Episode Report Card Couch Baron: A- | 488 USERS: A- YOU GRADE IT I Went To A Garden Party…
By Couch Baron | Season 3 | Episode 3 | Aired on 2009.08.30
Joan serves a tray of martinis (bad sign, after the last scene) to her guests, who are doing the buffet thing, seated casually in low chairs or on the floor. Mrs. Stolich, who's about Joan's age and looks like she's carrying, offers to cut the cheese, which gets a round of giggles from the men; after the ladies roll their eyes at their immature mates, Mrs. Stolich says they have all kinds of private jokes, such as the "Code Pink," which is the signal that there's an attractive unconscious female on the floor. A joke about Greg here seems too easy, so let's move on to where Ettinger confesses he never heard that one, and Greg ass-kisses his wife and boss both by saying he hasn't either. Joan sighs that it sounds like where she works, and then the ladies repair to the kitchen to check on the roast. Well, to be more precise, Joan checks the roast while the two others discuss how little residents make, and Mrs. Ettinger tells them that when she first married her husband, she was teaching kindergarten and earning three times what he did. "We lived in a pit." Joan, perhaps taking a colder view of her and Greg's joint finances than before, looks wary, and gets more so when Mrs. Ettinger cautions her not to get pregnant during this time of financial hardship. Mrs. Stolich winces, given her situation, and Mrs. Ettinger confesses that she gave her the same advice, but "she doesn't listen. She's a nurse." Their relationship seems a little familiar, even for people who have known each other for a while, but let's ignore that to focus on the part where Mrs. Stolich counsels Joan to do what she wants, offering that if Greg gets made Chief Resident things will be easier, and Mrs. Ettinger sighs that knowing Greg could land a woman like Joan makes her feel good about his future. Translation: Your husband's on a one-way trip to Nowheresville, honey. Get out while you still can.