Man Seeking Woman‘s first season came to a close last night with the series’ tenth episode, titled “Scepter.” As I’ve mentioned before, Man Seeking Woman has been my favorite new television series so far in 2015, and I still stand by that. Looking back, there have been tons of great episodes, and I think the premiere might have actually been one of the weakest. Josh has been on a tough journey this season, and the writers have balanced everything really well. He’s suffered through multiple break-ups, forced relationships, and attempted to fit in by having a one night stand, but he’s never really been able to find his complete comfort zone. While he tries and tries to move on from his ex girlfriend Maggie, Josh can never seem to get past her and always feels like he’s in competition with her to see who can move on faster.
The episode opens with Mike and Josh in the frozen tundra tracking down the last woman on Earth that hasn’t rejected Josh. At this point, it seems like the two of them have tried everything to find a girl that wants to be with Josh, but no matter what, he just can’t lock a girl down. She’s a tribal woman that looks like she’s from the prehistoric age and can’t speak English. Despite her thinking Josh is a powerful god, she just wants to be friends.
Just when Josh thinks all is lost, Maggie calls him. His spirits soar because he thinks she wants to get back together and that everything thus far has happened for a reason. After feeling like a complete loser, Josh sees this return to his comfort zone as a pick-me-up; he gets dressed up really nice, is in the best mood ever, and when he and Maggie meet for lunch, he, once again, tries to replicate the best moments of their past relationship. He wants to hear what he thinks is about them being a couple again, but the real news is that Maggie’s engaged to Graham. Josh’s heart literally explodes and bursts out of his chest because he’s been defeated. While it was one thing to experience his ex-girlfriend upgrading with her new boyfriend, she is now getting married while Josh is still single. Josh feels like he’s lost because Maggie has won the race to the relationship finish line, but he’s such a good guy that he continues to act interested and happy for her as he is wheeled off to the hospital by the EMTs.
At a convenient store with Mike, Josh finds some time travel pills. The pills come with four in a pack, and they let the user go back to any time in their life for two minutes before returning to the present. Josh makes one two minute attempt to stop himself from losing Maggie by shelling out the extra money to buy her a nice necklace instead of the cheap bouquet of flowers that he grabs on the street. This ends up working, and when Josh returns to the present, he and Maggie are still together and in love.
Things are going well until Josh runs into the same money problems and notices Maggie’s physical disappointment that Josh can’t take her out to get sushi. He takes the second time travel pill and goes back nine years to tell himself he should major in economics rather than philosophy. Once again, the pills are a complete success, and the change gives him all the funds he needs to make his relationship even better and take Maggie out to nice dinners.
At this point, Josh starts to take the pills for granted and doesn’t realize he only has one or two left. His third trip goes back to his childhood where he influences himself to grow sweet facial hair. When he returns to the present, he’s the one marrying Maggie, not Graham. He thinks that he hasn’t messed up the space time continuum at all, but he’s actually created a horrible dystopian future now.
Aliens have taken over the Earth and Josh finally settles into his new life, which isn’t all that great. On the inside, Josh is the same video game-loving kid that is struggling to grow up and realize where he wants to go in life, but on the outside, he has abandoned everything he loves, including his friendship with Mike, to be in a relationship with Maggie. Similar to Click, Josh has sort of gone through the years as a robot, but when he takes his body off of autopilot, he’s a different person than how he acted before and nothing properly fits.
Maggie begins to freak out at how changed Josh is from his, now normal, golf- and stock-loving self. When he wants to go put things back to the way they were, he realizes that he has run out of pills. He can’t divorce Maggie because Trackanon, the alien overlord, is Catholic. The only way he can attempt to fix things is by joining Mike as a sex slave. His plan is a huge risk, but Josh steals Trackanon’s scepter and kills the alien overlord. In the end, he frees the human race and is allowed to get a divorce. Josh recognizes that he can’t change the future and does right by accepting that Maggie should be with Graham.
Despite Josh going through some one night stands and temporary relationships this season, his biggest fallback is that he’s never been able to distance himself or really get over Maggie. This episode taught Josh that he can’t force something that isn’t natural. Although it’s taken him an entire season, it now looks like Josh is truly over Maggie and that he can accept the fact that she’s getting married and just be happy for her. While it is hard for him to deal with, this is the first real step in Josh being able to move forward and act like an adult. He recognizes how the most important relationships he has are with Mike and Liz; they’re young, single, and should just be having fun while enjoying each other’s company. There are high hopes for Josh going forward; this was a big first step, and now if he can become comfortable in his own skin, I think he will have no problem finding an honest and happy relationship.
I’m sad to see Man Seeking Woman’s first season end already, but it’s been a lot of fun. There are still tons of shenanigans to be had in the future, and I can’t wait for the clever but realistic ways the show will continue to personify relationship-related situations.
[Photo via FXX]
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