Season 2, Episode 3: Family Therapy

Hi everyone. I’ve been busy, this week I quit my job, because I am moving to a new city next week. So yes, I will no longer reside in the same city as Busy and Amanda, but yeah…I’m going to try and get this review done for the week, just in case next weekend is too mental.

So we’ve finally gone back to Busy’s family drama with this episode entitled “Family Therapy.” Let’s see if the Ramones have improved at all since we last all saw them.

The episode opens with Dom hollering at everyone to come get dinner, which is Chinese food, as it appears the Ramone’s are on a take-out diet since Lucy flew the coop. The house also appears to be a mess, as Sam is complaining about hair in the shower. The phone rings and Sam picks it up and from what the conversation sounds like, it seems to be Lucy. Turns out Lucy wants to come over tomorrow at 7pm and have a discussion, which gets everyone’s hopes up that she might finally be coming back.

P.S. I wonder how long she’s been gone, because when she left (the last episode of season 1) it seemed to be autumn-like weather and the last episode with the Busy and Troy date it was clearly the dead of winter, so it must’ve been at least a couple months. Or the writer’s simply don’t keep track of this shit and it’s an inconsistency. Either way, I could see Lucy having to stay away for awhile to think about returning, considering how horribly they all treated her.

The next scene Busy is chilling in her room and Sam comes in and checks to see if she’s brushed her teeth which results in Busy breathing into his face. He kisses her on the forehead and says goodnight. I guess with Lucy being gone Sam’s making more of an effort to be present in the kid’s lives…cuz I never saw him ever really do this stuff with Busy before. Busy asks her dad if they should try and do something special for Lucy, or at the very least change their behaviour. Sam said they aren’t changing and Busy replies that them acting the way they did was why Lucy left in the first place, which Sam is still in denial about and says they aren’t acting differently. What a stubborn ox this man is.

The next day Busy’s dressed up and trying to clean up for her mom’s visit. Of course the men of the household totally forgot, with Dom almost leaving to go out and Sam wearing a t-shirt covered in grease stains. Sam goes off to change and Lucy comes in. She hugs Dom and Busy and eventually Manny comes downstairs and makes some dumb joke about her cooking dinner, to which Lucy curtly replies “I ate.” I’m glad she’s not taking their bullshit, even in joke form.

Lucy get’s them all to sit down and starts telling them the reason she came back to the household.  Side note: The piano is especially heavy in this episode, it’s pretty annoying. Anyway, she sits them down and tells them she’s been seeing a therapist, and that she doesn’t want to break up the family but their communication is very shitty. So of course as soon as she says this, they all start bitching that it’s not their fault, and Sam even says “the only thing wrong with this family is that you left.” You sure you wanna come back to this bliss, Lucy? So Lucy tells them all to pipe down and says the only way in hell she’s ever returning to the house is if they go to family therapy.

The next day at school Amanda’s questioning Busy about her mom, asking if she’s back. Busy tells her she doesn’t know and that they all have to go to therapy. Busy wonders aloud what they’ll do in therapy and Amanda says they’ll probably lie on those couches and spill their guts.

The next scene is the whole Ramone clan sitting in a circle at the therapy session. The therapist makes them all close their eyes and hold hands and tells them to concentrate on what they wanna accomplish tonight, but you can tell the men aren’t taking it seriously at all.

The therapist asks Frankie why he thinks they’re here and he says he came because the mom wanted them to, and then starts whining like a little bitch saying it’s not his fault. She asks Dom the same question and he lets loose and says “Manny is a selfish slob, Frankie is a hermit who hides in his room, Busy’s going through puberty and dad yells too much. Typical Italian family.” Yeah, he pretty much nailed it with that description. Of course this makes them all start yelling at each other and the therapist uses her little gong to get them to shut the fuck up.

The therapist tells them she’s glad she got to see their outburst because it showed her how truly fucking dysfunctional the family really is. She tells them they need to learn how to speak respectfully and kindly to one another. She decides to give them all homework. Manny’s homework is to quit being a lazy fuck and say “please”, Dom needs to stop teasing, Sam to stop being an asshole, Lucy to stop defending everyone and Frankie to quit saying he “didn’t do anything” i.e. stop being a little whiner. The therapist lets Busy decide her own homework which is to help out more around the house.

They all come home and immediately drop their coats and shit everywhere. Lucy tells them that she’s here to stay, but that things are changing, meaning she’s not picking up after them, and she’s not cooking and cleaning all week long for them either because she needs her own life. Other than Frankie, they all seem to get it and start putting their coats and shoes away. Sam seems to be sorta getting it and offers to make Lucy some tea which she seems utterly shocked by. I guess Sam never made anything for Lucy at all since they’ve known each other.

The next scene we see that Busy has fully embraced her homework and is cooking a fine meal for the family. Lucy comes in and offers to help, but Busy says no because she doesn’t want her mom to lift a finger. Dom and Manny come downstairs and Lucy tells them thank you for cleaning their rooms, which of course they didn’t. It was all Busy’s work.

Everyone sits down to Busy’s meal and Busy keeps reminding them to do their homework aka Manny to say please for the food and Sam to not be bossy, but everyone, including Lucy, is like “lighten up Busy.” Sheesh they shouldn’t be criticizing her when she’s actually taking this seriously.

Later on Busy’s in her room doing math homework and Lucy comes in and offers to help. Busy says she’s ok and tells her she can spend time with her dad. So it’s pretty clear Busy is trying to take on everything in order to get her parents back together and happy. But you can tell Lucy thinks Busy’s putting a little bit too much on herself.

The next scene Amanda wants Busy to come to the mall, but Busy is too busy (haha) ironing. Even her brother’s have now taken notice and are like “wtf is this housewife routine?” when Busy doesn’t play cards with them. Frankie especially seems annoyed by Busy’s antics. Lucy comes in and asks if Busy wants anything special from the market and Busy says “anything is fine with me, mum” to which causes Frankie to get all pissy and storm into the kitchen to get a drink, with Busy following being like “what the hell is your problem?”

Busy confronts Frankie in the kitchen and asks him why he’s being rude to Lucy. Frankie says he’s not giving in to that “psycho therapy crap” and Busy asks why the hell he’s going if he’s not going to try. He says he’s forced to go, and that he’s not going to become a therapy junkie like Busy. I really have no idea why Frankie is acting like a stupid baby about all this, but whatever, I guess one of them had to be resistant….I’m honestly surprised it isn’t Sam.

The next scene everyone’s back at therapy and it’s been a week and therapist is following up on everyone’s progress. Sam says he and Lucy are doing better, and now talking and the boys did ok. When she asks Busy she goes into this Stepford Wives mode saying she is doing well, cleaning and feels closer to everyone. This causes them all to be like Busy is acting weird cuz she’s denying herself stuff she likes, aka cookies and doing stuff like cleaning Manny and Dom’s rooms. Busy’s confused and asks why they’re acting like she did something wrong because she thought she was doing what they wanted. The therapist replies with “a maid, a cook, someone who never wants anything?” I think Busy thought everyone would want a replacement “old Lucy” who did everyone’s crap since now Lucy won’t stand for it. Busy explains she’s trying to be a “better daughter” because she doesn’t want her to leave again. Busy gets teary eyed and runs out of the room.

Busy sits on a couch outside and Lucy comes out and tells her she isn’t going to leave her. Busy tells her she did before though. Lucy tells her she just needed time and that she loves Busy more than anything. She just wanted the family to learn how to communicate, and in no way expected her or them to become perfect. Everyone tells Busy they love her the way she is and she doesn’t have to try and be this perfect robot anymore. So the episode ends on a promising note that the family is going to all work together and try and make things work.

This was a pretty good episode in terms of the Ramone family’s development. It begins the road to them becoming a better unit again, and that’s when I truly start loving the Ramone’s as a family. I found this episode hit a spot with me, because I kinda had a similar incident happen in my life, except my parents ended up getting divorced. I really love that they end up going to family therapy and it helps Busy’s family, and as corny as it may sound, I think I’ll always keep this episode in my mind if this ever happens with my own family in the future.

 

Season 2, Episode 2: First Date

Hi gang, it’s a gloomy and rainy day here in the ol’ TDot. So how’s about a review? This one is entitled “First Date” so you know it isn’t about Amanda.

Our episode opens with Troy Edwards on the floor of the locker room concocting a poem for Busy. Considering that Troy is apparently this masterful poet, his poem is exceptionally cliche i.e. it is literally the “roses are red, violets are blue” stuff we see all over pop culture.

Justin comes in and tells Troy to get off his ass and get out there and play some crappy volleyball (God I hate that sport). I guess I was wrong about Justin being gone. I think he’s very much reduced to a non-recurring character this season though.

It appears the boys and girls gym classes are taking place at the same time, as a fuck ton of students are all playing about 75 games of volleyball at once. Troy can’t help but notice how awesome Busy is at the game. Amanda’s there complaining about her gym shorts making her look fat, which I must admit, the shorts are pretty awful. Amanda of course notices that Troy cannot stop looking at Busy and points it out. Busy gets annoyed and says he isn’t looking at her, but you can tell she knows he is and is secretly happy about it. Troy is so distracted he ends up getting hit in the head by a ball. Oh that Troy.

After gym is over, Amanda comes into the locker room and hands Busy a note from Troy i.e. that lackluster poem he wrote. Actually after the first two lines it’s pretty decent for a grade eight boy. Much, much better than Amanda’s poem to Frankie I must admit. Of course Amanda is over the moon about this, Busy seems slightly impressed, though not orgasming like Amanda would’ve been.

The scene then scrolls over to the boys locker room, and everyone’s hitting Monkey Ears with the twirled towels….I forget what it’s called. Either way, any beating of Monkey Ears, I support. Justin sits down and tells Troy he needs to man up and ask Busy out. He quotes; “she’s cute, she’s athletic, her dad’s a butcher.” Hmmm bringing up Busy’s Ku Klux Klan dad is probably not a winning over point for Troy, but I digress. Monkey Ears butts in and says’ if Troy asks out Busy he’ll ask out Amanda and double date. Someone needs to assassinate Monkey Ears, I’m just putting that out there. He annoys me so much.

We go to a new scene at the Ramone’s and Sam is all excited because he bought a microwave he thinks Lucy will love, but of course he can’t figure out how to use it, because microwaves are very complicated. Busy makes the mistake of bringing up dating and Sam tells her hell no. She brings up the fact that her brothers could date at her age and Sam replies with the age old double standard of “that’s different.” I hate bullshit like that.

Then we go to a brief scene of Amanda and Busy chatting on the phone, with Amanda saying she knows FER SURE that Troy is gonna ask Busy out. Busy is skeptical and Frankie does kissing noises while listening on another line. That’s about it.

We cut then to Troy and he’s practicing calling up “Biz” to ask her out. He doesn’t have the balls to ask her out yet and his little brother ends up running by and ruining his practice.

The next day at school Amanda’s complaining about a zit and that being the reason no one asks her out. Busy tells her to shut up and just ask out a guy if she really wants to date so badly. Amanda counters with asking Busy why she doesn’t follow her own advice and ask out Troy but Busy says she can’t date. Suddenly the dudes all enter the caf. Justin’s telling Troy to ask out Busy, but not with some cliche, like the movies. Emma, who I guess is now back in with Justin, tells Troy he should ask her to go bowling. Justin shoots down bowling, but hey fuck you Justin, bowling is awesome! I had one of the best nights ever drunken bowling with foreigners in Laos…but that’s a tale for another time my friends. Also I must note that Emma’s voice has gotten way deeper and he seems to be a bit less pudgy. Now if they could make him dress less like a 1980’s stereotype of a nerd he may be half decent.

Anyway, so Troy comes over and starts awkwardly talking to the girls and Amanda is aware enough to take a hint and leave. Everyone is silently egging Troy on to ask her out. Troy ends up doing exactly what Justin said not to do and asks Busy to go bowling. Busy’s face is basically like “Wtf” at that prospect. Seriously, what’s wrong with bowling??

New scene, Amanda’s giving Busy a make-over for the date. She has mud masks on both their faces and is painting Busy’s toe nails. Amanda’s of course going on about how perfect and special the date is going to be, while Busy just remarks that bowling is her worst sport and she can’t believe Troy suggested it. She also can’t believe he also suggested picking her up at her house. Does Troy not remember what a dick Sam was to him? Seriously, I’d be afraid of a burning cross being on the lawn if I was Troy.

The scene shifts to Troy in the washroom trying to teach is little brother about shaving. Never mind the fact that Troy has negative zero facial hair on his face and this is probably his first time shaving as well. Carl gets lippy with Troy and points out this fact and Troy pushes him out of the room.

While lathering his face with a gallon of shaving cream, Troy starts fantasizing about bowling with Busy and how impressed she’s going to be when he bowls a perfect 300 game. You can tell it’s a fantasy because Busy gets all jumpy and throws herself at him, when in real life she’d probably just give him a high five.

Then of course Troy cuts himself with the first shave of the razor. This reminds me of the smoking episode with Frankie and the coughing. Is shaving really that hazardous if you are a newbie? Troy’s dad knocks on the door and is basically like “wtf are you doing in there?” Troy decides to give it up and wipes the tons of shaving cream off his face.

The next scene Amanda comes over to Busy’s to help her get ready for the date, but right off the bat we see that Amanda’s make over has had dire results. Busy’s face is all blotchy and red. I can attest to this, I tried a facial from Shopper’s once and it burned my face so I feel ya pain, Busy.

And I dunno what Amanda did to Busy’s feet, but according to Busy her pedicure makes her “feet look dipped in blood.” LOL.

So Dom interrupts them to ask Busy to come out and he starts giving her pointers about what to wear and how she should act on the date. Basically he tells her to lose the lumber jack look that she’s been rocking this whole season so far. I must note that Dom is looking pretty fine in this scene.

The convo ends with Dom’s girlfriend calling and he runs off. He suggests to Busy before he goes that she should try wearing a skirt, because she should try to look as hot as possible (but not that hot cuz she’s his sister).

I guess all the Ramone’s are scoring tonight, because it appears Manny also has a date, as evident by his canary yellow jacket. He basically gives the same advice as Dom, be feminine, don’t let Sam find out etc. etc. Manny actually doesn’t look half bad here either.

Anyway, so Busy is confused by all the advice she’s received from her brother’s as basically they make it sound like all guys want is a pretty girl who they can boss around. Busy wishes her mom was around to tell her what she should do, but Amanda says the bros are probably right and that Busy should be more “softer.” Of course Busy is like how the hell can you be “soft” and bowl?

So outside Troy’s dad has decided to take it upon himself to drive Busy and Troy to the bowling alley even though you can tell Troy really doesn’t want him to. Troy walks up to the doorbell and rings it. We see an extremely random setting of Sam with only Amanda in the living room and she’s drinking a cup of tea like some old lady. Obviously she’s in there to distract him so Busy can sneak out of the house. Busy takes a decade to get ready and Troy rings the bell like 1800 times, while Amanda tries to distract Sam with talking about Lucy. Finally Busy bolts by Sam just in time and gets out of the house without being seen.

Busy answers the door and Troy still has pieces of paper on his face from cutting it while shaving, even though it’s on the opposite side of where he cut himself. Inconsistencies like this won’t be tolerated, Ready or Not! Busy’s also looking pretty redics, wearing too much make-up, a weirdo half-up hairdo and her girly outfit.

Amanda jets out, but not before making up some excuse as to where Busy went to Sam. All in all they got away with this scheme pretty well I’d say.

Troy’s dad is driving Busy and Troy and says a super corny joke about how Troy might “bowl you over” to Busy. Busy smirks and you can tell Troy wants to die a little inside.

But alas, Troy’s dad is either extremely overprotective or extremely dense, because he decides to actually stay and bowl alongside the teens. Oh God, I am cringing for Troy right now.

But Troy is over it and tells his dad to please leave and thankfully his dad is not totally moronic and agrees to go and tells Troy to call when he wants to get picked up.

So Busy is sucking at the bowling, and it’s most likely due to her horrible outfit restraining her from movement. She pretty much flops awkwardly back and forth to bowl while adjusting her skirt/tights constantly.

Troy’s enjoying it though, because he gets to show off to Busy his mad bowling skillz. This is probably the only sport Troy is better at than Busy and he’s relishing it. Troy even tries to teach her but to no avail.

Finally Busy decides she’s had enough of this masquerade and tells Troy she’s going to the bathroom. There she starts taking off all her shitty make-up, puts her hair down and returns to her tired and true lumber jack look.

So an intense drum beat starts playing and we know Busy is now going to start kicking ass at bowling.  Through this montage we see Busy start to get increasingly better while Troy starts getting worse for some reason. It’s like Busy’s confidence suddenly started making him feel self-conscious. I think Troy is actually pretty intimidated by her now that I’m really thinking about it. But yeah, Troy totally starts sucking out because Busy is beating him.

Troy’s dad comes and picks them up and Troy is still sulking about losing to Busy, damn men and their fragile male egos. Troy walks her to her door and you can tell he can’t get over the fact that she beat him. It’s really lame, and he tells her she’s a better athlete than him and yeah. Get over it Troy, its bowling, who actually cares. But Busy feels awkward about the whole thing.

The next day Amanda and Busy are chilling at Amanda’s house listening to a walkman…oh the nostalgia. Busy seems pretty annoyed that Troy would get all pissy about her beating him and Amanda points out that he’s a guy and men can’t handle women being better than them. She even says the exact same thing I wrote about the fragile male ego.

The door bell suddenly rings and Amanda runs downstairs to get it. It’s Troy and he came by to apologize to Busy for being a sore loser. Busy thanks him for actually being a real man and admitting when he in the wrong. They hug it out and depart on a happy note.

The episode ends with Amanda and Busy carrying on a random convo talking about how weird it was that Troy’s dad came with Amanda trying to justify it by saying it’s because Troy is an artist and they always do strange things. Busy tells her that she gets on her nerves (jokingly), but it’s true. She get’s on all our nerves, Busy.

Again, another episode I really enjoyed. I thought it was cute how it mainly focused on Troy stressing out about asking Busy out and how not normal the date was. I like that Busy didn’t really compromise who she was to impress a guy, even though literally everyone around her told her to do that. All in all, so far, so good, season two.