Review: 2 Broke Girls ‘And The Big Hole’ – Spring Is In The Air

It’s a major stretch – but if I squint real, real hard, there’s a microbe or two of character in the final half of ‘And the Big Hole’, and it’s presence (whether real or imagined in my head) makes an otherwise lazy episode nearly tolerable. I’m talking, of course, of Oleg, whose sex dolls, sex swings, sex curtains, and sex waterbed were the focus of ‘The Big Hole’.

Now I hate Sophie as a character – not doing herself any favors tonight, full of Beyonce jokes and some odd reference about dead Polish relatives floating back to shore during the spring – but she serves a purpose in ‘The Big Hole’ (despite way too many references connecting her genitals and the title). She brings out the first human element I’ve ever seen in Oleg – who dresses up and lets Caroline turn his house into something from a “douche commercial”, just because he wants to express his feelings to Sophie.

Look past the execution, look past the fact their relationship is defined on sex and vague Eastern European-ism; Oleg’s been a character whose stood in the background, dressed like a jackass and talking like a sex offender doing comedy night at the local prison. But in the final scene of the episode, his hair is combed, he’s wearing what would pass as ‘nice clothes’ for him, and he’s living in 50 Shades of Beige (his words, not mine), willing to change everything about himself so he doesn’t scare away the first girl of 1,635 that he’s loved.

Unlike last week’s vapid, mindless conclusion, Sophie re-affirms a notion that is typical to many comedies, but still provides what constitutes as a nice moment on this show: she doesn’t want that kind of Oleg. She wants the dirty version, the one who lets Alexis hang out on the couch all day with no job, and sweats more than he eats. For once, 2 Broke Girls utilizes a trope to bring a satisfying conclusion to it’s ‘arc’ of the episode.

However, the first half is almost unwatchable; every single piece of dialogue Max has is a sex joke, and when she’s not constructing juvenile euphemisms, she’s being her usual undermining self. Throw in Caroline’s sudden rebellion against responsibility (and a healthy serving of Han jokes), and the first eighteen minutes of ‘The Big Hole’ is typical 2 Broke Girls trash, topped off by Han not being able to lift a blow up doll, which then falls on him, as if giving him a blow job (hysterical, I know).

Like I said, I’m reaching for meaning – but at least there’s something to reach for in the material of ‘The Big Hole’, if only for a moment. I just want this show to be mediocre, damnit!

Grade: C

Other thoughts/observations:

– how did Sophie know about Alexis if she’d never been to his apartment?

– at least Max befriends Han in the second half of the episode, if only to have him tag along for more short Asian humor. At least he gets included for once.

– coffee filters are more expensive than toilet paper, Caroline.

– once the waterbed exploded in Caroline’s face, we were all waiting for the same joke, and 2 Broke Girls did not disappoint, in disappointing fashion.

– I like Han stepping to the plate and calling out Caroline on her shit. It’s forgiven 20 hours later, of course, but at least he showed some balls in a scene.