Still Up Season 1 Episode 8 Review: The Wedding
Christine Orlando
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Lisa and Veggie finally had it out in Still Up Season 1 Episode 8, but did they say everything that needed to be said?
Veggie had to track Lisa down at Danny's because she left the house in the middle of the night once again.
We know Lisa has chronic insomnia and spends most nights on the phone with Danny, but exactly how often does she leave the house while Veggie and Poppy are sleeping?
From Veggie's point of view, that must be unnerving.
But this time, Veggie finally had the courage to ask Lisa what the hell was going on with them.
Lisa left the house to go to a storage unit that he didn't know she had to retrieve the hobby horse his father made that Lisa despises.
Although this is about so much more than a storage unit, it is a microcosm of their issues.
Veggie wanted Lisa to get rid of her stuff when she moved in. Lisa didn't want to, and instead of standing her ground, she secretly got a storage unit.
There have been so many little lies and omissions throughout their relationship that they've piled up into a mountain that seems insurmountable.
As much as Danny may appear to be at the center of this, he isn't. He's on the sidelines. He's the friend Lisa connects with in all the ways she should connect with Veggie but doesn't.
Lisa: I’m not sleeping with him, Veggie. Am I?
Veggie: No. It would make more sense to me if you were. I don’t think you know what it’s like for your partner to come alive as soon as you go to bed. It’s like I sleep through all of your shine. I wish you were sleeping with him. At least I could be angry, you know. We could work through it, but I don’t even know what the problem is, let alone how to fix it.
I'm sure Veggie doesn't really wish that Lisa was sleeping with Danny, but that would be something tangible. It would be a reason to walk away or an obstacle they'd need to overcome.
But their problems are vague and complex, which makes it all the more maddening.
Veggie loves Lisa. Lisa clearly cares for Veggie. They've made a family with Poppy, but if they haven't been honest with one another, then none of it is built on solid ground.
If Lisa loved Veggie, she would have been overjoyed with a proposal, not run from one before it was even offered.
If I have one complaint about this Still Up season 1 finale, it's that I wanted more of Lisa and Veggie being honest or even angry with one another.
There's so much that Lisa doesn't say, and it's frustrating. I wish we knew more about Lisa, such as who is Poppy's father and how she ended up as a single mom.
It feels like Lisa walks on eggshells around Veggie. Does she feel like Veggie looks down on her? He did tell Danny that he thought Lisa needed to grow up. I wish he'd said more.
But Veggie and Lisa are at a crossroads, and the decisions moving forward are all the more difficult because they care about one another. Not to mention that they live together with Poppy, and it's clear that someone, likely everyone, is going to get hurt if they break up.
But that doesn't mean this relationship shouldn't end, especially if staying together means they both feel like they're settling. They both deserve someone who lights up just for them.
And that leads us back to Danny.
The flashbacks to the wedding where Lisa and Danny met were enlightening in so many ways.
Lisa and Danny clicked the moment they met. They made each other laugh. They had fun together. It was the start of a beautiful friendship.
But it could have been the start of more, if not for some serious stumbling blocks.
First off, Danny was with the infamous Chloe, and we got to see the breakup that sparked Danny's insomnia and agoraphobia that has lasted three years!
Chloe was no good for Danny, but his self-esteem was so low that he couldn't see it. I mean, who refers to their boyfriend as their "little munchkin," never mind to someone they just met?
But Danny thought Chloe was "the one" and was determined to propose to her while she was on stage during the wedding.
There is one thing Chloe was right about. You don't propose during someone else's wedding. The happy couple deserves the spotlight, and it's bad form to steal it from them.
But if humiliating himself in front of everyone at the wedding reception wasn't bad enough, then Chloe dumped him. Not only did Danny learn the woman he loved didn't want to marry him, but she didn't even seem to like him.
And as was obvious from this Still Up quote, she had no problem being cruel in telling Danny so.
Chloe: Who does that? Proposing at someone else’s wedding and still managing to screw it up.
Danny: It was in my pocket.
Chloe: It’s not about the ring, Danny. I was never going to say yes.
Danny: Why?
Chloe: It’s so clear to me now. I’ve outgrown you. I thought we were going down the same road together, but the truth is, you’re going nowhere. Nowhere I want to go, anyway.
Lisa ineptly tried to help Danny avoid making a fool of himself that night, but she may have just made it worse. When she finally told Danny that she took the ring, he was perplexed.
Danny: Why would you do that?
Lisa: I don’t know.
Danny: You don’t know. There’s no reason. You just said…
Lisa: Of course, there was a reason!
Danny: Then what’s the reason? Lisa, tell me the reason. What’s the reason?
Lisa: Because I thought that you deserved better. I could see that Chloe was using you, and you didn’t deserve that because I just met you, but I could already tell how kind and funny you were. And because I liked you.
Danny and Lisa realized that she meant "like" in more than a platonic way, and it was a shock to them both.
Would Lisa have chosen to date Danny if he had been available at the time instead of going out with Veggie?
We may never know.
Lisa was so shocked by her confession that she hung up her phone.
And Danny was so surprised, and dare I say, elated, that it propelled him out of his flat and on his way to see Lisa. Agoraphobia, be damned.
But that wasn't the only confession between these two. During this same conversation, Danny had already admitted why he was able to leave his home the first time during Still Up Season 1 Episode 6.
Lisa: We should go dancing, like right now. What’s stopping us?
Danny: Well, me. Hello. I’m agoraphobic.
Lisa: But you left the flat to come and find me.
Danny: But that was, well, that was different.
Lisa: Well, how?
Danny: Well, because you needed me.
But by the time Danny got to Lisa's place, Veggie had already returned. Veggie went for a run and ended up running in circles, which seems an appropriate metaphor for his and Lisa's relationship right now.
I was surprised that Lisa chose to speak to Danny on the phone looking through the window instead of just opening the door, but I suppose if Veggie had come down and found Danny there, that would have been unbearably awkward.
Hearing that Veggie's back, Danny almost leaves with a simple, I'm here for you, but then he realizes that he came all this way to say more and puts it all out there.
I’ll be your mirror, Lisa. I see the real you. I do. The warm, kind, funny, certifiably crazy person who would do absolutely anything for anyone. Like, steal someone’s engagement ring so they don’t make the biggest mistake of their life. When you need someone to remind you of how great that person is, I want you to call me.
Danny
Danny makes Lisa laugh the way no one else does. He listens to her. And he likes her even when she doesn't act like a grownup.
Are Danny and Lisa meant to be together? Will Veggie and Lisa break up? Will we ever know what "list" David, aka Cat Man, had Lisa on before she gave him the new kitty?
We won't know unless we get Still Up Season 2. I hope that happens because these characters have got me hooked, and I want to see what happens to them next!
Well, TV Fanatics. Unless and until we hear about a possible new season, this is the end of Still Up.
So hit that SHOW COMMENTS button down below and tell me what you think.
Still Up airs on AppleTV+.
C. Orlando was a TV Fanatic Staff Writer. Follow her on Twitter.
