Happy Endings review – 3×05: ‘P and P Romance Factory’

This week Happy Endings returns with Rob Corddry reprising his role as the Car Czar.  It also has one of the funniest cold opens we’ve seen in a while.  This is good. Unfortunately the whole Dave (Zachary Knighton) and Max (Adam Pally) side story is bad.  Where does this leave the episode?

Let’s bitch.This week Jane (Eliza Coupe) is having a rough time at work due to the fact that the Car Czar and his cronies are a boys club.  Having Jane talk about internet porn is definitely not a good way to have her infiltrate this club…awkward…but hilarious (see below).

Lucky for her she’s got Brad (Damon Wayans Jr.) as her secret weapon for guy talk. Too bad Brad ends up joining the housewives, though (in true gender reversal traditional for this couple), this allows Jane to join the man’s club by trash talking Brad.  I don’t know about you, but I would never trash talk that man. He is a good and FINE man.  And that is all I will say…for now.

I have said it before, but I’ll say it again: these two are my favorite couple on TV. In reality, though, it’s nice to see this dynamic duo have a bit of a spat and show they’re less than perfect. It makes the make up so much better (and if their awesomeness wasn’t perfectly evident until this week, their special handshake brings it home).  On top of this, Brad’s imitation of a trophy wife had me seriously hoping he would join the next incarnation of the Real Housewives of whatever city is left….Missoula? What?!?  WHAT?!?!

At the other end of the relationship spectrum, Penny (Casey Wilson) is seeing a new guy (Nick Zano). Unfortunately for her, she’s been prescribed a helmet due to her recent fall down the stairs. This leads to some amusing and somewhat original ways in which she tries to hide her helmet of shame. The Segway tour date is my favorite (and also something I will definitely be trying with the next unlucky guy.)  Penny’s freak-out after hitting her head on the lamp killed me.  I can’t even imagine why the guy stays; I would have been completely freaked.

Now while this continues the Penny-is-a-mess storyline, it is nice to see her win in the end. Hopefully this romance will blossom into something more than a one episode fling.  (It should: Zano is a listed player for the next episode, so we will have to wait and hope that this is indeed the fiscal year of Penn)y.  As an added bonus this storyline also contains my favorite sight gag: Penny and Alex’s (Elisha Cuthbert) helmet hair. Throw in Max’s reaction, and you`ve got the cherry on top.  Perhaps they can join Bret of Flight of the Conchords and all go biking together. (Make this happen ABC!)

Unfortunately not all is right in the land of Chicago: this episode also has dead weight in the form of Max and Dave’s side-story of a fist bump gone awry.  Now it isn’t all bad, as there are a few good jokes (mostly involving Alex).  The problem is the premise: it just doesn’t work. It’s silly and uninteresting, and then they throw in Dave’s admission that he was the one that invented the “down low, too slow,” handshake, which is just taking a half baked idea and sprinkling some alum on it.  No one likes alum (that sh*t is nasty).  This is the problem when you turn-up the zanny factor up too far. Instead of funny, it comes off  ridiculous and lazy.  Next time turn down the crazy and work a little harder at getting a storyline that works. Yeah, I said it. So what?!

Funniest lines of the night:

• Jane: “Hey boys, what are we doing?  Looking at some girly pics?  I can get into that.  To think that she is somebody’s daughter. She was once a baby…in a nursery.”
• Jane: “So, you guys wanna go check out some porno?  Get some eyes on some thighs?  Some peepers on some creepers.  Some rods and cones on some…bras and thongs….”
• Car Czar: “Great party Jane, and thanks for that scotch.  That was the second best 18 year old I’ve had all week.”
• Brad (referring to the Car Czar): “Hahaha….His humor makes me uncomfortable.”

What did you think?  Was I the only one scratching my head when Dave said that he had invented the down low too slow?  Am I just being crabby?  How much did you love Brad’s Real Housewife impression?

Happy Endings airs Tuesdays at 9pm EST on ABC