Take Three: Apartment 23

Apartment 23: Season 1, Episode 3 “Parent Trap” (B+)

In terms of making Chloe out to be the biggest sociopath that ever lived, this show is doing an excellent job, as she managed to adopt a child by pretending that June was her lesbian lover and then enslaving her as her secretary so that she can spend the three days of the year that she works as productively as possible. It helps that June so easily bought the story of a journalist coming to profile their apartment, but Chloe took it to a whole new level of abuse by having Molly do all of her work while a distracted June found herself in a similar situation. Being hired as a 24/7 unpaid intern is truly unfortunate, but Joyce seemed happy with June initially, before finding out that she had unwittingly adopted a child. Chloe’s job sounds pretty damn cool, knowing just enough of a number of languages so that she can entertain diplomats while they’re in town at the UN. Her identification of a crab during her flag test was quite amusing. The plot revolving around June’s kleptomaniac coworker at the coffee shop isn’t all that exciting, but it’s fun to see June stretched so thin. I enjoyed Kiernan Shipka’s appearance as herself, and it’s clear that, after a “Funny or Die” skit from last year, the young actress is capable of making fun of herself and referencing the extremely mature role that she plays on AMC’s highly-acclaimed “Mad Men.” Her cameo also proved to be a strong use of the otherwise unconnected James Van Der Beek.