PRIVILEGED: All About Love, Actually

So we had a short little break from new Privileged episodes and now we’re back on Monday nights (after powerhouse Gossip Girl, no less) for some fun in the Palm Beach sun. I loved this week’s episode and laughed a lot while watching, but I also found it to be all over the place too (not necessarily a bad thing, I’m just saying). There were a lot of roller coaster-style ups and downs in the various love lives of our favourite Floridians (except poor Rose who was doing her best Cinderella impression throughout the episode – she was trying to be a good groundee, which was very sweet). We were also introduced to the concept of the Wallow Hallow – what’s yours?

Before we get into this week’s antics, just a reminder that if you haven’t checked out GMMR’s notes and pics from her recent set visit to Privileged, you can do so here: GMMR: On the Set of PRIVILEGED

Laurel and Miles
Laurel’s trip to see Miles went splendidly, with the two reconnecting and her telling him the truth about the fact that she had been pregnant with his child forty years ago, explaining why she had left so suddenly. He seemed fine with all of it (like, really fine – did you guys feel that this was perhaps glossed over a tad too much??) and they seemed like a great match. FYI – do you realize that Michael Nouri is the actor who played Jennifer Beals’ boyfriend Nick in Flashdance??? Dude, I felt so old when I realized that. Anyhow, things go extremely well and then Laurel heads back to Florida. Miles shows up a little while later as a surprise, interrupting her right in the middle of a very hectic day as CEO of Limoges Cosmetics. They can’t seem to connect and he seems perturbed that she can’t make time for him.

Miles was a lawyer, but he’s retired now and enjoying his laid-back life. He seems to really care for Laurel, as she does him, but he really wants to be with someone who is in the same phase of life as him and currently Laurel is too consumed by her company to give him a significant amount of time. So for now anyway, Miles and Laurel are no more. But c’mon now – he’s Rose and Sage’s grandfather – you don’t think that’s the last we’ll be seeing of him, do you? (Truthfully I have no idea but I can’t imagine they’d create such a story only to have it go nowhere, right?)

Mandy and Charlie
Well, talk about roller coasters – these two were highly unpredictable from start to finish! First Charlie regrets asking Mandy to move in with him, then she seems to want to dial it down a little, and then he’s concerned that he’s failed a “woman test” of some kind thanks to Megan’s interference (I tend to think that Megan and Mandy are just VERY different people and Megan’s advice would only work for Charlie if he were dating Megan). Anyhow, Mandy then decided to get a place an hour away (and I guess a new job because who would commute that much for a waitress job when you could get one down the street from your new place?).

The thought of Mandy being so far away doesn’t sit well with Charlie and he convinces her to move in with him…for realsies this time. (Hey, she looked good in his towel…what’s a guy not to like?). I think that most guys would LOVE Mandy – she’s extremely independent, and does not play games. To me, she happens to look approximately twelve years old so it always kind of freaks me out when I see her kiss Charlie, but aside from that she’s very cool and a lot of guys would probably dig her over Megan for maintenance reasons alone (as in high versus low).

Sage and Louis
Charlie has a cousin who wants to go to culinary school and he needs some experience working in a kitchen before he can apply. Marco agrees to hire him and pretty soon he and Sage are exchanging flirtatious/hateful banter like nobody’s business. Strangely, I can’t even remember Rose and Louis meeting once, but Sage and him must have had about three or four separate encounters. Clearly these two are destined for the “I hate you so much I must kiss you” type of get-together, but they are fun to watch, no? I love it that Sage asked him to make a cassoulet only to pretend to not want it once it was done. Cassoulet literally takes two days to make and is considered one of the most difficult French dishes to prepare – I love that she simply turned her nose up at it when he finally finished it.

This little pairing has the makings of a great story arch, and my interest was really peaked when Sage mentioned that she doesn’t tell Rose everything. Later we see her and Rose talking and Louis walks by – clearly Sage is into him, but she’s keeping her mouth shut in front of her twin sister. What’s the deal with that?

Rose and the Bedazzler
Poor Rose didn’t have a crazy love story a la the rest of the cast, but she had some awesome moments as a result of her grounding. Megan ruled by marching into Rose’s class before the beginning of the test and swiping the cheating purse before it could be used for evil. She then punished Rose by confining her to the house and prohibiting all the fun stuff. Rose was adorable as she tried to prove how seriously she was taking the punishment by voluntarily handing over her favourite things, like her laptop and a crystal headband that she hadn’t even worn yet. The best thought was when she snuck into Megan’s room to Bedazzle her jeans as a present!! I loved this moment when it happened and I loved it even more when we got a glimpse of Joanna Garcia rocking the bedazzled jeans later in the episode – hysterical!

Rose’s grades came in the mail and she did pretty well, causing Megan to lift some of the restrictions as long as she promises to stay on her best behaviour. We’ll see how successful she is as time goes on, but I’m rooting for her because Rose is just adorable.

Megan and Will
ANOTHER roller coaster! First, he’s going to Brazil and thinks he and Megan should pause things, then he doesn’t need to pause, and then he’s not even going to Brazil! It turns out that he was second choice for the job and the first choice just became free, so Will got the boot. Once we’ve happily settled into the notion that Will and Megan can finally RELAX and begin their relationship, Will mentions that he knew about the job a week before asking Megan to be his girlfriend. This sends Megan into a tailspin (see what I mean about high versus low maintenance??) and she has a great chat with Rose where they determine that if Will knew he’d be leaving when he asked, it was actually a bogus ask and he didn’t really mean it.

Luckily Will explains that he was just going after two separate things (getting the job and getting Megan) and hadn’t really considered the long term ramifications of doing those things at the same time (aka he was being a guy). The best part of the Will/Megan storyline this week was the introduction to the concept of the “Wallow Hallow” – a happy place where you can wallow in your misery until you start to feel better. Megan introduced Will to the concept after he was bummed at getting replaced for the photography job. She got him a sushi boat, imported beer and a Monty Python movie fest. Who wouldn’t love that?? She shared her New York WH with him too – she used to love walking around Rockefeller Plaza at Christmas time when the tree was lit up and you could buy roasted chestnuts from the vendors. Will used this as a way to make up for his guyness at the end of the episode when he decided to recreate the scene out by the mansion’s pool. It was cheese, but it was cute too.

Don’t forget to tune in next Monday at 9 for another new episode before the show breaks for the holidays. Also, share your thoughts on the show in the comments! What are you loving/hating? Are you as happy as me that we haven’t seen Lilly in a while? Most importantly, what’s your Wallow Hallow? Mine would involve red wine and a Chuck marathon I think.

— posted by Nicole

Nicole is a lawyer by day and will be GMMR’s resident Supernatural and Privileged expert this year. She lives just outside of Toronto, and as such, you’ll have to forgive Canadian spellings and maybe the occasional “eh” when they pop up in her reviews. Nicole is still in mourning over the loss of Arrested Development and desperately hoping that the movie happens soon. While she’s a lover of music and movies, television is near and dear to her heart and she’s really excited to be a part of the GMMR team!