“And the Very Thanksgiving Christmas” has one thing going for it, a very simple premise: Caroline (Beth Behrs) believes in the holidays and has that belief tested by bad news and negativity. Beyond that, this is another mediocre episode of 2 Broke Girls, a show that has found an unfortunate foothold in mediocre episodes.
Max (Kat Dennings) is concerned that Caroline’s Christmas spirit won’t hold up when she experiences her first Thanksgiving without her father’s fortune. Caroline however, is confident that it will be her best Christmas yet. She has Max, she has her horse and she’s going to see her dad for the first time since he went to prison.
Meanwhile, it’s time for Caroline to learn how to bake so she can help Max get through what they hope will be a holiday rush of cupcake orders. Unfortunately, their mixer is broken. To get a new one Caroline suggests that they take a season gig working in Santa’s workshop at the mall.
This sets up perfectly for Max to zing nasty parents and over-zealous new co-workers. Instead we get a twist that finds Caroline as the negative one and Max is forced to rescue their Christmas gig. When Caroline’s dad asks her not to visit him in prison it sets off Caroline on a downward spiral of anger and sadness that she expresses at exactly the wrong time; while leading children into Santa’s mall village.
I like the idea of Max being forced to pick Caroline up and be the responsible member of this duo but the execution is just a little off. There just aren’t enough good jokes to raise the episode above moderately funny.
There are, of course, more than a few of the awkward, forced, uncomfortable jokes about sex and sex metaphors. An example: when Caroline fails to cover the mixer, per Max’s instructions, the contents of the mixer fly everywhere including all over Max who responds:
“Christmas comes but once a year and I think it just did.”
Forced, awkward and completely unnecessary; the writers of 2 Broke Girls jam jokes like this in for no other reason than a childish fascination with vulgarity. It’s a joke about ejaculating onto a woman’s face that somehow emerged from an accident with an electric mixer. If you think that’s a natural thought process then maybe you enjoy this show.
Random notes:
Get rid of the horse. This week, 2 Broke Girls was forced to admit that if it’s Thanksgiving in New York, it’s too cold to have a horse outdoors on the lawn of an apartment building. They fudged it by saying it was unusually warm. Ugh.
Get rid of the diner. The diner and its idiot stereotypes were used sparingly this week. Now, if we could convince the writers not to use the diner and its denizens at all we’d be on to something.
What relatively well known character actor will the producers get to play Caroline’s dad? He has to appear, behind bars, at some point and he will be played by someone relatively well known. Let the speculation begin.
No sign of Nick Zano‘s Johnny this week which may mean that indeed that storyline has closed. That, once again, raises the topic of Max and Caroline as the will they-won’t they couple of the series. 2 Broke Girls is the only major sitcom today that operates without a significant male lead. Without a viable male character in the main cast as a romantic option for Max or Caroline this speculation is going to continue.