Second Look: Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place Season 2, Episode 4 – “Two Guys, a Girl and an Elective”

Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place Season 2, Episode 4 “Two Guys, a Girl and an Elective”
Written by Kenny Schwartz
Directed by John Fortenberry
Aired October 14, 1998 on ABC

The beginning of Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place‘s second season is an interesting contrast in styles, as the sitcom shifted from a series focused on its three titular protagonists into a larger, more ensemble-focused structure, and at the same time tried to also transform its tone, from an immature college comedy into one about young adults, utilizing some of the same acerbic comedic elements, but surrounding them with more complex stories and conflicts reflecting the changing nature of life in one’s mid-twenties. And as we saw with “Two Guys, a Girl and a Tattoo”, the path to that new self would not be an entirely linear one; thankfully, with the introduction of Nathan Fillion into the show’s cast, “Two Guys, a Girl and an Elective” is more reflective of where the series would be going, even if all of those elements don’t quite fit neatly together just yet.

“Two Guys, a Girl and an Elective” quietly has a lot of elements of season one; large portions are staged in the pizza place, it feature a main plot of Pete anxiously preparing for the next step in his architectural career, and it also features a pretty overt Good Will Hunting homage (though without Mr. Bauer providing the catalyst for the references this time around). But in between those beats are signs of Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place‘s growth; the episode features Pete briefly exploring a different career and identity, and spends a good piece of its third act as a pure rom-com, complete with a beautifully staged scene and a spark of chemistry between two characters. Though a rather straightforward episode in practice, the text of “Two Guys, a Girl and an Elective” makes for an intriguing litmus test of where the series was trying to go.

Though most of the episode’s focus is on Pete – who flirts with becoming a sports broadcaster after Berg changes his elective from metallurgy, distracting him from architecture right as he’s about to interview for an important internship – the real development of “Two Guys, a Girl and an Elective” is the introduction of Johnny (Nathan Fillion, making his sitcom debut following a run on One Life to Live), a repairman who Sharon’s spent the better part of a week crushing on. As a simple blue collar Everyman, Johnny immediately makes a good counterpart to Berg and Pete, which quickly builds out a new dynamic between characters for the series to explore, which it does in this episode by having Sharon try to prove to herself that he’s “more” than just a repairman.

Sharon’s reasons for trying to test Johnny’s intelligence aren’t exactly convincing – Berg talks about her disappointment in Johnny not being an investment banker, but we’ve seen so little of Sharon dating or existing outside the group, it’s not exactly established fact – but his responses are perfectly calibrated to explore the dynamic between him, Sharon, and the rest of the group. Johnny chides Berg for taking a bowling class, plays connect-the-dots with Sharon’s Good Will Hunting math problem, and generally appears to be a man comfortable with his career and position in life; it’s an interesting contrast to our three protagonists, whose decisions about their future are constant sources of internal and external tension. Johnny contains none of that, which immediately sets him apart from the rest of the group – and though it’s not a tension the episode has time to fully explore, one can already see the smart choices made behind the genesis of Johnny’s character and his introduction into the world of Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place.

Also, being the second episode in a row where Sharon is a primary character helps the series feel more whole; though the series will always struggle to find her stories that don’t involve the men in her life, the writer’s room taking more interest in her personal and professional life help fill a void the first season noticeably missed, and validates her character in ways that make the series feel larger and more dynamic. With Johnny, Sharon also gets someone in her life who doesn’t know who she was in college, which allows the series to neatly demarcate between who Sharon was, and the person she would become over the course of the series.

Although it takes a minute to get going, once this episode pushes Berg into the background a bit and focuses its attention on Pete and Sharon, it really starts to percolate in the second half. It begins with Pete excitedly calling a chess match – and continues into one of the show’s most subtly beautiful scenes, where Johnny and Sharon slow dance in the quiet shadows of the closed pizza parlor as they get to know each other a bit better.

The Johnny/Sharon scene is short (and comes in the middle of Pete completely obliterating his potential broadcasting career with an unintentionally misogynistic rant), but is an incredibly essential one; here is Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place going full in on being a romantic comedy for a few minutes, in what amounts to a rather astonishing shift in how the show operates. One might think the change in tone is drastic and distracting – but it’s surprisingly the opposite in practice, their intimate flirting and obvious chemistry unearthing a bit of potential I don’t think the series quite knew it had yet, something a little more emotionally dynamic and exciting (and quite different than its portrayal of relationships last season, with the whole Pete/Melissa bit in season one).

Though Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place is clearly figuring out who it wants to be in these early season two episodes (Ashley’s inconsistent appearances being the most obvious sign of these), “Two Guys, a Girl and an Elective” is a strong, confident step in a new direction for the series, something tangible for it to build with as it fumbles through its transformation from mindless buddy comedy into something just as goofy (and occasionally grating), but something a bit more endearing, versatile – and as we’ll see at specific points in the season, surprisingly creative.

Grade: B

Other thoughts/observations:

• Berg thinks he has found his calling on his psych rotation. I think Pete’s meltdown during his first basketball broadcast suggests maybe that’s not the case.
  
• Exterior shots of Bolyston St. – now we know we’re in Boston, baby!
  
• “This Pete Dunville, reminding you – it’s your move.”
  
• We do get a brief scene of Pete discussing his father inspiring him to be an architect. What we learn, though, is that Pete doesn’t actually know why he wants to do it, outside of it being the one thing he’s focused on since he was 12, pushed by his father (a foreman) to do great things.
  
• Berg tries to convince Pete by bringing him blueprints of Fenway Park. It’s a touching note, and one of many that keep Berg from feeling like a total douche in episodes like this.
  
• “Next election, I’m voting for a woman black president… whoever she is.”
  
• All of sudden, there’s bloopers over the closing credits! Up first – Ryan Reynolds getting his ass slapped in the middle of a line of dialogue.

• Up next: Everyone gets creative with the truth in “Two Guys, a Girl and a Homecoming”.