When I first started watching Love Bites, the way that I assumed an episode to work would be as follows. We'd have one vignette featuring Becki Newton's Annie, a pregnant chef who was carrying her sister's child, and various offshoots into Annie's personal life, i.e. friends, cousins, neighbors, etc. Another vignette would feature Greg Grunberg's lovable Judd, his wife Colleen (Constance Zimmer), and the same type of offshoots into their life that we saw of Annie. A third vignette would be a story that didn't have to do with any of the three main characters, though it would tie in thematically with the episode as a whole.
Apparently my assumptions were wrong as tonight's episode of Love Bites not only excluded Annie from any screen time (she had a very, very brief cameo last week), but also didn't provide any connection in the material to her. The structure of the episode was still very sound and cohesive, but it was built around two of the guest stars as opposed to the main people in the cast. I've not had a problem with the show's unusual mechanics thus far, as a lot of shows nowadays are trying to balance the procedural elements (three interlinking stories about love, plenty of one-off guest stars) with the serialized (three main characters) in order to draw in the most viewers, but it seems strange that Annie's become more of an after thought on a series that was supposed to feature her prominently.
I mean, it's not as if we had been getting mass amounts of information on the character, as most of Annie's vignettes have spotlighted other people (two friends and a cousin, though she has a recurring thing with Matt), but she seems to have gotten lost in the shuffle of the considerable guest stars on Love Bites. I don't know if this was a conscious decision or if there were mitigating circumstances, but I have to wonder if the show made it through the first few episodes and realized that maybe it had too much serialization, hence the cutback. It's admittedly a little abrupt to go into the show expecting one thing and getting another, especially since Newton brings the type of flirty, game performance that thrives on a show like Love Bites.
Love Bites had another pretty decent episode tonight that continued to play on the themes it keeps going back to. We had a lesson about trying things outside of your comfort zone when dealing with Bridget and Jeff's awkward venture into fetishism, a sweet tale about being true to yourself courtesy of "Creepy Dad" Brian, and a rather honest look at honesty/communication when faced with a difficult teenager. It hit the same beats that the previous five episodes have, bouncing from raunchy sex talk to uncomfortable parental moments to touching resolutions of all three stories. The show only has three episodes left and once it goes, I'll honestly miss it. I just hope Annie's actually around to say goodbye to.
Thoughts, Quotes, and Observations:
- "How do we both own Cher's Believe?"
- "I never figured you for a smut peddler."
- Hawaii: 5 Blows. Best porn parody title ever? Discuss.
- Toe sucking is apparently called "shrimping". The more you know, indeed.
- "I know we haven't spoken for a week, but can I spot check your wang for bad stuff?"
- Mo Collins! Someone get this woman a series, please.
- Does anybody want to play some birth control bingo while we munch on penis cookies? No?
- "You have beautiful eyelashes. Are they real?" The next time I try to pick somebody up, I'm using this.
- "Hey, if a man likes his cocaine..."
- If there's one thing Love Bites does very well, it's ending montages and tonight's was no exception. I'm usually not a fan of voiceover work/narration in shows (with a few exceptions), but Love Bites makes good use out of it.
What did you think about tonight's episode? Which storyline was your favorite? Are you wondering where the heck Annie is?
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