4x04 Girls' Night

[7.4/10] Ugh, I want to give this episode a higher score. I really do. But the Roland story is so bad. He’s never been my favorite character, but when the show relegates him to the background, he’s not so bad. But now I fear that putting him as a regular presence at the hotel is going to mean more and more of his unfunny shtick.

Case-in-point, Roland once again acts like no human being would. Bringing a mini-fridge to work, watching Erin Brockovich in the middle of the workday, and playing video games on the T.V. you were told to leave at home is just over-the-top, cartoony behavior that has zero basis in reality and, worse yet, isn’t remotely funny. There’s a decent kicker with Jocelyn explaining that she needs him out of the house and Johnny relenting, but it’s pretty meager all things considered and drags the whole episode down.

The David/Stevie/Patrick story about David being unwilling to compromise is much better on a scene-for-scene basis. It’s hard to put my finger on why, but I get such a kick out of Stevie and Patrick scheming to bust David’s eminently bust-worthy chops. In this case, tweaking his inability to compromise with the prospect of plungers and other toilet accoutrement at the front of the store. David’s facial reactions and body language when trying not to betray his utter disgust and disdain are fantastic. The fact that his ensuing rant leads to the first time he refers to Patrick as his boyfriend is a cute button to put on the whole thing, and Stevie’s in rare form.

But the most interesting story in the episode is the one with Moira, Alexis, and Twyla. Moira’s realization that she hasn’t been involved in her own daughter’s life and her fumbling attempts to rectify that nicely walk the line between endearing and comedic. The cold open, with Moira obliviously talking about Ted’s “striking” new girlfriend, is a laugh riot, and Moira’s awkward efforts to learn about her daughter and give her advice for picking up a man, are all quite funny.

They’re also very touching. For one thing, Moira’s earlier clumsy attempts to help her daughter give way to a really sweet statement that Alexis is in her prime and deserves every happiness. It speaks to how mother and daughter are on the same page with how Alexis is once again using Twyla to channel feelings she can’t express herself, and Moira uses Twyla to communicate her feelings back. I’d feel bad for poor Twyla, but she’s touched by Moira’s vicarious compliment and goes home with someone who shares her second favorite color, so surely she’s on a winning streak here anyway.

Still, the best moment is the closing one, where Moira reassures her daughter, not in so many words, that even if you have to wait a year for the right person, when you know there’s something there, it’ll still work out, because it worked out with her and Johnny, so it can work out with her and Ted. It’s the exact reassurance Alexis needs to hear right then, and it’s the perfect counterpoint to her cluelessness in the episode’s cold open.

That story does so well in the end, and the shenanigans involving the Rose Apothecary crew are amusing, but the Roland storyline is so bad that it brings the whole thing down.