Sasha has continued to sneak around and see Roman once everyone goes home from practice, even after Michelle catches her in the act. Ever since Sasha got home from Joffrey a week (or so) before the Bunheads season picked up, she’s been afraid to go to her house for fear of dealing with her parents and, in many ways, the studio has offered her a refuge. However, when Michelle breaks a date with Marion, a friend of Talia’s boyfriend Talia set her up with, she comes by the studio to discover Sasha waiting for Roman. After getting her to explain why exactly she won’t go home (her house is a disaster), there’s a knock on the door. It’s not Roman but Sasha’s mother, confronting her daughter about the lack of contact and then telling her that she’s divorcing her husband. He’s moving to San Jose to be with his (male) significant other, while she’s dumping the house and moving back to Los Angeles, which leaves Sasha with a choice. Does she move away from her friends, her school, and her dance academy or does she find a place to live and a way to make a life in Paradise work for her?
Will You Marry Me?
Carl is coming home from another summer at camp, which makes Boo incredibly nervous. He’ll be arriving early, leaving no time for her to get a manicure, detonate the bath bomb she bought, pick out a dress, or figure out how to do her hair. As she’s leaving practice to go home and hurry a look up, she runs into Carl at the studio; he caught an early train home and wants a hug, but due to how sweaty she is, she convinces him to give her a quick peck in exchange for more later, once she’s clean. After confirming that they’re going to meet one another’s parents on two separate dinner dates, he gives her a hand-crafted bow-and-arrow set he made her at camp and the two part.
Later, at the Oyster Bar, Boo asks for advice from Michelle, who, upon finding out that Boo can’t bail, tells her to not be herself, to be the Boo that she thinks Carl’s mom wants her to be. Oh, and to set a timer for 90 minutes and high tail it out of there when it goes off, since things like this tend to go bad around that mark. Turns out, that was the worst advice she could have given. It makes Boo even more nervous and she waffles on every question from Carl’s mother Sweetie, looking like a hopeless flake in the process. However, Boo hears Carl tell his mother that Boo is the one he likes and that he could marry her once she gets up from the table.
When it comes time to meet Boo’s parents, things are a mess but for a different reason than they were with the Cramer family. Her brother has friends over and they’re all raising hell, her mother can’t get the paella to turn the right color, her father would rather be anywhere but there, and to top it off, there are the requisite embarrassing stories from both her parents. You can’t necessarily blame them, as Boo had never brought a boy home, though after her brother performs for them while they eat a dessert Carl made (Banana Foster), she has to let it out. She accepts Carl’s “marriage proposal” and spouts off a fairly detailed plotting of their life together, which would be based in New York and feature college and dance companies, until he lets her know that she took what he said incorrectly. He had to be a little hyperbolic to get his mother to listen to him and while he cares a lot for Boo, marriage isn’t on the table.
At least, not until his final year of summer camp.
Truly, Madly, Deeply
Truly is having problems with her landlord and has to temporarily move the goods from her store into Michelle’s home. She doesn’t have a lease and hasn’t been paying the landlady for quite a while due to an outrageous rent hike (40%) that she couldn’t afford; with no appointment available until March, she has to figure out a way to come up with an extra $1200 a month to get her shop back, but in the meantime, she takes advantage of having a place to show the clothes. That includes having Jill, a valued customer, a preview of her fall line while Michelle made coffee and hosting a fall open house that turned into a fairly active party.
Truly’s landlord turns out to be her sister Milly, a stone-faced businesswoman who doesn’t like Truly due to problems both personal (broken ABBA CDs!) and romantic (Truly “stole” Hubbell from her). However, through Michelle’s convincing, she agrees to let off a little bit on her sister.
New Kids
There are two new kids in school and they’re intimidating the girls. First, there’s Cozette, a beautiful dark-haired girl who can speak at least five foreign languages (including Urdu), drinks wine from a picnic basket, and changes her clothes mid-twirl. Then, there’s her brother Frankie, who drives a scooter, plays the piano, and is more than proficient in martial arts and mechanics. The two are extraordinarily talented and have become the most popular kids in school in two days; if that wasn’t enough, Frankie flirted with Ginny once she tried to get information from him (drawing her a picture of Ludwig’s Castle in Bavaria, where he and his sister lived before moving to Paradise) and Cozette is a superior dancer who has raised the bar for everyone at the Paradise Dance Academy. Can the girls keep up?
Additional thoughts and observations:
-“Is Marion being attacked by a giant moth?”
-“Do you not think it’s strange that Katniss just ran by?”
-“Yes, Nancy, you’re a six! Accept it!”
-If you’re wondering about the title, it’s what Carl says to Boo after she mentions that she watched Magic Mike twice during the summer.
-I won’t lie, I’m kind of disappointed that we didn’t get to meet Marion, but I have a feeling that the real thing wouldn’t compare to the photo.
-Again, great use of routines, both in the opening tap number and Cozette’s stunning performance near the end of the episode. One was fun and energetic, the other felt like the arrival of a threat to the girls’ prominence in Madam Fanny’s heart.
-Melanie’s not a big fan of reading and fell behind on her summer list. Another character trait!
-I was a little shocked that Matisse made what sounded like a pubic hair comment but she was talking about leg shaving. This time.
-Alex Borstein! Liza Weil!
-I think they’ve toned Truly down well. She’s still a space case with a lot of nerves and no social skills, but she’s felt like a real person the last two episodes. And of course, Stacey Oristano kills it consistently.
-I didn’t like Boo’s plot (too reliant on people not talking to one another/a silly misunderstanding), but anything that gives me more Carl is lovely. And the 8th grade virginity pact being brought up was cute and a small detail that deepened the friendship of the girls.
-Quick – name any of the girls’ parents first names. I couldn’t until tonight when they revealed Boo’s dad is named Rusty.
-Next week on Bunheads: Michelle and Fanny try to scrounge up money for the studio, the girls continue to be mystified by Cozette and Frankie, and Sasha deals with the potential move.
Follow Us
