Somebody jumped the Greek gun

Yup … it was me. Last week got me excited about some life on planet Rusty, but this episode of Greek threw him right back, deeper even, into the quicksand of Jordan land. Oreo, forgive me, but she will be the death of a great man-child. Rusty’s sinking fast, and not just because he can’t juggle Jordan alongside the KTs and polymer science. She’s also turning a nerd into a loser. Not a pretty sight.

What is interesting is the turn that seems to be befalling a few of our other pet peeve characters. Are Max and Frannie really done? Can it be? With Casey dumping Max, he’s free to go back to England, move on to Cal Tech, or just simply recede into the night. If wishing only made it so. And, Frannie? Ashleigh scared her into thinking about her legacy, and she’s running scared from the IKIs. If that means a few “seasons” without her, I couldn’t ask for more.

At least, not much more. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. There’s still the ever-present Cappie/Casey drama, and my wife made an interesting observation as we were watching the episode: Casey’s the one dragging Cappie down. Chew on that for a while.

What else could use a change? Well, Rusty sucks. But, you know what? His disappearance into a whole new universe has opened the door on something rather interesting. Namely, Dale and Calvin are spending an awful lot of time together, and being awesome while doing it.

The entire Dale/Sheila (Kristen O’Meara), and Calvin/Grant (Gregory Michael) thing was inspired, and came not a moment too soon for those of us who’ve been suffering all season long. Purity pledges, pretend gay couples, topless pictures, and naughty videos … they all translate into some really great television, as well as a really fantastic friendship that clearly has so many places it can still go.

While I’ve lamented the lack of Dale/Rusty in the past, and the poor use of Calvin this season, I’m beginning to realize that it’s not so much any twosome, but rather the extremely talented Clark Duke, that makes these companionships as entertaining as they are. The only problem with that, and it’s a big one, is how infrequent Dale’s been on the show this season. Without him, Calvin would have been absent almost this entire episode. Thankfully, it was a Duke week, and we got a whole lot of brilliance.

While the issue hasn’t been directly addressed of late, I think that Dale and Calvin have reached a natural point in their relationship. Sure, Dale will never give up hope of curing Calvin, but I think that their time on the heterosexual-tutorial trail definitely scared Dale, well, straight. I believe that Dale would have matured enough to be able to accept Calvin as a person without accepting things about him that he can’t fathom, a level that Calvin reached long ago as a gay man. Dale has toned down his Southern Baptist roots, something I find hard to imagine, but part of what I believe was the character’s evolution from the beginning of the series.

Meanwhile, Dale still talks of hell, damnation, and perseveres in his efforts to teach through God, by leaving scripture on Rusty’s pillow, for instance. His comedic material may have been altered a bit, but it’s still delivered in the same biting way.

Some of the funniest exchanges of the night came during Dale’s attempts to help Calvin through his struggles not to hook up with his Omega Kai brother, and roommate, Grant.

Calvin: “Whatever I do, I just, I can’t have sex with him.” Dale: “Because you’ll go to hell?” Calvin: “Because we’re in the same fraternity, Dale. Alright? Having sex with your brother, is like –” Dale: “Having sex with your brother?”

Dale, upon entering Calvin and Grant’s room: “Smells like Hugo Boss and brimstone in here.”

And for the gay, religious, scientists amongst you, a trifecta, from Max to Rusty about the latter’s poor grades. Max: “I hate to tell you, pal, but O-Chem’s what separates the scientists from the technicians.”

It’s still in there. Somewhere.

Clacked by Aryeh S.
on Jun 16, 2009 @ 18:00 EST5EDT