Last night on The Neighbors Marty and Debbie made their first attempt at – well, human contact. After spending the past weeks with just their children and the Zabvronians, the human couple was itching for some normalcy and planned to have their four favorite couples over for a boys’ night of poker, and a girls’ night out. Marty and Debbie Weaver carefully plan their method of breaking the news to Larry Bird and Jackie Joyner-Kersee very carefully, as apparently, whenever Larry feels pain or rejection (or any emotion as we see later) the rest of the Zabvronian community does, too.
But even though they manage to cancel an evening with the couple, when your neighbors are aliens things don’t go as planned.
When Jackie gets the notion that Debbie obviously wants her to meet the rest of their friends, she lets Reggie Jackson show her clips of Real Housewives of New Jersey as a method of learning how normal wives behave. As soon as the two start discussion what she should do — stir up controversy, brag about her husband, speak melodramatically into the camera — it’s clear that it’s going to be an interesting evening. And the potential for disaster compounds when Larry gets determined to dominate the human men in an effort to impress his teenage son.
So when the alien couple shows up at the Weavers’ doorstep, what are they to do, but let them join their evening?
Out with the girls, Jackie takes on a Jersey accent and blows up in offence when one of the other women spills a glass. The ladies night turns into a nasty affair, accusations and obscenities volleying across the table, until finally, Debbie cracks and yells at Jackie that she didn’t really want her to come and had lied earlier in the evening. Once the rest of the ladies have clear out, and Debbie cools off — downing a decent amount of Sangria — she seeks out Jackie in the women’s restroom. Jackie admits that she has never had a girlfriend until the Weavers showed up, and Debbie concedes that while her intention was sweet, sometimes, as a human, she needs to be around people who they don’t need to constantly explain things to. But, as she points out, crying together on the floor of a public bathroom is the definition of ‘girlfriends’.
Back at home poker night takes an odd turn when Larry manages to turn the game into an awkward tribute to fathers. But Reggie, who is desperate to fit in with the humans just cannot take it anymore, and attacks his father for ruining his life, exclaiming that he didn’t ask to be brought to Earth and he hates him. Much like Debbie did with Jackie, Marty runs after Larry and gets him to divulge the real source of his need to defy human culture — he’s worried that it’s going to be a very long time before they go home to Zabvron, and he doesn’t want his children to forget where they come from. Marty tells his neighbor a tale from his own family, about how changing times forced him to alter a family tradition, and advises Larry that yes, he can still keep his culture alive, but he should also be willing to adapt.
Larry bridges the cultural void between himself and his son by bringing him a flat-screen television…that he stole from the Weavers (“They have more televisions than people”), and sits with Reggie as they enjoy the “excellent show” that is the ‘no signal’ blue screen.
Meanwhile, Marty and Debbie relax against Marty’s vintage car, observing the Zabvornian celebration in the street (residual joy from Larry’s happiness), musing that they really like their neighbors.
I have to admit, I laughed a lot while watching this episode. The show has some great one-liners and the cast is just great at playing with the situations. It’s clear to see why The Neighbors is getting mixed reviews, as it is definitely a little weird. But I for one enjoy the humor in the writing. It’s funny in a way that’s just weird and cheesy enough, and doesn’t seem to be taking itself too seriously. Again, it’ll be interesting to see where the show goes in the coming weeks.
The Neighbors airs Wednesday nights at 8:30 on ABC.
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