Is this what we’ve come to? Have we so run out of plot for Casey, Ashleigh, and Rebecca that they’re reduced to recycled drama, and the star power of their guesting dads? I haven’t been loving them of late, but I was nevertheless greatly disappointed in this entire plot line.
Let’s set the stage a bit: Rebecca’s dad, the former senator Ken Logan (Thomas Calabro), has a tempestuous relationship with his daughter. Besides the very public and ugly revelation of his dalliances, there’s the life he’s led in secret all these years, that has very profoundly affected Rebecca. It was his womanizing before the women in his family, and that’s left Rebecca broken.
We know little about Casey and her dad, Russell (Jerry Lambert), beyond the visit the Cartwrights made to Cyprus-Rhodes in chapter two (even though this annual father-daughter weekend is supposedly a big deal, it didn’t happen last time around). And Ashleigh and her dad? If he’s ever been mentioned, I missed it. And, action!
So, Rebecca’s dad is on the far-side of a cleansing, therapeutic something or other. Meaning, the conservative and upstanding politician is now some new-ager preaching to his daughter on openness. I know the point was the irony and hypocrisy, but, please.
Casey and her dad can’t communicate, and it makes for the most awkward and embarrassingly uncomfortable moments she’s ever shared on screen. Whether its true to life or not, I don’t see what place it has on TV. Why does a relationship we see once in a blue moon need to be a drag? The only interesting thing about him — which admittedly was rather funny — was how he talks in text lingo (or whatever you kids are calling it): OMG, he’s ROFL!
And, Ashleigh and her dad? Well, first of all, Brian Howard was played by none other than Kadeem Hardison … the last time I remember seeing Dwayne Wayne, he was in college himself. My, but they do grow up quickly! Anyway, apparently they’re best friends, and text and speak constantly. Wow … so how did we go 45 episodes without witnessing that? Solid consistency.
Oh, and Jordan’s dad? Tom Amandes guested as jocky Jack, all set to meet nerdy boyfriend Rusty (who he thinks is Andy, at first). As expected, things do not go well. But not before, um, Jordan leads the girls in song? From not meant for a sorority, to hanging around because you’re an athlete and they’re competing in volleyball, to being choir director? If the fact that most of her scenes are at the KT house didn’t definitively tell me this already, then this week’s episode confirmed what I’d suspected: the writers have no idea what to do with Jordan, save for having her date Rusty (why?), so they plop her in any scenario, plausible or im-. Why not just let her die?
Actually, we were close to movement on that front … at least, her disappearance. When Rusty tackled and injured her dad, I thought Jordan would dump him and run. I jumped up and down! I cheered! … I cried when they were right back in her dorm room.
So, the much-hyped dad show was a bust for me. They came together as the girls were falling apart, and they leaned on their daughters to repair their friendships. And, of course, they argued in the typical way that fathers defending their daughters will. What did it do for us? Nothing. The only thing that was nice about it was seeing that Ashleigh and Casey are tight enough that their relationship isn’t confined to campus. Well, that and some quotes … it wasn’t a total wash.
“Anyone else turned on right now? What? … Those aren’t my daughters.” – One of the random ZBZ dads to a tableful of them, as the singing ladies of ZBZ fought onstage
“Are you saying that Jack is just as scared of me as I am of him?” – Rusty to his dad, after injuring Jordan’s father in the football game
“Well, you did almost paralyze him, son.” – Russell Cartwright
Wait … Russell and Rusty? I’m sensing a theme….
Clacked by Aryeh S.
on Sep 08, 2009 @ 15:00 EST5EDT
