Second Look: Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place Season 2, Episode 3 – “Two Guys, a Girl and a Tattoo”

Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place Season 2, Episode 3 “Two Guys, a Girl and a Tattoo”
Written by Mark Ganzel
Directed by John Fortenberry
Aired October 7, 1998 on ABC

After a strong pair of episodes to open its sophomore season, Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place finds its way back to more familiar, juvenile territory with “Two Guys, a Girl and a Tattoo”. Given the season’s extended 22-episode order, a few more filler episodes are to be expected – unfortunately, this episode misses the opportunity of its low stakes story to blend some of its older sensibilities with its much-improved approach in season two, with an amusing, but flat, episode about some classic Berg shenanigans.

It’s too bad, because “Two Guys, a Girl and a Tattoo” starts off in a rather strong place; Berg and Sharon deduce Pete is dating somebody new, and he refuses to introduce them, lest they shatter the illusion of infatuation he has with his new paramour. With that, Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place gives itself a premise with great comedic potential – which it seems to grasp onto initially, with Pete withholding information about his new girlfriend while Sharon and Berg poke at the edges of her mysterious identity.

While it isn’t the most exciting or complex premise, it seems apt for a series that indulges its characters in a fair bit of riffing. Strangely enough, though, “Two Guys, a Girl and a Tattoo” avoids the low-hanging fruit it could coast through a solid, if forgettable episode with; instead, it decides to take the story in another direction, marrying two incredibly underwhelming plots together – both of which feel like ideas left over from the show’s more frat boy-ish first season.

I’m talking, of course, of Berg weirdly talking about watching women work out in the gym, where he sees Sharon delegated to the third row (that’s her entire plot this episode – ragging on Pete, and lamenting her inability to be ogled by Berg and his creepy crew). Turns out Pete’s new girlfriend Nicole attends the same gym (as does Ashley, who suddenly reappears after her absence in “Two Guys, A Girl and a Vacation”) – and once Berg gets a glimpse of her, he recognizes her from a night of particularly legendary night of debauchery in college, wherein his name ended up tattooed on the ass of his one-night stand/Peter’s girlfriend.

The whole “dude’s name tattooed on my ass” is an odd choice, but one that could’ve potentially blossomed an interesting conflict between the two – unfortunately, it leans heavy into the ass tattoo part of the plot, as Berg tries everything he can for Pete to avoid seeing it. It is definitely a moment where Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place leans into old habits, reducing its ensemble to “Berg and the others” rather than taking a more interesting approach to the premise (say for example, spending the episode with Pete trying to avoid his friends meeting his girlfriend, rather than his friends trying to keep him from her not-so-hidden truth).

While the farcical elements allow for a bit of fun humor from Reynolds, it’s a shade too immature and performative, his antics overshadowing the episode’s nascent attempts to further build out the interpersonal dynamics of Berg with the two women in his life. The scenes with Sharon are fine, but his interactions with Ashley – where she rips into him with every vaguely misogynistic softball comment he tosses her way – leave a lot to be desired, disengaged from the events bringing them together and making their interactions feel a bit bitter and repetitive.

While not an openly terrible episode, “Two Guys, a Girl and a Tattoo” is firmly entrenched in the identity of what Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place was in its freshman season, rather than what it aspired to in its opening pair of episode for season two. Growth isn’t always linear, of course, but it does feel like a distinct step back for the show – thankfully, an important ensemble shift beginning in the next episode would help the series move away from its old self a bit more explicitly, which does help “Two Guys, a Girl and a Tattoo” feel a bit more like an amicable farewell to its old self, rather than a concerning re-embracing of old (and tired) ideals.

Grade: C-

Other thoughts/observations:

• I do like the cold open, where Pete lets Berg unknowingly dry off with a cat piss-covered towel. (also… could it have been one of Irene’s cats who did it? I guess she technically hasn’t moved in yet).
  
• “Holy incompatibility, Batman!”
  
• Pete: “We talk on the phone, we talk long long walks… we play Scrabble.” Sharon: “Things you do when you’re not sleeping with someone!”
  
• Berg, offering up ideas to cover up the tattoo: “How about writing the word ‘ice’ in front of it? Hinden? Whoopi Gold?”
  
• Up next: Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place adds an important new cast member in “Two Guys, a Girl and an Elective”.