Elka's Interrupted Wedding...

by Amy K. Bredemeyer

Hot in Cleveland "Elka's Wedding" (S02E22): This episode was just plain annoying. It had its funny moments, but it was just trying too hard to be The Hangover, Part 3. Joy wakes up to an iguana staring at her. Joy and Victoria both have very large hairdos, and Melanie is duct-taped to the wall. There are random people passed out all over the living room. From here, they start talking about what they remember from the day before...

Victoria chastised a policeman because she thinks that he's a stripper. [this joke is WAY overdone.] Melanie was in charge of making sure nobody has a hangover the next day - so she passed out water and aspirin... but it turns out that Melanie gave them worm drugs (for dogs) instead of aspirin. [stupid problem.] Joy and Victoria both remember kissing a man who smelled of maple syrup... and they're both wearing wedding rings, with no idea to whom they are married. Oh, and by the way, the wedding is in three hours and Elka's missing. Melanie remember that, the night before, Elka was looking for a sign from her late husband that it's okay that she remarry. Victoria is still upset about the cop calling her a "local celebrity" (rather than a "national celebrity") and talks about the four stages of an actor's life: "get me Victoria Chase," "get me the Victoria Chase type," "get me a young Victoria Chase," and "who's Victoria Chase?" [this was pretty funny.] Then, they remember some lettered mugs organized into sayings so they head to the bar, where they find out that Melanie started and won a wet t-shirt contest while the others took a purity pledge. The mugs are arranged to say "don't do it" for the pledge drive, but Elka saw them and got upset that it was "a sign." After that, they think they all went to the church, where Joy decided that she and God were alike in that they both didn't marry and they're both vengeful. Melanie realizes that she started the wet t-shirt contest because she fell in the baptismal pool at the church. After the church, they went back to the bar to eat pancakes... but when they ran out of maple syrup, Victoria and Joy apparently flew to Canada to get more.

Now, back to the actual wedding day... Elka and Fred run into one another in a cemetery, thrilled that they were both seeking "approval" from their first spouses. While heading down the aisle, Victoria and Joy remember that they married each other! [I LOVED their bridesmaids dresses!] As she's going down the aisle, Elka is stopped by a guest, begging her to marry him. Then, another man begs her. Then, a third. Then Max comes in... but the kicker is when her (thought-to-be-dead) first husband appears!

Hang in there, guys. Hot in Cleveland returns November 30th.