Our resident Broke Girls get their blue collar bona fides this week when Max goes all Norma Rae of Feminine Hygiene and Caroline vies to become the Coupon Princess of Brooklyn. But, seriously, this week had some nice, sly feminist touches mixed in with its goofy, I Love Lucy-esque comedy. Max refuses to allow Han to raise the price of tampons in the women’s restroom at the diner. And Caroline learns about the cutthroat world of coupon shopping the hard way. Also, this episode has forever brought the term ke$hame into my vocabulary. And for that I will always be grateful.
AFTERELLEN BAIT
If ladies holding Tampons is your secret fetish, this episode was like Christmas, New Year’s Eve and your birthday wrapped into 21 minutes. Yet instead of playing the Tampon business for stereotypical laughs — chicks are so cranky on their periods, yo — they played it for empowerment. And they also lambaste the idea of men thinking it is one of those “secret, no-no, private lady things” that is unfit for public conversation. Look, dudes, it happens once a month to half of the planet’s population, so it’s definitely nothing to be embarrassed about. Though it is totally something to get outraged about when there’s a man who thinks “your menses should be more expensies.” Max is now an official member of the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pantyliners.
FEELINGS, FEELINGS, FEELINGS!
This show just keeps building on its comedy base. Yes, as we’ve all discussed a million times before, it started with the easy and uncomfortable fallback humor of poop humor and racial stereotypes. But now it has grown past those and found some new, interesting and fertile (hey, we’re talking about menstruation, I couldn’t help it) ground to work instead.
BROKEBACK GIRLS
This week the girls flat-out talked about themselves as joint parents. Chestnut has two mommies, kiddies. So when they argued about visiting him, it’s an old married couple arguing about when to visit the grandkids. Also, every time Max and Caroline sit close together I swear they look like they want to kiss. Also, I see what you did with your arm there, Caroline.
FUNNY BUSINESS
You sure don’t say this every day, but the Tampon humor really worked. From Caroline saying, “If men were the ones who got periods tampons would be thrown free from floats like Mardi Gras beads” to the girls going on Occupy Tampons where they “only protest once a month but it is an intense five to seven days” it was nothing to be ke$hamed about. Though, as Max astutely noted, “Shame is over rated, like Ke$ha. In fact they should rename shame Ke$hame. I just bought a Ke$ha album, I’m so ke$hamed.” And then there was the physical comedy in the grocery store where Caroline tried to out extreme coupon the Coupon Queen. I’m not ke$hamed to say cart standoff humor totally makes me giggle.
So, what did you think of this week’s episode? Happy to see Chestnut again? Also, anyone else catch that brief cameo by out bisexual singer Fay Wolf? She was the one asking for a Tampon at the beginning. Nicely done, Brokeback Girls.
