Go On: A Porsche Won't Fill the Void

by Amy K. Bredemeyer

Can we talk for a second about how much I love foreign languages on television? Even languages I don't know (like the Dutch that appears in an episode of Friends or the French that Niles and Frasier often flirt with on Frasier). I think that it gives Switched at Birth much more depth than it might have had otherwise, and here, it's a delight to hear Fausta use a sprinkling of Spanish here and there... nothing uber-complicated or long, but enough that you get where she's coming from and that it makes sense for her character to slip in and out of her native tongue. Anyway, I'm glad that this show has that aspect to it. I also think that this episode is a big improvement over the previous one. Here, we have Ryan actually opening up about his situation and what's bothering him, with the group, his boss, and even his gardener all wanting to give him comfort. I won't go as far as to say that I'm now hooked on this comedy, but it's not out of my interest zone yet! What about your barometer - is it still worth watching in your opinion?

Go On "There's No 'Ryan' in Team" (S01E03): Ryan can't give bad news so he's been avoiding people so he doesn't have to explain that his wife died. He even goes as far as trying to exit his home through his kitchen window to get out of talking with his gardener, to whom he just lies anyway. [I love how off-topic the group gets! the license plate discussion was hilarious - an easy way to break news, indeed!]

(Photo by: Justin Lubin/NBC)

(Photo by: Justin Lubin/NBC)

Ryan also has been mentioning that he gets lonely at 1:23am because that's when Janie would roll over and accidentally hit him. [I've never understood people who can "program" themselves to wake up at a certain time! I did LOVE Steven's point about how, if Ryan says, "let's go to dinner," Steven would say, "let's go to Vegas!" Also, why doesn't Ryan just try going to bed at 1:30am? Plus, the "I need a hug" "e stick to beat you with" was pretty funny, though apparently it's a famous joke of some sort as well that went right over my head.] And, though several of his coworkers must know that he's in therapy, Ryan isn't comfortable with his colleagues meeting his mourning peers, so he acts like he doesn't know the group when he sees some buddies playing basketball. [by the way, haha on the joke that baseball is broccoli and football is dessert!] At the next group session, everyone wants to know why Ryan didn't introduce them, claiming that they're more than just "a group," that they're friends.

Ryan winds up being honest with his gardener, Miguel, who erects a large fountain in Ryan's backyard. To get away from it all, Ryan drives his new Porsche to meet Steven, but all he wants to do is get drunk and break bottles, so Ryan winds up going to meet the group at a monthly social outing at a bowling alley. [I found the commands he was giving his car to be pretty amusing.] Everyone takes turns driving Ryan's car, but the true bonding moment happens at 1:23am, as the group (and Steven) show up to Ryan's house, because that's when they know he's lonely. [why did everyone spend the night??]