Round Two: Apartment 23

Apartment 23: Season 1, Episode 2 “Daddy’s Girl” (B+)

I’ve decided to refer to this show by its shorter title, partially because I plan on writing about this show for the foreseeable future, given that its second episode was superior to its first and it’s pretty damn entertaining. Most remarkable about this installment is that it manages to one-up Chloe sleeping with June’s fiancé, and it’s worrisome only in that it’s going to be hard to sustain such dramatic and horrifying events on a weekly basis. It really seemed like Scott might actually be a nice guy, and June even got over the fact that he was Chloe’s dad. But the arrival of June’s wheelchair-bound mother, distraught that her husband might be cheating on her, drove home the fact that both Chloe and Scott really are awful people. Scott’s assertion that his wife didn’t like biking was met with appropriate horror by June, and, as daughters should, Chloe felt it necessary to push her father into the street so that he could get hit by a bike. James Van Der Beek is hovering elsewhere on his own plotline, trying to teach an acting class but not being taken seriously aside from his work on “Dawson’s Creek,” which is a very meta plotline since the show is doing the same thing, and I wonder how long that can last. I suspect that June will be dating plenty in the near future, considering how completely gaga, complete with hypnotic music, she went when she saw a baby coming out of the elevator.

What I’m Watching: Shameless

Shameless: Season 1, Episode 11 “Daddy’s Girl” (B+)

It’s a rare episode where the most outrageous plotline doesn’t directly involve a Gallagher, at least not until the very end. Karen is definitely on a major downward spiral, and it’s not going to get any better anytime soon. That chain nose ring was more than a bit frightening, and it’s a shame that Lip’s well-intended comment didn’t go over well at all since she could really use a friend at this point. I guess she really just doesn’t like being called a whore. What’s especially unfortunate is that her rather violent romp with Frank is going to hurt her mother so much more than it’s going to hurt her father. It’s also definitely not going to go over well with Lip, so watch out for some rather nasty interactions when the show wraps its first season this Sunday. It’s so interesting to see the relationship between Lip and Ian play out as they search for Ian’s dad, and it was quite jarring to see Frank’s spitting image behind a full beard in his twin brother. I’m so thrilled to see Amy Smart in a guest-starring role as Fiona’s new friend, and though Fiona doesn’t seem to be sold on their friendship, it’s certainly an interesting thing considering she doesn’t have too many pals besides Veronica and Steve. Tony’s latest actions involving Steve are definitely going to backfire with Fiona, and you have to appreciate Steve’s brilliance in coordinating the whole situation. The scenes with Steve and Tony were definitely a whole lot of fun, occasionally bordering on serious good drama too.