Dirty Sexy Money"The Silence "
Original Air Date: October 29, 2008.
Liz - TwoCents Reviewer
liz@thetwocentscorp.com
Election day with the Darlings. You only wish that the most exciting part of your election day wasn't going to be standing in line at the polling place and waiting for your turn to step behind the curtain. Or, considering the things that happen to the Darlings on election day, maybe you don't. And that makes you, sir or madam, a sensible human being.
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Dirty Sexy Money
ReplyDelete"The Silence "
Original Air Date: October 29, 2008.
Liz - TwoCents Reviewer
liz@thetwocentscorp.com
Election day with the Darlings. You only wish that the most exciting part of your election day wasn't going to be standing in line at the polling place and waiting for your turn to step behind the curtain. Or, considering the things that happen to the Darlings on election day, maybe you don't. And that makes you, sir or madam, a sensible human being.
I think it's safe to say that no one was surprised when they opened the show with Nick and Lisa in marriage counseling. Or at least I wasn't. Three Darlings call him in two minutes, one of them being Brian Jr. to have Nick listen to his parents arguing. Letitia is advised to act like she's under arrest. Karen is given an ultimatum by Simon to accept his proposal or it'll be over. Jeremy, uh… does a favor for Nola to get his mother out of the house for Patrick's victory party. Patrick himself once again gives the "I'll show you all!" tirade to Nick and Tripp because Tripp is against Patrick going public with Carmelita. To top it all off, Ellen's brother Chase dives in threatening the Darlings with the truth.
In the opening minutes, we can answer the rhetorical question that Aaron Sorkin liked to pose: what kind of day has it been?
In the next segment, Nick is asked not once, but twice to talk to a third party by the Darlings. First by Tripp to talk to Chase and see what he wants, and second by Karen to talk to Simon. I love the look he gets on his face when a Darling asks him to do something. He almost looks put upon, but now quite so put upon that he's going to say no. Lisa kind of has a point about him and the Darlings. I also love how, when a Darling in Nick's office more or less announces themselves before his assistant has a chance to do so, he still says, "Thank you, Daisy."
This business with Lisa and the gallery… honestly, I think Nick is being slightly unreasonable. I can kind of see where he's coming from, but on the other hand, he really is just kind of a jerk about it. Lisa was having trouble getting the gallery space that she wanted because her clients weren't A-list, and Jeremy offered to help her get the space because the Darling name is obviously worthy currency. Nick shoots down the idea out of hand -- but of course says he is supportive of Lisa doing outside things. I don't think lying to Nick about it and doing it anyway was the right thing, but I also don't think that Nick should have freaked out. If it were Tripp or Karen (work with me here) who helped her get the space, I don't think Nick would have said boo.
Nick goes to talk with Simon Elder, and in a stunningly brilliant move, he divulges his entire master plan for taking over Darling Enterprises to Nick. It's stunningly brilliant for two reasons. One, it's going to drive a bigger wedge amongst the Darlings. Two, even if Nick tells someone (as he did Karen and seems to do so next week), no one is going to believe him because who would actually tell a master plan? It's has to be on the Evil Overlord's Not To Do List.
The whole thing with Chase made me uneasy, it was a much needed reality check in the world of the Darlings that usually comes from Lisa. Chase admits defeat when Nick offers him a payoff -- which Tripp of course insists isn't a payoff. Nick looks a bit perturbed by it too. I can't help but wonder if Lisa is right and Nick really is so far gone.
This business with Carmelita is sticky and it makes me sad. I liked Carmelita and as I said last week, she, Patrick, and the kids need to have a happy, happy life together. But it was an exciting party. Jeremy perceived the domestic limoncello as a problem (and really, he should), Carmelita gives Patrick what for, and then Patrick turns around and gives his dad a heart attack. I also noticed that Tripp was telling Nick to tell Patrick whatever it was that he wanted to say. Was this the illness, or is Tripp really non-confrontational and has just found that he has enough money to pay other people to be confrontational for him?
Karen goes back to Simon's and accepts his marriage proposal, against Nick's advice. Also, somewhere in here Brian Jr went missing and really, it was kind of a dull subplot that I think was wasted in this episode. Patrick wins the election, and vows to take a little less Patrick and a little more Tripp to Washington with him. (I can only hope that he doesn’t pick up his father's cavalier attitude towards payoffs.) And Nick calls Nola on Jeremy's phone. Genius.
My reality check of the week goes to Jeremy, who failed to realize the point of the phrase "you can't have your cake and eat it too" is that you CAN'T have both, and encouraged Lisa to lie to Nick about the gallery. That's a good way to win back his trust!
Next week we're shown Nick advising Tripp to cut Karen out, since all Simon wants are her shares of the company. Are they all playing into Simon's hands? Should we all be cheering for Simon instead? Maybe, but if loving the Darlings is wrong, then I don't want to be right.