Episode Report Card Cate: D+ | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Ay Carumba
By Cate | Season 6 | Episode 8 | Aired on 11.18.2001
In the living room, Ruthie keeps trying to gyrate, while Joy proudly tells her that she is the singer of the forgettable song they're dancing to. Guess what, Joy? Nobody cares.
Meanwhile, Lucy and Mary continue shouting at each other in the hall, even though Robbie is sitting about ten feet away and must be able to hear every word. Mary is rubbing it in that Robbie moved on so quickly after dating Lucy. Lucy's rejoinder is, "They say if a widower remarries soon after his wife dies, that means that he was happily married." Right, and applying that to Lucy and Robbie making out by the trashcans for a week doesn't strain credibility or anything. Mary points out to Lucy, "You're not dead!" ["Is no one going to mention the part where they weren't married, either? 'Cause that was a creepy analogy on so many levels." -- Wing Chun] Indicating Robbie, Mary adds, "But you know, you might as well be." The argument descends into absurdity when the girls start fighting over who has more right to be jealous of Robbie's new girlfriend. Simon tries to put a stop to it with the stern patriarchal admonition that Lucy and Mary are both being ridiculous. He further demonstrates his manly wisdom by refusing to go in to the den of iniquity that is the Camden living room: "I'd go in there, but a man's gotta know his limitations." Okay, that's great, but if he mentions his raging hormones, I'm out of here.
Simon leaves, and Mary and Lucy pick right up where they left off. The writers make things easier on themselves by having the girls throw exactly the same insults at each other. Hey, that's 50% less crappy dialogue they have to churn out. I'm sure it's a big timesaver. Finally, Lucy mentions the real reason she's so pissed off: "I'm just angry that you've shown up and expect to be treated like royalty or something." Ooh, that's grounds for a catfight! You'd think, because this is the WB, it would be all exploitative, but don't forget what show you're watching. Neither girl is working very hard at this fight, which makes me wish the producers had removed the G rating for this episode and let us see Lucy pummel the shit out of Mary. In further deference to the G rating, the fight moves behind the sofa, but nobody's paying any attention to it until Annie comes in and orders her offspring back into the Treehouse. Lucy asks whether SuperMom is planning to punish Mary for fighting. What a silly question! I'll bet Mary could sneak out to the Treehouse and burn it down in the middle of the night, and Annie would just smile and prepare her another pot roast and some apple pie. After everyone's gone, Joy tries to look uncomfortable. At least, I think that's what she's doing. She's really not a good enough actress to nail it, so it's hard to tell.