Two Guys and a Girl‘s trio of episodes to open season three follow a pretty straight lineage, representing the past, present, and future of the sitcom’s storytelling – less juvenile nonsense, more existential dread, and a shift away from the histrionics of well-established romantic dynamics. That’s why “Career Day” feels like a bit of a step back; on paper, filling in some of Ashley’s backstory with the appearance of her ex-husband Brian and pushing both Pete and Sharon into new professional conflicts should be a layup for the new and improved Two Guys and a Girl, but it mostly amounts to a missed opportunity, regressing into old melodramatic habits in an underwhelming episode.
In theory, the appearance of Ashley’s ex-husband was a great opportunity for Two Guys and a Girl; given Berg’s had his eyes on Ashley since her debut in “Two Guys, a Girl and Someone Better”, there hasn’t been a lot of time exploring Ashley as an individual – even in the rare instances she and Berg weren’t the focus, her other stories would always involve Sharon to some degree. With Brian’s flippant, arrogant appearance, it gave the sitcom an opportunity to give voice to the person Ashley was, and also give another big emotional challenge to Berg, coming right on the heels of his terrific turn in “Teacher’s Pet Peeve”, which saw his perceptions of his career uprooted right in front of his eyes.
Seeing that through the lens of his first serious romantic relationship would be a natural avenue; and instead, Two Guys and a Girl mostly opts for the most simplistic version of that idea, turning him into a paranoid idiot who believes Brian (guest star Louis Ferreira) when he tells Berg Ashley beat him throughout their marriage. Instead of giving space to dig into how Berg processes this through a more measured, adult lens, “Career Day” instead reverts Berg to the paranoid, neurotic version of himself from the show’s earliest episodes, falling back into any number of bad habits that stand in stark contrast to the careful growth the show’s offered his character in the preceding trio of episodes.
At best, it’s inconsistent – and though one might attribute it to a sitcom thinking surprisingly far ahead about its characters, “Career Day” doesn’t feel like a show being intentionally clever with its long-term narrative plans. Instead, “Career Day” just kind of pushes Berg into playing along gullibly with Brian’s mind games – which Ashley gets appropriately mad at, but in a way that feels toothless and reductive for her character. Given it is a story that is supposed to enrich both sides of her and Berg’s relationship, the conflict feels flat and uninspired, from its genesis to its eventual resolution (in and of itself an extremely frustrating choice, diffusing their conflict after Berg brings up a number of interesting points about the loose emotional threads of their ongoing entanglement).
The other side of the episode – which sees Pete convincing Sharon to take a job interview for a job he ultimately gets hired for – is the inverse of Berg and Ashley’s story, an interesting premise that relies on old habits to find its way to a conclusion. After two episodes convincing the audience it was done with the Pete/Sharon romance teasing, it’s back in full force – but at least the construction of the story is interesting, with Pete setting her up for a perfect job, both for her good and because his own ass is on the line at the job placement firm he’s working at (complete with Amy Hill playing his bitchy boss; this season really steps up with the guest stars). But when the story starts to shift and become about their personal dynamic (one’s eyebrows might raise when Sharon tells Pete he’s “always looking out for her”), it becomes a lot less interesting – even the choice to have Sharon bungle the interview and Pete get offered her job gets tied up in their still-lingering feelings for each other, setting up a rather melodramatic conflict that does neither half of their story any justice (and furthermore, just leaves Johnny standing on the sidelines like a doofus for the whole episode).
Taken as part of the season’s whole, I can appreciate what “Career Day” is going for, setting up some questions about Ashley and Berg’s quickly-developing relationship, while also pointing out that Pete has a long way to go if he is to truly grow from his experiences during season two’s finale. However, the execution of those ideas across this 22 minutes is pretty mediocre, relying too heavily on well-trodden dynamics as it works through what amounts to a pretty dull story. Not an awful episode, but certainly one that could’ve accomplished its goals in more interesting ways, especially after the bar it set itself with the season’s opening three episodes.
Other thoughts/observations:
- There’s a subplot about Ashley killing a rat in their apartment, which is mostly notable for the closing tag joke and the part where she casually jokes about poisoning cats.
- Berg: “If nobody else is going to say it… I look fantastic.”
- “Who else feels guilty when they watch the leaves fall?”
- Evelyn, the admin who has a crush on Johnny, is of course played by Nia Vardalos, in what might just be the most random one-off appearance in the show’s history (next to Carmen Electra’s appearance in season one’s “Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Delivery”.
- Up next: Two Guys and a Girl does its take on a bottle episode in “Sunday in the Apartment”.