Rules of Engagement – Russell gets a heart

As unlikely as it may be that if you’re reading this I’ll be telling you something you don’t know, I’m going to say it anyway — if ever there was a couple with magic chemistry, it’s Jeff and Audrey on Rules of Engagement. They’re awesome! I’m still stymied by how a caveman like him snagged a good woman like her, but that doesn’t detract from how perfectly matched the two are. Even in the middle of the night, when he’s half asleep, Jeff can always be counted on to spar brilliantly with his mate.

Which doesn’t save them from a bad plot, but that’s not really their fault. The ghost of Audrey’s dead grandmother coming to pay her a visit? Of course it was about supporting your partner, but the diner crew was right to laugh at Audrey. I love how once it was Jeff claiming to have seen it they totally bought it. I guess that’s the upside of being really skeptical 99% of the time — Jeff’s even skeptical that Puerto Rico’s real. Brilliant!

What’s great about this show is that the writers and actors manage to turn something insignificant and ancillary into a highly hilarious continuing theme. Audrey and Jeff’s bowl from New Mexico that appeared to have been stolen from Jennifer and Adam’s apartment when it was robbed can be the gift that keeps giving forever, with Adam trying to replace it from here to the series finale. And Jeff and Audrey didn’t even need to find theirs for it to work; Jeff’s the guy who’d bring up the $180 to your wife and kids after you’re dead and your estate’s in probate.

For the first twenty minutes of last night’s episode, Russell really disappointed me. As my wife says, this season he’s become a caricature of himself, only making crude jokes without adding anything constructive to the stories. Which he did do once upon a time. And it appeared last night that his plot with Timmy was only more of the same. But then I began to see something else there, something sincere behind his lame attempts to change Timmy’s mind about his arranged marriage.

At first I thought that Russell was showing his true feelings for Timmy — not that he cared about love, but that he didn’t want Timmy to be forced into something that he might regret for the rest of his life. Which was nice, and also believable that Russell would have come to care for Timmy even as he makes his life hell at work.

But when he started talking about his belief in true love? Could be, although sleeping with loose women on a nightly basis is unlikely to be the way he’s searching for it. But be that as it may, this might be where Russell’s headed this season. And, it may be why the writers ratcheted up the sleeze until now … that way we’d never see it coming. I do think we’re going to see Russell trying to end the arranged marriage both for Timmy’s sake as well as for his own ulterior motives — did he fall for Timmy’s fiance on sight? — but even so it will be the Russell of old.

I think Russell’s about to get his head back in the game, and I’m excited.

“With all due respect, and quite frankly I’m not sure any is due.” – Timmy to Russell

Clacked by Aryeh S.
on Mar 23, 2010 @ 12:00 EST5EDT