Second Look: Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place Season 2, Episode 13 – “Two Guys, a Girl and a Gamble”

Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place Season 2, Episode 13 “Two Guys, a Girl and a Gamble”
Written by Paige Bernhardt & Liz Sagal
Directed by Michael Lembeck
Aired January 6, 1999 on ABC

In all its forms and shapes, Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place was always good at capturing the angsty indecisiveness of young adulthood, and all the adjustments, compromises, and short-sighted decisions that come along with it. Though some of that trepidation has been reduced to the background during the introduction of Ashley and Johnny in the early episodes of season two, there’s been a slow turn back towards the tenor of those quarter-life crisis stories – especially when Pete is not banging his boss’s daughter. I don’t know if we can quite call it a return to form, given the show’s wildly uneven quality in season one, but there’s a clear thoroughline from those early episodes we see in its evolved version in “Two Guys, a Girl and a Gamble”.

The framing is a bit unexpected, though; “Two Guys, a Girl and a Gamble” centers on Pete and Sharon, who both find their relationships moving forward a lot quicker than expected. Though we’ve seen plenty of episodes centered on Pete jumping into identities he’s unfamiliar with and unprepared for, being a surrogate father to a child is something entirely different – which is exactly where he finds himself when new girlfriend Kaitlin asks him to watch her son Michael for an extended period of time (presumably for a long shift in the traffic-copter? Not entirely clear here), leaving a literal child in the hands of Pete – who just one episode ago, allowed said kid to crash into a cow while sledding.

Michael’s accident certainly gave Pete at least a temporary dose of reality; however, now that he’s willingly engaged in a relationship with Kaitlin, all caution is thrown to the wind – to the point that when Pete’s grandma gets herself pinned between her couch and a wall, he reluctancy leaves Michael in Berg’s care. And after Berg takes him to the dog track to help him with his math, it kicks off a rather rudimentary plot where Pete has to consider whether he can handle being responsible for a child’s mind (and not just keeping him away from moving cars and large animals), and Berg suddenly steps up and shows a smidgen of maturity when they discover Michael’s started gambling at school.

What follows doesn’t make for the most interesting fare, but it does raise an interesting question about Pete: does he really understand what he’s getting into? Instead of face that question, Pete mostly just tries to sidestep around it – and although Kaitlin lets him off the hook when she finds out about Michael’s gambling schemes (after all, he did get an A on his math test), it again begs the question of whether Pete’s learned anything about his attempts to lead himself dick-first into adult life. To its credit, “Two Guys, a Girl and a Gamble” lets Pete off the hook without his feelings really resolving one way or the other – a bit of ambiguity which leaves a bit of room for the episode’s other story, where Sharon and Johnny move in together, to find resonance in a definitive resolution.

What I like about Sharon’s story in this episode – after reluctantly letting Johnny move in after dating for two months, she tries to hide her sloppiness from him – is how it unexpectedly parallels Pete’s, and also quietly sets up a conflict for the show to return to later this season. While Pete is trying to throw himself into adult life (almost trying to insert himself into a prebuilt family, oddly enough), Sharon is instinctively resisting it, basically forcing herself against her will to let Johnny move in with her. Her reasons are solid – they haven’t been dating long, and Sharon is a self-admitted legendary slob who knows her boyfriend’s mother is a neat freak – but instead of talking to Johnny, she tries to hide it and put on a false face, pretending to be the neat, dutiful housewife who definitely isn’t using the inside of her couch cushion to store garbage.

Of course, the facade can only last for so long; and though Pete leaves this episode still thinking he’s able to be a quasi-father to Michael, Sharon can’t take the pressure and caves – and as it turns out, Johnny couldn’t stand living somewhere that made him feel like he was at his mother’s house. A little bit of honesty with herself, and Sharon opens herself up to a world of relaxing, disgusting happiness with Johnny, the two of them ending the episode in careless, filthy bliss. It makes for a nice pairing with Pete’s story, because while Pete is pretending he can handle a relationship with an older, divorced woman and her near-teenage son, Sharon learns the value of not resisting a simple truth; honesty will always set you free, especially when it comes to be honest and authentic with your partner. Though it certainly isn’t going to be an easy road for Johnny and Sharon – in fact, some of their future conflict comes from Sharon’s continued resistance to the life she actually wants – “Two Guys, a Girl and a Gamble” presents her with a simple solution to finding truth in her life and relationship, and portends a warning to Pete of what’s to come, should he continue to pretend to be someone he clearly is not.

“Two Guys, a Girl and a Gamble” plays all of this with a light, slapstick touch, mostly focusing on the physical humor of Sharon trying to hide garbage and Berg’s kinship with Michael – but don’t be fooled, because under the shiny veneer of its slapstick jokes, there’s unexpectedly honest truths about Pete and Sharon being laid bare for future episodes to explore and expound upon. It also captures the anxious excitement of a certain age, of young love and the easy traps young couples can fall into if they’re not honest with each other – though ultimately, “Two Guys, a Girl and a Gamble” isn’t a particularly noteworthy or memorable episode, the thematic consistency of its main characters speaks to the much-improved construction of season two, and the strong resulting stories it’s been able to tell because of those changes. Like its characters, Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place is always changing, trying new things and allowing itself to indulge in stories it knows are risky – that desire to never stay the same often reflects itself into the text of the series; “Two Guys, a Girl and a Gamble” might not be the pinnacle of these ideas, but its consistency – and willingness to allow its characters to be wrong – makes it a more compelling entry than it might seem.

Grade: B

Other thoughts/observations:

• Sharon doesn’t want to come out of the ‘sloppy’ closet: “But then you can march in the sloppy pride parade!”
  
• Johnny is afraid he’s going to end up like his dad: “[I’ll] be clean, and go bowling six nights a week.”
  
• Berg and Pete fight over Johnny moving in with Sharon: “Well, clearly you don’t feel about Johnny the way I do!” Pete yells at Berg.
  
• Pete to Berg: “He’s a kid, not a dog – if you don’t feed him, he can tell me.”
  
• Why does Sharon have a jukebox in her apartment?
  
• Apartment shopping never changes: “Artist’s retreat means no indoor plumbing, and prime location means across the street from a crackhouse.”
  
• “Grab your abacus, we’re going to the math fair!”
  
• Michael tells Kaitlin they should get a dog because he thinks “it’ll make a good investment”.
  
• Up next: A scandalous image from Berg’s past reappears in “Two Guys, a Girl and a Proposal”.