“Isn’t it Bromantic?”
June 1st, 2009
I had planned to blog about this week’s episode of Greek on Monday when it aired, but as it turned out I had already written thoughts on both Chuck and Conan O’Brien’s first Tonight Show, and I didn’t want to create an overload of sorts. But then, as I moved into the next few days, I had no other material to blog about, but just never got back to this week’s episode.
To be honest, I kind of liked “Isn’t it Bro-mantic?” on a number of levels, primarily because it catered to my own opinion of these characters quite slavishly. By placing Casey at the depths of patheticness, the show portrayed as being the revolving third wheel of doom, which I totally see as a dominant character trait for her when she’s not coupled off with someone. I’d normally think this is annoying, but since the show so willingly paints a picture of Casey as selfish and close-minded in the face of the situation, it’s actually quite realistic and honest.
Don’t have a whole lot to say about the episode, but figured I’d drop a few thoughts after the jump.
I have a fairly low threshold for Rusty’s awkwardness, so for the most part his storyline with Jordan didn’t really connect with me, at least early on. However, once they transitioned Rusty from hapless victim to Casey’s ignorance to an active instigator of disruptive behaviour, the character became far more believable and enjoyable. Rusty with balls is kind of interesting considering how often he’s been portrayed as the exact opposite character, and it’s an important position for him to be in if the show chooses to bring back Jesse McCartney for some big bro/little bro conflict. Sure, I think Rusty was wrong to apologize to Casey in the end (so she’s lonely, she’s an adult and should be able to handle that), but a little bit of cruelty is a good thing for the kid.
Speaking of bros, there was absolutely zero subtlety in Calvin’s storyline, his first in quite some time: the sheer happenstance of his roommate circumstances being resurrected just as another housemate chooses to out themselves to him was not amongst Greek’s most accomplished bits of plotting. The storyline went exactly where you’d expect it to go, which isn’t to say it’s a bad thing: Calvin’s last relationship (with the graduate student played by Max Greenfield) never felt part of Greek’s particular world, so I’d argue it fits in better when it remains within the Greek system (Greekcest?) as it did with Heath, for example. Part of me does wish that the show would have listened to Calvin and understood that just because Grant is gay doesn’t mean they have to couple off, but this is television and that just isn’t possible.
Cappie and Evan’s storyline was just another step in their quasi-reconciliation, as their shared crush turned out to be crazy; it was without much value outside of contributing to the great running theme of pop culture references, always common on the show but very TV-centric this week. You had Betsy digging on any show airing on Fridays, you had Calvin burning Entourage (“It’s like watching an episode of entourage…except cheaper…and watchable”), Cappie asking whether Joshua Jackson and Paul Walker were going to be guest speakers at the secret society (in reference to their roles in The Skulls), Ashley’s Casablanca tribute (“the beginning of a beautiful friendship based on doing it”), and then Cappie not quite understanding Rusty’s high school experience watching Joan of Arcadia with his mother (“I missed a lot of great television by having friends”). It was a bit more blatant than usual, but they were all pretty fun so I can’t particularly complain.
As for Casey, we’re getting more and more signs as we head towards Max’s eventual departure from the show’s universe: Rady has a full-time gig next year, so we’re going to have to find some way for the character to stay in England, go out West, or some other way for their relationship to end. I’ll be curious, though, what happens in that scenario: Casey can’t continually be a third wheel, so she’s going to need a storyline for next season, romantic or otherwise.
Cultural Observations
- The episode’s basic theme seemed to be seeing yourself in the people you least expect…or, at least, that’s what I wrote in my notes. Now, I honestly can’t tell you why I wrote that. Any ideas?
- In case people were curious, a quick google search tells me that Grant, Calvin’s new “roommate,” is played by Gregory Michael. A quick check of IMDB confirms that his post soap operatic career is in serious danger of turning into typecasting.
