Girlfriends' Guide to Divorce Season 3 Episode 2 Review: Rule #137: Move Your Car
Carissa Pavlica
at
.
There are always parts of an hour of GG2D that stand out for various reasons.
On Girlfriends' Guide to Divorce Season 3 Episode 2, I was pained by Jo's actions, worried about Phoebe's and watching with anticipation as Barbara worked on her first column, because, you know, I'm an editor. And a writer.
It's great when you can not only see something from the outside, but when a particular scene or two hits you on the inside, too.
Abby, of course, was right in the middle of it all. I wouldn't say she's the best candidate for Sally Homemaker.
Abby: Here, smell this. Tell me what it is.
Lilly: Do I have to?
Abby: I pushed you out of my uterus; smell it.
When you're asking your teenage daughter to smell your old spices, which turn out to be stale pot, and honestly think "Move Your Car" might be some sort of motivational cheer for your pre-pubescent son on the baseball field, you should probably be living a little more of life than writing about it.
The baseball stuff was kind of shocking to me. Abby is a writer and a researcher. I find it very difficult to believe than an adult American wouldn't at least have a rudimentary understanding of the sport.
I'm also quite skeptical of any mothers in 2017 who wouldn't talk to their kids' baseball coach (seriously...parents in 2017 talk to EVERYBODY), so am ready for the Abby/Coach love story that's coming.
There isn't another reason for the lack of baseball knowledge nor the strange LA moms allowing their kids to be coached by an unknown.
So it wasn't shocking, either, when Abby was excited about reading Barbara's first column. OK, she was also being nosey, but who wouldn't be? What came as a total shock was the advice she gave to Barbara sounded so much like what I dole out.
Abby: No, it's not adjustments, really, it's more global thoughts.
Barbara: Global.
Abby: Big picture stuff. You know, it's great, but it's not from your perspective.
Barbara: Well, you know, it is, in that I wrote it.
Abby: Well, it is, but I kind of lose it in there. You know. Where are you?
Barbara: Well, I'm there at the Goddess Ceremony, which is what the column is about...
Abby: Yes. I just...I want to know what you feel about things, what is your POV, what is your personal experience, you know what I'm saying?
Barbara: Yes.
Abby: Great!
Barbara: You think I should rewrite it.
Abby: Noooo! Not at all. Just like, take another pass.
I had to pull back. Was Abby trying to squash Barbara's voice because it didn't sound like hers? Was she being a friend and looking out for Barbara and her first column, or just bored and picking it apart?
That's not what I'd expect of myself, so I hoped the story wasn't heading that way. I not only love Abby, but the writers of GG2D never let me down yet, so surely they know me, right?
They understand an editor's desire (even a writer posing as an editor) to see their writers capture moments that will make their readers want to come back. To feel what they felt, and live in that moment. Right??
Yes and no.
Mitchell: Where is the fun, the energy?! You've got a whole section here on the duality of the inner goddess.
Barbara: I thought it was interesting context.
Mitchell: SheShe doesn't do context. This read like a college thesis paper.
Barbara: OK. I'll take another pass. But just to be clear, you wanted my distinct voice. THIS is my voice.
Mitchell: Yeah, your voice is kind of a drag.
All of that was just peachy, until just afterward when Mitchell suggested writing about what they wore at the Goddess Ceremony. You know what? I hope Barbara DID write about that, just to prove a point. I almost liked him for a moment, until his own voice became a drag.
But overall, it was very cool feeling represented on the show, and even coming out knowing the advice I give isn't half bad.
When Barbara initially noted she was using so many of the gal pals' stories together and separately as ideas for her column, I wondered if that might not cause issues. But nobody seemed to mind. Good friends are for mining ideas.
Personally, I don't think Barbara needs the others for her ideas. She may not be a gal about town (yet), but her views on life are spot on. I just wish Jo had really heard her when they talked at the Goddess thing, because this time she was too late.
Jo lost Scott. No. It's worse. She killed what she had with Scott.
Yeah well. The man is fine. As are you. I feel like you guys, you fit, you match up. I don't know if he was an addict so much as he was just screwing around until he found his person. I'm guessing we'll never know, now.
Barbara
Barbara described that perfectly. Scott tried to explain it himself, but Jo kept brushing him off.
Her own fears about herself and what she had been through in the past kept creeping up and slapping her in the face, a face Scott could look at and love all day and all night.
Jo was so certain that Scott would stray, that she was too old, that ever girl in the room was drawing his gaze, that she became a different person.
She thought sex would please him. She was trying to learn the Kamasutra, to get as many positions down as possible so he wouldn't get bored. But Scott was bored. Of sex. He wanted to show her off to the world.
You are incorrigible. You know, the world is full of women, all types, but there is only one infuriatingly sexy, magnificent Josephine.
Scott
Jo just didn't believe him.
It's easy to understand where she's coming from, because being older and (you think) wiser gives way to so many insecurities. But with the support of friends like Jo's, she needed to slow down.
At the same time she was dropping off Frump at rehab, she was acting obsessed with Scott and his supposed sex crimes to the point it seemed she was high. She was manic, eyes darting and unable to think, sleep.
Jo: Trust is not in my wheelhouse right now.
Scott: This? Could have been amazing.
I can only hope that this isn't paving the way for some sort of reconciliation with Frump after he's out of rehab. After what she threw away with Scott, there isn't a rekindling story in the world that would suit the two of them.
What Jo needs now is some serious introspection. She needs to learn how to love herself and forgive others. Not for what they have done to her, but what they've done before they've begun their journey together.
The whole thing is so heartbreaking.
I'm not sure I'm digging what's going on with Delia and Albert. Not that I ever did, but in going back to the firm, she's right back where she was with Gordon.
Delia has another man manipulating her into doing what they want so they can teach her a lesson they think she needs to learn.
Gordon manipulated Delia into wanting a one-bedroom house by showing her only the houses she didn't want (or something like that...it was manipulation), and now Albert is using the new attorney to push Delia's buttons so Delia can be made the fool at her own firm.
This is a story I don't dig, and as cool as Necar Zadegan looks with every flip of her hair and tilt of her sunglasses, she's better than the story that's been written for her so far.
Which brings us to Phoebe. Oh girl.
Who would have thought marrying JD would be so good for her? He's a lot stronger than I imagined, but he's also being pulled around a bit by her womanly wiles.
Did you see the pages and pages of personal "people" she had on her payroll? I find it hard to believe even $40k per month would pay for that many people. Then again, maybe that's why her savings would dwindle so fast.
Phoebs was living the high life.
While JD was trying to call her on it, it was her new boss at the gallery who really set her in her place.
Grayson: Phoebe, where do you think I negotiate my sales?
Phoebe: I have no idea.
Grayson: In my office. Top buyers hungry for product will see JD's painting hanging on the wall, will ask why it isn't out with the rest and what do you think I will tell them? Cuz it's my personal favorite. And what does that accomplish? It makes them want it more. This is what I do. I build up new artists; I create demand. And YOU, Phoebe, I'm sorry to say, you live in a fantasy world where you think you can step into MY gallery and everyone will just fall at your feet. Well, this is real life, a business. You want your husband's career to take off? Then let me do my job. And you want to have success here? Shut up. Learn. And bring me some buyers. Yeah? Understand? OK. You look great.
Essentially, she has promise, but to start, she's nothing but eye candy to lure buyers with her vast contacts thanks to past marriages and a sponge to suck up all the knowledge Grayson has to offer.
Sure, he was harsh, but at this moment in her life, Phoebe needs to hear it that way. She's never listened before. She's always had a man caring for her. Now she has a man who truly loves her. Turns out there is a difference.
This was a heck of an episode, and coming up on Girlfriends' Guide to Divorce Season 3 Episode 3, Abby's attempt to take Barbara out to grease her engine gets totally turned around, so that should be a lot of fun.
What are you thinking about the new season so far? I'd love to hear your comments!! Which story calls to you right now inside and out? Don't forget, you can watch Girlfriends' Guide to Divorce online to catch up if needed.
Talk soon!
Carissa Pavlica is the managing editor and a staff writer and critic for TV Fanatic. She's a member of the Critic's Choice Association, enjoys mentoring writers, conversing with cats, and passionately discussing the nuances of television and film with anyone who will listen. Follow her on X and email her here at TV Fanatic.
