Episode Report Card Cate: C | 1 USERS: A+ YOU GRADE IT Bitch, bitch, bitch
By Cate | Season 5 | Episode 9 | Aired on 11.26.2000
Matt and Simon have a debate about the relationship between music and violence. Most of it makes sense, although I'm a little sick of the sermonizing by now. In fact, I'm so sick of this entire episode that I'm even going to let it slide that Matt is a fan of Tipper Gore and that Simon doesn't have the foggiest notion what the First Amendment is about.
A quick shot of Norton and the boys swaggering toward the Swingin' Bachelor Pad like deranged elves perks me up again.
That's good, because it's time for another lecture. Since Lucy's whole strategy is to tell Ruthie that she's too young to dress like a ho, Annie takes over. She says, "I don't think you're too young to dress like this; I think you're too smart to dress like this." Ha, burn on you, Lucy! The conversation takes a downturn, however, when SuperMom trots out the old "ideal world" argument -- the one about how women are supposed to wear anything they want, no matter how revealing, but only in a ideal world. I hate that argument for a couple of reasons. The first one is that rape can happen to any woman, no matter how old or attractive or provocatively dressed she is. That's because rape is about power, not sex. The second reason is that, while I don't think revealing clothing will necessarily make it more likely a woman will be raped, it probably will make it less likely that a woman's rapist would be prosecuted. The justice system can be really fucked up like that. Anyway, you're not here to read a PSA, so I'll leave it at that. While I give the writers credit for tackling a complicated issue, I just wish they had done a better job with it and not sent out so many mixed messages. The rest of Annie's speech is pretty good, though. The gist of it is that the problem of some men treating women like objects goes back to the dawn of time, and that women are not to blame for this. Then she segues abruptly into telling Ruthie not to sacrifice her individuality by dressing like her peers. Did someone lop off the middle of this scene or something?
Dopey is still lecturing Simon, but we're spared from listening to it when John interrupts. He's all excited about finding "Ms. Right." Dopey could not care less, as he offers up a dumb comment about that model he made out with. John doesn't fall for this subject switching and tries to talk about himself some more, enthusing about how he's got a date to take Priscilla to church. Nope, not even a glimmer of interest or encouragement from Dopey. Now, I know in the past I've suggested that John needs his own life instead of being so fixated on Matt's. I won't take that back, but I would like to amend it to say that while John does deserve to have his own life, I'm not so sure I want to hear about it. We learn that both Norton and Heather are schedule to arrive at the Swingin' Bachelor Pad at seven. All three guys rush out of the apartment. I'm not sure why.