What I’m Watching: Apartment 23

Apartment 23: Season 2, Episode 8 “Paris…” (B+)

This episode was pretty hilarious overall, and I liked its structure, introducing June to the working world in New York but hardly letting her have an easy time. Practicing her routine to get it down to thirty minutes provided the best use of Eli that I’ve seen yet on this show, though he’s such an inconsistent character that I wouldn’t be surprised if we didn’t see him again until season five. I love that Chloe assumed right away that Fox would be June’s nemesis, and that it turned out to be true, with wig and all. June’s “on the wrong foot” cupcakes and kill-her-with-kindness attitude didn’t work out well, and Fox trying to steal Chloe was cruel. The fact that everything was resolved with June actually stabbing Fox in the back by accident during the cake cutting was absolutely superb. Fox declaring that she never pees and recounting the “having had” breakfast incident were among her most amusing moments. Sending June to work all day still gives Chloe something to do, so this might just work out okay after all. I think it’s terrific that Mark and James are spending so much time together, and that they both tackle the card-signing situation with the same intensity and seriousness. James’ stupidity, namely his misconception of the expression “Lay one on me,” which was responsible for three of his last four breakups, is amusing, but I think that the molestation suggestion was going a bit too far, something this show doesn’t actually do all that often given how frequently it should.