by An Nicholson 
on Jun 28, 2012 @ 10:00 EST5EDT
