Tonight’s episode was focused on Richard’s 41st birthday. I have to say that whenever anything is focused on Richard, I get a teensy bit bored. He’s the least funny of all the characters. But he’s there because he creates funny situations, and the show wouldn’t be the same without him. I definitely have to thank Richard for bringing New Christine and Christine together because their face-offs, even if they are mostly because of Richard, are hilarious. The hilarious drama occurred, of course, because of Christine’s neurotic need to mark her place in Richard’s life. She is the original Christine, the one who spent 10 years as Richard’s wife, making his birthdays a “national holiday.” She needs to take credit for him, and she has to mark her territory. New Christine asked Christine what to get Richard for his birthday. Christine came up with the perfect birthday present idea, but Christine couldn’t let her take credit for it. She ...
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I love Hamish Linklater and find him irresistibly adorable, so any time he’s on screen is a joy. Tonight’s episode was particularly enjoyable for me (and fellow Matthew fans), because we got to see him outside of Christine’s world and in his own social environment. We also got to see Christine in Matthew’s social environment. The result was a fresh look at this quirky brother-sister relationship, and Christine’s epiphany that maybe she didn’t focus enough on her brother. The episode started with Christine and Matthew at Red Lobster. Christine is working early hours at the gym, so her “clock” is off. Matthew admits he’s not hungry because he ate lunch earlier. When Christine questions him about it, he looks around and announces that it’s 4:30 in the afternoon, and he’s not sure they’re even open. (Helpful hint: eating at Red Lobster at 4:30 does, in fact, avoid the crowds and long waits, even if it makes you feel slightly ag...
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OK, so I’m a huge fan of Christine getting with Ritchie’s teacher, Mr. Harris, and it has to happen soon. I know it can’t happen right away and I like how they’re dragging it out, but I’m very excited to see what happens when they actually get together. They’ve had a lot of those almost-moments, and you know those moments are building up to something. There’s a lot of chemistry between them, which is well-played between Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Blair Underwood. They’re very good at showing their attraction to each other without giving us so much that we get tired of the two of them together. Every time they’re together, I’m excited to see it and I want them to just put down their walls and kiss each other already. But, alas, there’s Ritchie. They have the whole parent-teacher thing. But I’d really love to see what would happen if Daniel Harris and Christine got together. I’d love to see how the Mean Mommies would react....
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In tonight’s repeat of a first-season episode, we return to the arrival of Andy Richter’s Stan, nicknamed Sad Dad by the Mean Mommies. Stan was a nice enough guy, but the air of desperation he put off made me cringe. He was really very sad and just a little bit too eager. But he was also sweet, making her a mixed tape of her favorite band and complimenting her hair. So he wasn’t the hottest man that Christine could’ve picked for her first sexual partner in three years. But he was attentive and willing, and that was all she needed. I thought it was hilarious that Ali directed her to the Whole Foods to pick up guys. And I might add, some of those guys in the Whole Foods were really good-looking. Poor Christine, she couldn’t exactly pick up the handsome ones. The first guy she scared off by talking too much, then backing into a grocer putting away vegetables. The second guy she scared off by not saying anything, grinning like a madwoman and doing her body shake...
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Tonight’s episode was an example of the time-honored battle between little cars and gas-guzzling SUVs. I experience the battle every day when I’m on the road. I have a little car, and I dislike oversized SUVs, especially the kind that take up more than of their fair share of the road. SUVs are so enormous and pompous, like they own the road, and little cars are supposed to bow off in their presence. SUVs are symbolic of the image-obsessed culture that Christine deals with when she encounters the Mean Mommies. So I understand Christine’s anger when Marley’s car wasn’t even dented and hers was completely bent out of shape after she and Marley backed into each other. (BTW, I’m not sure I’ve seen such a complicated security process to get into a school parking lot, but maybe that’s what fancy schools have.) Marley, of course, didn’t think it was her fault. But she told Christine that they would take care of their own repairs and not notify th...
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Tonight’s episode was a repeat of this season’s premiere, and it was good to revisit all the reasons why Richard and Christine should not be together. Yes, it’s easier for them to hang out with Ritchie and be parents without carting Ritchie back and forth between homes. Yes, they’re comfortable together. Yes, Richard can build fancy laundry rooms. Yes, they can rent movies, eat chili and watch football together, but that doesn’t make a marriage work. They’re missing that sweaty-palms kind of passion that Christine is suddenly feeling from the hunky new fourth-grade teacher Mr. Harris (otherwise known as the gorgeous Blair Underwood). Things would be easy if Richard and Christine just got back together and fell into the same routine they had been in before, but they don’t love each other passionately. They love each more like friends, and they work better as friends. About their routine, Christine said: “I make a few lists, he runs a few errand...
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Matthew's going to medical school was brought up again. I was wondering what had happened to that declaration. He had said he was going, but then nothing happened. On last night's episode, he registered for classes and was told he would soon get a “heart listener and one of those ear looker things.” It should shake things up to see him in school. We’ve primarily seen him around Christine and inside her world. Now, he can go out and make his own world, and it’ll open up possibilities for new stories that involve him. Maybe he’ll meet somebody. It’d be good to see him with a woman. He’s so charming, laid back and adorable. It’s time he got some romance. Maybe Ally, the girl who works at the gym? They could be cute together. She’s funny. She may wear green pants with a purple shirt, but that just makes her interesting. She says to Barb: “I need February off. Personal reasons,” and then makes motions that indicate she’s getting...
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Well, happy Thanksgiving to everyone. In a few days, we’ll be enjoying Turkey Day with our families and eating lots of good food. There’s no better way to celebrate a special family holiday than to watch Christine try to make her house the Fun House and win a parenting popularity contest that she’s concocted. I’m not a parent myself, but I’ve had jobs where I’ve watched parents ignore their kids and let them run out of buildings in tears without a second glance. I’ve had to run after the kids and get them to stop crying. Whenever I had to do this, I thought to myself that I would never be that kind of distracted parent. Watching tonight’s episode was like seeing examples of what you don’t want to do as a parent, but somehow it ends up happening.I appreciate this episode because it pokes fun at the behavior of parents, taking what they should and shouldn’t do and making it honest and funny.Christine and Richard should not do Richie...
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I absolutely love the fact that Ritchie, Matthew, Christine and the cat all walked into glass doors in tonight’s episode. I also loved Barb’s comment: “What, were you all raised by birds?” I never thought walking into glass doors could be a genetic thing, but that’s what it seemed like. I have to say that Christine kind of annoyed me. I can understand being strapped for cash, but making Richard cancel his vacation when she just bought a cat? I think Richard was right in taking back his check. Christine buys a cat and then tries to convince him that she’s stretched for money. Richard has paid his share of the tuition for the last three months, so I can understand the frustration when Christine assumed he would offer up the check to help his son. Her version of their “divorce” agreement? “Whenever one of us needs something, he gives it to me.” It’s time they separated “teams.” Christine needs to rely less on Richard.I lo...
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I liked that this episode, even though it was a repeat, showed us what Richard and Christine were like when they got married. It was nice watching flashbacks from their wedding video and seeing them crack up at the vows. I would be cracking up too if I had to say, “Fill each other’s cup but drink not from one cup.” Then Richard said, “This is silly, dude.” It was a perfect moment. But I found it funnier that Matthew wore a T-shirt tuxedo with a cape and couldn’t find himself in any of the family pictures. Matthew cracks me up every time he says something. I don’t know what it is. Hamish Linklater is just charming, and he’s always funny. Like when they were watching the wedding video and he was trying to find himself in it and Christine said that he couldn’t be missed because there wasn’t another guest wearing a T-shirt tuxedo and a cape and he said, “How did I not get laid that year?” It was beautiful comedy. I didn’t ...
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