Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place Season 1, Episode 12 – “Two Guys, a Girl and a Dad”
Written by Barry Wernick
Directed by Rich Correll
Aired July 15, 1998 on ABC
Coming on the heels of “Two Guys, a Girl and How They Met”, “Two Guys, a Girl and a Dad” feels like the first time Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place has enjoyed the benefits of some creative momentum; its central dynamic now feels somewhat developed, and its more challenging elements (Mr. Bauer, Berg’s medical experiments) have mostly been pushed to the side in favor of a slightly more hang out-y, less asshole-ish tone. Of course, there’s still some rough edges the series is still trying to smooth over, but if there’s one thing the penultimate episode of season one makes clear, it’s that Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place is finally, finally standing on some firm footing.
Where this really shines in “Two Guys, a Girl and a Dad” is in how it utilizes Pete’s known qualities; though we’ve seen shades of his neuroses and anxiety in episodes like “Two Guys, a Girl and a Presentation”, this episode doubles down on the idea by making Pete the audience’s surrogate, the only one who knows what’s really going on when Berg’s lawyer father heads to Boston to check on his law school-bound son (as one can expect, Berg hasn’t been totally honest about his recent academic pursuits, or lack thereof). Pete’s reluctance to participate sets the tone for the episode’s stakes; he doesn’t want to lie to Mr. Bergen (played by Veteran Character Actor Howard Hesseman) about his son spending years lying about being in law school, and has to play along with Berg’s increasingly elaborate attempts to keep his father in the dark.
What Pete discovers is Bergen blood runs thick; just as Berg is lying to his father, Mr. Bergen (whose first name we are not given) is lying to his son as well, when Pete discovers him doing caricatures at a local art fair he’s delivering pizza to (an art fair Sharon apparently is running an Immaculate Chemical table at… for reasons?). We just spent an episode watching a younger version of Berg delude himself – and by displaying that personality trait in his father, Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place very subtly builds in a wealth of emotion and conflict into their father/son conflict.
As Pete squirms in the middle of father and son, “Two Guys, a Girl and a Dad” leans into the known qualities of its characters to start generating its own, organic moments of humor; Berg threatening to show Mr. Bauer Silence of the Lambs, Pete’s indignation at the Bergen men to dance around their issues, and Sharon’s hardheaded attempts to talk shit in the face of being egged by anti-whaling activists all bringing life to the personality traits slowly brought to the surface across the show’s first 12 episodes.
It’s perhaps the show’s first true test of its own premise; and while it finds a really meaningful conclusion between Berg and his father (bucking the typical angry boomer father trend for a much more rational, sensitive father figure – it’s quite refreshing, actually), it does leave Pete and Sharon hanging a bit in the episode’s final act. Even without the foresight of the show’s huge tonal shifts from season to season, it’s clear “Two Guys, a Girl and a Dad” is right on the precipice of something special, if only it could replace some of its narrative vamping with a few more characters, a few more ideas to bring together the episode’s exploration of honesty and its nascent attempt at farcical comedy.
Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place is a series with a number of different, something incongruent identities; it is where the show finds its odd sense of beauty, in its consistency of character expressed across a number of different populist genres. In its first season, however, it is clearly trying to refine its abilities purely as a hangout comedy; and paired with its predecessor, “Two Guys, a Girl and a Dad” is the first time this series feels like it has a consistent grip on the foundation of its identity, setting the stage for the strange, rocky, often hilarious journey to follow in the show’s 69 remaining episodes.
“Two Guys, a Girl and a Dad”, ultimately, feels like a well-executed rendition of a familiar comedic archetype – and to a degree, another important step in transforming the Berg of “The Pilot” into something a little softer and more relatable. There’s still him staring at Sharon’s ass and joking about not having X-ray vision with his glasses; but there’s also a caring son trying desperately to not disappoint his father, a story beat executed on both narrative and performative levels (the third act is the first time Ryan Reynolds is really offered anything with nuance in this first season, and unsurprisingly, he’s pretty good!).
Most importantly, it is delivered with an emerging, earned confidence – while it still lacks some of the more complex emotional stories and structural experimentation of the show’s best moments to come, the undeniable momentum of its storytelling makes for an incredibly enjoyable and encouraging penultimate episode.
Grade: B
Other thoughts/observations:
- The episode opens with Berg intensely describing a game of Operation to a nameless blonde. Not amusing on its own, but the quality delivery of the lines make for a solid cold open.
- Clearly, since Berg has already been doing medical school stuff in the background, this is another episode that seems to be arranged out of production order. There’s no Melissa to truly anchor us to a point in time, but it’s been three months since Berg stopped doing philosophy, for what that’s worth.
- Mr. Bauer makes a Liar, Liar joke, references it once, and… then that’s it. After a few mid-season highlights, it feels like Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place is losing steam with this character.
- Berg had a phase as a child where he wanted to be the next Roy Clark.
- We learn Berg is from Albany, NY this episode!
- Berg: “I was the only kid in fourth grade with a 12 Angry Men lunchbox!”
- Berg’s mother is mentioned… we will meet her later on, in one of the show’s most controversial plot points.
- Up next: An unexpected death sets the stage for a season finale in “Two Guys, a Girl and a Landlord.”