What I’m Watching: Hello Ladies

Hello Ladies: Season 1, Episode 5 “Pool Party” (B+)

If there’s one thing that Stuart is very good at, it’s offending just about everybody. Deciding to host the party of the year at Wade’s condo meant, understandably, that Wade would invite a lot of his friends and neighbors, and leave it to Stuart to tell them that they weren’t attractive enough to be worthy of enjoying the simple pleasures of sitting on a pool chair. This episode was full of hilarious karma moments for Stuart, and that’s what made it most fun. Telling on the woman whose children were in the pool lost him his phone, and his assistant booking a shirtless male bartender was a pretty terrific turn of events. The undeniably best part, of course, was Stuart leaving his own party only to discover that it had actually turned into just what he had wanted it to be, but that he couldn’t get back in because he didn’t have one of his own invitations. Looking in from the outside on the great thing he had created presented a moment of uncertain melancholy the likes of which this show has created before, and which makes its continued comic awkwardness worthwhile. It’s nice to see that, depraved as he may be, Kives is always interested in taking care of his good pal Wade. With no acting developments, Jessica’s latest project was a predictably ill-advised move, the highlight of which was her accusing Heaven of stealing her iPhone when she set her free only to discover that it was just in a pocket that she doesn’t usually use.