Hot in Cleveland: The Ring

From the episode's title, "The Proposal," you probably knew where this 22-minute block was headed. Sure, perhaps Alec and Melanie decided to speed things up, but the opening moments featuring everyone but Victoria accepting a proposal cured that notion. Then, it's immediately about the ring possibly causing a rejection, for some reason. Emmet: "I'm worried that the diamond is too big." Joy: "that sentence doesn't even make sense." Joy's right; there is no "too big" unless the piece looks like a RingPop. And, from that moment, the rest of the episode is more about that ring than anything else... how Emmet will use it in the proposal, what Melanie and Joy will do to find it when it goes missing, and even how it immediately becomes evidence in a case against Emmet. The whole IRS arrest came off as contrived, but this series isn't exactly known for its subtlety.

Hot in Cleveland "The Proposal" (S04E15): Emmet is worried about proposing to Victoria, as between his four marriages and her five, all of the "good proposals" (i.e. via dolphin) have been used. After discussing numerous ideas with Victoria's friends, Emmet decides to go with the classic restaurant setting, as she'd never expect it. [for what it's worth, my proposal was at a restaurant (albeit at the Space Needle) and I didn't see it coming!] Melanie and Joy put the ring in a dish of chocolate mousse, but they don't keep an eye on it and it disappears. [why they left it alone, who knows!] This means that they need to go to extreme measures to find it, even if that means hunting through other mousses, insulting a newly-engaged couple, making Victoria cry, and taking the ring from another couple. [I was upset for the girl in the antique blouse!]

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Things at the restaurant get complicated even after the ring is found, though, as Alec squeals when he sees a mouse, right when Emmet was practicing his proposal. This causes the restaurant patrons to think Emmet is gay. [which was kinda funny.] Of course, he then proposes to Victoria, in the middle of being arrested for tax fraud, for which is is held without bail. [The girls bringing home another mousse with another ring was too much!]