The Exes: Phil + Stuart as a Couple...

by Amy K. Bredemeyer

I noticed a few junky camera shots in this episode and wonder how that got past the cutting room floor. But that was really my only complaint, so not a big deal. This episode had two major stories going on, and, as per the usual, one was about Holly and one was about the guys. Both were fairly funny, though the Phil/Stuart plot wasn't very original. In fact, it's been done multiple times in recent years, let alone the years of classic sitcoms past. Holly and Eden weren't exactly breaking ground either, but I'll let that go. For now. Let's hope next week is better.

The Exes "An Inconvenient Tooth" (S01E05): Phil, suffering from a toothache, goes to Holly for some "lady painkillers." She tells him to just ask Stuart, but it turns out that Phil is afraid of dentists. [a bit too cliche and overdone...] After being kicked out, Phil returns to his apartment, where Stuart wants to have dinner together to celebrate four weeks of living together. Phil, fast on his feet, tries to push it off by saying that guys don't do that sort of thing. It doesn't work, so Phil gets Haskell to help him out - every time Phil distracts Stuart, Haskell takes some of Phil's food. After a while, the plan falls apart and Haskell tells Stuart the truth. [the whole charade made me laugh quite a bit, tho.] The next day at Stuart's office, they share a really dumb scene, with Phil being all petrified and whatnot. It doesn't take long before it's hours later, and Phil is at home in bed. He's no longer in pain. He's also no longer alone - Stuart's assistant slept with Phil, and Stuart ends up walking in on them canoodling. [I didn't see this coming. But I guess I should have. did you?] As one would guess, Stuart is worried about what's going to happen next, but Phil assures him that it was all casual. Unfortunately, as soon as Phil's back at the office, we see that the assistant is clearly obsessed with Phil. She even follows him home to get a shot at talking to Phil. She picks up on the fact that he isn't interested in her, which leads her to quit on Stuart, since he reminds her of Phil, which reminds her of every bad decision she's ever made. [stupid girl, stupid problems. next!] Stuart tries to get Phil to fix everything by saying that he's gay, which he's reluctant to do. He finally gives in, but it doesn't go as planned, since she then thinks that Phil and Stuart are lovers. [hehehehehe!]

Now, on to the other story... Eden brings some boxes to Holly's, but it took so long that she doesn't have time to go home and change to go to the club, and wants to borrow a top from Holly. The next day, Eden returns it and shows Holly some photos. [wow. dry-cleaned and everything that fast?? She's an awesome assistant!] Eden wants to borrow more designer clothing, and all it takes is a "you're pretty" compliment for Holly to offer Eden closet carte blanche. When Eden brings back that outfit, Holly becomes jealous that her clothing has more fun than she does, and begs Eden to take her out if she's going to borrow her clothes. [it's kinda only fair.]

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But when they get to the club, the bouncer won't let Holly in, since the club is going for an under-25 image. [Eden is supposed to be under 25? totally don't buy that. she's short and all, but looks more like 30-32... don't ya think?] Holly climbs a dumpster to sneak into a bathroom window, but when she later recounts her night to the guys, it certainly doesn't sound like she had a good time! [too bad. poor Holly. is the show trying to get us to feel sorry for her or what's the driving point here?]

In case you're interested, the only other thing of interest going on this episode was the fact that Stuart taught haskell how to fold napkins, and he becomes obsessed with folding them into different shapes.

Next week? Judith Light at Holly's mom!