Franklin & Bash defend "Jennifer of Troy"

     TNT's Franklin & Bash presents "Jennifer of Troy." In the episode, a woman named Jennifer (Saturday Night Live writer Jillian Bell) claims she is fired from a men's magazine for being too beautiful. Franklin (Breckin Meyer) and Bash (Mark-Paul Gosselaar) take the case, and soon discover she is not at all traditionally hot. Yet, she does have a very addictive personality, and when they discover jealousy is the real motivator behind the firing, they manager to win. Meanwhile, Infeld (Malcolm McDowell) and Damien (Reed Diamond) go into China Town to clear Franklin and Bash's friend, who in trying to help, F & B inadvertently sully the entire firm's name.


     The A story about a girl who thinks she is a hottie is pretty interesting. It calls into question what the definition of beauty actually is. Jennifer is not ugly, and her infectious personality soon garners the attention of both Bash and Infeld. It is said confidence is the biggest attractor, and she has it in spades. She isn't arrogant, but genuinely kind, and interested in helping others. She is extremely outgoing, and very comfortable with herself. It's hard not to start to find her more and more attractive as the episode goes on. Even Hanna (Garcelle Beauvais), who sneers when first learning the details of the case, begins to like their client.

     When it comes down to it, Jennifer is not fired because of her beauty, but because the magazine owner's daughter, Katherine (Rebecca McFarland, Two and a Half Men), grows jealous of the fatherly relationship her dad, Big Mack (Robin Thomas, Life Unexpected), develops for Jennifer. Katherine cannot handle being replaced, so in a way, it is Jennifer's positive elements that attract people that cause her to be fired.

     Should Jennifer's "delusion" be taken away? There are hints that it might stumble slightly when, in the courtroom, Big Mack admits he sees her as a kid, despite the fact that he's slept with tons of women her age. Yet, her smile is firmly back in place by the time they meet in the hallway outside. It would be hard to go through life believing a delusion, especially in the environment where Jennifer works. She has surely been told many times she is not beautiful. Yet, she manages to dismiss those doubters and keep her self confidence. Good for her!

     In the end, that is what makes her beautiful. It's not a fantasy. Men do find her attractive. It's a self-fulfilling prophecy. That alone should be a lesson to women who are down on themselves. Jennifer is a real example of how most women can be seen as attractive if they put their minds to it. Kudos to Franklin & Bash for including such a nice, heartwarming message in their show.


     Damien actually shows a bit of a nice side in "Jennifer of Troy." He makes a bet he is pretty sure he will win against Franklin and Bash over Jennifer's case. When he loses, he shows up at their party and hands over a prized possession, his loss for the bet, with no obvious hard feelings or ill will. Is that because he is growing respect for the results they get? Or because he didn't really care about the object anyway? Being a gracious loser makes Damien a little less of a jerk, which is interesting, as his character is introduced as a one dimensional tool. Might there be something more there? Very cool.

     The B plot concerns Gene (Leonardo Nam, Vantage Point), who fixes Franklin and Bash's internet system. They learn Gene has been disgraced in his China Town community, and it considering moving to Chicago. This means he does not have time to fix their latest system crash, and so, for purely selfish reasons, the titular pair go to China Town themselves and serve an injunction against the store owner (François Chau, Lost) who has accused Gene of being a thief. This just makes things worse, as soon bad posters of Bash and Franklin are all over the neighborhood.

     It should not be surprising that Stanton Infeld has a deep interest in China Town and a respect for its culture. He is worldly and eccentric, and China Town is nearby. Why wouldn't he be curious about how the area operates? His desire to get in there and fix the situation surely stems as much from his wish to interact with the Chinese-American people and observe their customs as it is in fixing the good name of his firm.

     The twist in "Jennifer of Troy" is that Gene is in love with the store owner's daughter. Not particularly fresh, but a timeless classic. Of course the shopkeeper has deeper motivations than one frozen rabbit, for which Gene is more than willing to pay for. He wasn't trying to steal it anyway. The man just wants Gene to stay away from his kid, not believing the computer tech is good enough for her. Infeld is able to convince the man to drop all the accusations and allow Gene to stay in town.


     Watch Franklin & Bash Wednesday nights at 10 p.m. ET on TNT.

     If you like my reviews, please follow me on Twitter! Click here for all of my Current Season Reviews.

    To sign up to be notified when the Franklin & Bash DVD and Blu-rays are released, please click here.

Article first published as TV Review: Franklin & Bash - "Jennifer of Troy" on Blogcritics.

Life Unexpected Ends Unexpectedly

     It seems like not that long ago (last April 13th, actually) when I wrote a fond farewell to what I was sure would be Life Unexpected's series finale. Thrilled that the CW gave the little show a second season this year, though it was renewed well after last spring's finale, so we were left hanging for quite awhile, I find myself with mixed feelings that the show is gone for good. Ok, it's not officially canceled, but it might as well be. Kudos to the network for allowing a second chance, but the ending, while plenty tear inducing, also left me frustrated, more for what it didn't show than what it did. As such, I will be focusing this review on the final moments of the show, rather than the whole series, whole season, or even the whole episode.

     The big news, of course: Baze (Kristoffer Polaha) ended up with Cate (Shiri Appleby). How could you not cry when Lux (Brittany Robertson) interrupted their make-out session to call them (for the first time seen on screen) Mom and Dad? Of course it was the dream of every child who grew up without parents, or parents being together. This was also the dream of many fans of the show, not counting myself among them. Yes, I longed for that in season one. But Baze was moving on in season two, and Ryan (Kerr Smith) was so well fleshed out as a likable character... It seemed more realistic that Cate would stay with Ryan.

     I praised the show the first time around for doing the unexpected, ending with Cate marrying Ryan. Cate and Ryan were just so invested in each other, that even after their marital problems this year, I was not happy to see them broken up. It seriously tainted the moment. Had the show been given another two seasons, as the final few moments were set two years in the future, I could easily see Ryan having left Cate to raise his baby with Julia (Jamie Ray Newman, Drop Dead Diva, Eureka) in a more natural way. Plus, it would have helped their radio careers to have them fight a lot and eventually divorce, but stay on the show. Or even not fight too much, as they seemed to still care for each other, and Ryan stayed in Lux's life, as he should have. But as Julia had barely been seen up to this point, it bothered me immensely. It was just too abrupt.

     Baze, like Cate, also had another love interest, in the form of Emma (Emma Caulfield, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Gigantic). It broke my heart when he ended things with her. I totally understand. I knew finding out that she had had a four year affair with Baze's father, Jack (Robin Thomas), would end things between them. How could it not? As such, I blame the writers for ruining such a perfect pairing with that twist. On the other hand, the couple got really serious, really quickly, and had the show continued, I guess it would have been a bit boring for Baze to settle down with a woman so quickly. Not for me, but for most viewers, who like the on again-off again stories. Still, I missed Emma in that ending.

     Another option for Baze, and the one I thought was happening at first, was having him end up with Alice (Erin Karpluk), who was almost absent from this season entirely, but managed to be in the end. When I saw a pregnant Alice sitting next to Baze, I assumed she was his happy ending. It made sense. She was sweet, pretty, and recently divorced before the jump forward. Sure, since she wasn't with Baze, I am glad she was with Math (Austin Basis). Math is the epitome of a nice guy, and his unluckiness in love has been disheartening. I don't wish to take away from his happy ending by complaining. I'm just very unsettled by the whole last minute Cate - Ryan split, and that has influenced my whole opinion of the end.
 
     The other thing I had hoped for was the return of Eric (Shaun Sipos). As someone in the teaching world, I was disgusted by the Lux dating a teacher arc. But I also saw how they came together, completely unaware that they were doing anything wrong, and it hurt my heart a bit, too. Eric was good for Lux, and I had hoped he might return after she became legal age. Unlike the other relationship jumps, I'm fine with Lux ending up with Jones (Austin Butler), even though he had been dating Tasha (Ksenia Solo). Jones was the ultimate symbol of how Lux had been healed emotionally.

     I also wish for another season so I could see Lux fall in and out of love with Sam (Landon Liboiron) before she settled on Jones, as that was clearly being set up before the finale. She had some more healing to do, and Sam would have helped that process along, being a good choice for the damaged Lux, but on the road to healing himself from his parents' broken home, he could have taken her with him. Sam's continued presence would have kept Emma around long enough for Baze to try to get past her past, if he ever could, which is doubtful, but how I hoped it would go.

     Happy endings were also given to Jack, who was at the graduation sitting behind Baze, presumably with their relationship once again on the mend, and Jamie (Reggie Austin), who had almost disappeared from the show in season two. I felt like Kelly (Amy Price-Francis), similar to Sam, lost a good ending because of the pressures of wrapping up the show. Paige (Arielle Kebbel) was even more cheated, as she had been worked fairly prominently into this second season, just to go missing in the final couple of episodes.

     Life Unexpected wasn't always consistently top notch, often (especially in its sophomore year) falling to cheese or what seemed like too much drama. However, it was also often heart warming, and I will miss it.

Article first published as TV Review: Life Unexpected Ended Unexpectedly on Blogcritics.

For frequent mini-reviews and occasional TV news, follow Jerome on Twitter. 

Life Unexpected ends season (series?) in an unexpected way

     One of the charming new treasures of this television season has been the CW's Life Unexpected.  With a mere thirteen episode run, it came to an end last night.  Sadly, it has not yet been picked up for a second season, so what we watched may have been the end of the story.  Gladly, it that is it, there was closure for most of the major story lines.

     Central to this final episode, titled "Love Unexpected", was the love triangle between Baze (Kristoffer Polaha), Cate (Shiri Appleby), and Ryan (Kerr Smith).  It's been brewing for awhile, as in the pilot, though Ryan proposed to his co-anchor and girlfriend Cate, the child she gave birth to a a teenager resurfaced and she fell into bed with the kid's father, Baze.  Had this been a two hour romantic comedy, Baze would have broke in and stopped Ryan and Cate's wedding, leaving the family intact, and the third party to sadly go away.

     But this is television, and after thirteen episodes of getting to know Ryan, it would have been hard to see him rejected and sent packing.  So though Baze did rush into the chapel, he was too late.  And besides that, Cate seems happy to be married to Ryan.  The unexpected ending fit the show perfectly.

     The child in the middle of all this drama, Lux (Brittany Robertson) realized something, too.  Ryan made her understand how any child of a broken family feels, and her friendship with him has been one of the high points of the series, and the reason it would have been tragic for the series to follow the conventional formula.  Sure, she wanted to get her mom and dad together, and he understood that.  But eventually she seemed to realize that matters of the heart aren't so simple, and that there is more to it than a child's longing.  Beautifully handled.

     Lastly, the writers made time to Baze to reconnect with his own father (Robin Thomas).  It was a plot that simmered for a little while, and erupted in this final episode.  It helped the viewer understand Baze, and gave him some sort of triumph, even if he didn't get the girl.  The slow and seemingly natural relationship, with plenty of setbacks, has been one of the most moving stories in the show.

     Hopefully the CW will grant this show another season.  It deserves it.  But if not, it certainly brought some unexpected joy into my life.