On this week’s Bunheads, “There’s Nothing Worse Than a Pantsuit,” everyone – Michelle, the girls, Michelle’s friend Talia – is trying to deal with change and struggling with the question of how to remain true to themselves in changing circumstances. A random aside before we get started: I really enjoy how, in the dance class scenes, few of the dancers are perfect but they’re also not awful or played as a joke. The level of mistakes seems very realistic.
It’s a weird week for Fanny to be absent, because an important town committee is having a meeting about whether to allow the amphitheater construction to continue, and as Milly tells Michelle, “Nothing good ever comes of these people meeting.” Michelle doesn’t get why this will be a big deal, but Milly explains that this committee derails all sorts of plans – including, apparently, those of her friend The Edge. (Yes, The Edge becomes a running gag throughout the episode.) Milly sets up a whole command center in the studio to prepare for the meeting – and she and Truly manage to work together for once to outfit Michelle in a professional-looking pantsuit. (Michelle hates it, of course.) Michelle does her best, but the meeting devolves into chaos – and so, of course, Milly ends up blackmailing everyone. Ha.
Michelle’s friend Talia comes to visit with big news: her boyfriend Rick has proposed. After changing her mind several times while driving from Las Vegas to Paradise, Talia finally decides to accept – only to get a call out of the blue from an old fling turned producer who wants to give her a role in the touring company of Rock of Ages. She wants to accept, of course, but doesn’t know what to do, because she just got engaged. And I don’t think this was actually resolved, unless I missed something. (Anyone?) This was an odd little Talia interlude, perhaps designed to show how Michelle’s life would still have been complicated if Hubbell hadn’t died.
Elsewhere, Bells Are Ringing is announced as the school spring musical, and Ginny wants to try out. (May I just point out yet again that the passage of time on this show makes no sense? Unless they’re having rehearsals for the spring musical all year. I guess that’s possible.) Her friends don’t pay any attention to this, as apparently she says she will try out but then chickens out every year. After some slightly mean but useful coaching from Michelle, Ginny gets as far as the stage door – but it takes some prompting from Frankie, who presumably doesn’t know her history of chickening out, to actually go through with it: “There are things known, and things unknown. And in between are the doors.” “What does that mean?” “Go in!” I was impressed by how good (but realistically good) Ginny’s voice was, and apparently so were the people doing the casting, because she got a callback. Word gets around, and her friends and everyone else at the studio clap when she enters – adorable. With her newfound confidence, Ginny tries to flirt more blatantly with Frankie, only to wind up with a run-in with Cozette, who insists that she has to approve of anyone Frankie dates. Cozette and Frankie are becoming slightly more human as the season progresses, so I wonder if they actually have some big secret that will be revealed eventually, or if they’re just going to evolve into actual characters instead of mysteries.
Roman shocks Sasha by announcing that he wants to take their relationship public. He shows up at her house to drive her to school, and is remarkably patient with the way she freaks out. “Accept it, accept it.” “You’re a freak.” “We’ll work on terms of affection later.” Ha. He even insists on eating lunch with Sasha and her friends, and the girls demand to know if that means the relationship is official. Sasha: “There’s been no formal announcement in the press, but yes, it’s official.” Aww. The other girls don’t know what to say to Roman and are upset that Sasha has suddenly changed the rules on them, but Sasha manages to be pretty mature about it: “We don’t have rules, we have customs. And customs change.” Of course, once he sees Roman sitting with the girls, Carl wants to join – as does Charlie’s friend Dez. (I like how he randomly pops up once in awhile.)
Other favorite lines:
Michelle to the girls: “Eventually, I’m going to claim the moral high ground in this relationship.”
Milly: “If there’s not a real problem, they’ll invent one. That’s what people do instead of reading the newspaper.”
Milly: “The minute anything happens that can’t be answered by reading a Judy Blume novel, call me!”
Sasha: “Martha Stewart says you should talk to your plants.” Roman: “She’s weird.” Sasha: “She’s Martha!”
Milly’s explanation for everything: “Michelle. Please. I own property.”
(Image courtesy of ABC Family.)