Greek goes dry for the weekend, and distilleries across the country shutter

The central plot of this week’s Greek was a “dry weekend.” The central plot. Yes, I know just how much these folks drink, but to make a weekend without alcohol into something akin to an almost insurmountable feat? I don’t care about the message it sends to the 18-22 year-olds watching right now; I just think it’s really pathetic.

Nevertheless, there were a lot of good moments this week, a clear sign that Greek is going strong into this season. I can only continue to guess that it was the existence of Max and Frannie that made last season worse, but I know there must be other things too. I suppose they’re more nuanced, though, like more appropriate stories for one character, or more humorous lines for another. Either way, it’s working. And on top of that we had some Dale and no Jordan this week! Perfect.

I wonder what the writers have against Casey/Cappie, and our happiness. Not only do they not appear to be moving forward, but a rekindling of Casey/Evan seems imminent. I do like their dynamics, but the guy cheated on her with Rebecca, dumped her, started dating Frannie, paid off a guy to leave her alone … some things are just not meant to be, no matter how much that person’s changed.

Ashleigh’s story is annoying, and another head-scratcher. Yes, Fisher (Andrew J. West) was a great guy, save for one moment, but there was that one moment. Done … next! Is the moral lesson on this show that cheaters keep on getting another shot?

Calvin’s also in a kind of weak story. I think Grant (Gregory Michael) exists more as a twist than as anything serious for him in terms of love. Grant will both help Calvin evolve as a character, and cause him a lot of drama at the Omega Kai house, but I get the feeling that the writers weren’t thinking of Calvin/Grant the way they thought of Rusty/Jordan. If they do this for real I think Calvin belongs with Heath.

Cappie and Rusty had some decent guy time, and under hilarious circumstances. And, while I think that the whole dry weekend struggles were ridiculous, it was still really funny that Beaver and Wade (Derek Mio) showed up at the book signing, being all “sciency,” just to get alcohol.

Other notables:

• Cappie witnesses his first nerd-on-nerd hazing, when he learns that the polymer scientists call Rusty “Anchor.”
• Dale packing up all of his Christian statuettes and other various items was not only a sign of the apocalypse, but also the beginnings of what could be some great meat for Clark Duke.
• The KTs stole Rusty’s birthday money from his Nana!
• Dale and Cappie hugging was beautiful. Just beautiful.
• Evan came clean to Casey about talking to Cappie (once) and about stopping him from going to see her. Will that hit her harder when she sobers up? Will it make a difference to her and Cappie that he intended to find her that night?
• Evan cracking up in Katherine’s (Nora Kirkpatrick) face when she says “hi” (as in, “high”).

And, of course, some always-faithful quotes:

“It’s huge; you could fit like a person in there.” – Grant’s girlfriend Whitney, about the closet in his room

“Computer stores; ethnic restaurants; the moon?” – The KTs’ thoughts on where smart people can be found

“I come from a long line of sea men.” – Rusty, on the derivation of his nickname, Anchor.

“You’re David Wang?” – Girl at the book signing
“Yes; yes I am. I was adopted by two gay dudes … from China.” – Cappie

“I’m not down with JC anymore.” – Dale

“And she may be afraid of trees, but when push comes to shove she doesn’t let you drink the shampoo, no matter how good it smells.” – Evan to Katherine, about Casey

Finally, my 3.5 for 13 are still holding up, plus with what looks to be the beginnings of concrete movement on numbers 7 (Evan pining for Casey), 12 (Rusty and Cappie hanging out), and further developments for #13 (Evan and Cappie outing their relationship), I’m officially calling it 4 for 13. What am I now batting, for all you non-math people? Still no .500, but a healthy .308!

Clacked by Aryeh S.
on Sep 22, 2009 @ 12:00 EST5EDT