2 Broke Girls

In "And the Pop-Up Sale," the 2 Broke Girls tried to raise money for a new oven by selling off one of Caroline's expensive ring. The episode executed the personal storyline well, but it failed to deliver laughs again. Let's go over the good and the bad, shall we?

The Good. They've got the girls down pat. Their characters, the way they interact and play off each other, it's all done very well. My favorite part of the episode was Max's icy attitude towards Caroline after Caroline abandoned her, and then their eventual reconciliation. First, it gave Max another note to play: that of the hurt and betrayed friend. I could feel her heartbreak, her insecurity, all covered up with a hard shell.

Max hasn't had a lot of good things come her way in her life, and the show has done a good job of setting that up. Caroline's sacrifice, plus the very material joy of a dream oven appearing in her kitchen, was a great payoff. A material payoff for the privileged Caroline wouldn't have been so emotionally engaging, but for Max, it definitely heart-warmed me.

And again, there was an attempt to infuse the secondary characters with, well, some character. I did appreciate it. Han is still the weak link, and I'm not gonna say Oleg and Earl are compelling individuals, but at least I don't hate them as much.

The Bad. Too much relying on racial stereotypes as jokes. Just too much. It turned me off, and I can see from the reaction on Twitter that it turned a lot of other people off, too. When the bulk of your jokes are borderline offensive, it's hard to be on board with them. I hardly laughed. It's such a weird combination of heart and fluff in 2 Broke Girls lately, and I hope they find more of the latter soon.

Besides that, the other issues were more of the same. The usual Max as a walking punch-line delivery for most of the episode, and the lack of any other character I can get invested in besides the two leads. Why won't they listen to me and bring back Johnny?

Stray Observations

• Bring back Johnny. It's not that hard, is it?! There's a huge gap missing since Chestnut's been gone, after all.
• Bring in any guest star that I can hang a hope on.
• How awesome was that oven? I am not a purple girl, but I can see its appeal.
• I was cringing the whole time they were throwing fire at the pilot thing. (And okay, I laughed at the eyebrow joke).
• My husband thinks Kat Dennings was wowza sexy in this ep.