Scene 1: New York City, the raunchy F-train that leads to Jamaica Station. The gang tells Samir to call someone to fix the shower; it's getting bad. Just shower at the gym. That's what I do.
They're all cuddling, but two of the girls are playing with their boyfriends' body parts, marking them as heterosexual couples. Maybe the remaining guy is gay.
Back story: They all live in Samir's parents' house.
Uh-oh, it's happening again: an old guy in a suit is doing stuff. They discuss what to do. Call a mental health provider? Yell at him? Issa pretends that she doing stuff, too, to embarrass him, but that just turns him on. She tries harder...
Cut to the group walking home, trying to console Issa: "He didn't finish, I swear." Turns out that Issa is Samir's sister. Think Ross and Monica.
Scene 2: At the house, Billie and her boyfriend Anton (Owen Thiele) are going through old photos, looking for the one where Samir "looks a little gay." That's homophobic. The only way to look gay is to make out with someone of the same sex. They mean "looks femme."
Issa and her boyfriend come downstairs and kiss as he leaves. Then she argues with Sammy about whether Paul Baker (Jack Inanen, left) can move in. Sammy's boyfriend? There is no Sammy listed in the IMDB. Maybe she means Samir.
No, it turns out that Paul Baker is Issa's boyfriend, the one she just kissed, always called by his full name. . So if Billie and her boyfriend get to live there, why can't Issa live with Paul Baker?
Got the couples down? It's Samir alone, his sister Issa-Paul Baker, and his college roommate Anton-Billie.
They're all distracted by a news story about Kyle Haberman coming forward to reveal that he was assaulted. They hate him: he always orders drinks, but doesn't pay for them. But now, because he is a victim, they have to be nice to him.
Scene 3: CSB Bank. Samir (Mark Elassal) comes into to pay Peter's Heaters to fix the boiler in the house, but they only take checks, and he doesn't have a checking account? That makes no sense. Who writes checks anymore? I can't remember the last time I used a pen.
Afterwards Billie brings him a carob muffin. His girlfriend? But she was fondling Anton on the subway.
Samir: "I thought the world would be waiting for me, and instead everyone is annoyed that I'm here."
No one told you life was gonna be this way. Your job's a joke, you're broke, your love life's DOA....
She ignores him to give a Kyle update: $200,000 payout, and he is "the V of our G." She clarifies for viewers who were born in the last century: "Voice of Our Generation."
They discuss how the boss came up to him at work and grabbed him. "Most men don't even realize when they've crossed a line." This makes Samir nervous; maybe he accidentally crossed a line? He doesn't specify gender, and he's the only housemate who wasn't fondling anyone on the subway. Maybe he's gay.
Billie reassures him: "You are a baby angel...and kind of a bitch boy." That's the sort of term you would use with a gay guy.
More after the break
Scene 4: Billie at work at the tv station, working on a story: being a victim doesn't always make you a good person. She called into the board room, where suit guys ask if "kids your age give a darn about Al Gore." "No? Ok, then we'll go with the Kyle interview."
Left: Kyle is played by Will Ropp. This is his only appearance on the show.
Scene 5: El Sol Mexican Restaurant. Samir is having lunch with his girlfriend. Heterosexualized at Minute 9. So it's straight couples all the way down. Actually, it's an ex-girlfriend or acquaintance. He wants to know if he ever "crossed a line" into harassment.
"No, you're good. Wait -- that time we did stuff when I was too drunk to give consent. You did assault me." She's laughing; apparently it isn't a problem for her.
Scene 6: Breakfast. The housemates try to console Samir: "It's not cancellable."
'How am I going to tell my parents?"
"Don't tell them."
In other news, Billie is upset because they're putting Molested Kyle on the show, and she's jealous. Why can't she get assaulted, and become famous?
They suggest that she's "In the window." In the weeks after a scandal, oldsters are terrified of young people. She could cancel them on an app that they don't use.
"But it's unethical, manipulative...."
"So what? You're a terrible person, so it shouldn't be a problem."
Scene 6: Billie's boyfriend Anton and Issa attend a "Stand Up, Speak Up" Rally" trying to "take down the house of depravity." They greet Kyle and pretend to like him.
"Where's the rest of the commune?" he asks. "Have Billie and Samir finally decided to do stuff?" Wait -- Billie is Anton's girlfriend. She was fondling his body parts on the subway. Are they, like, just friends? I would never allow a friend to touch me like that!
They congratulate him on his interview: "Your boss is def going to hurt himself when it airs."
Issa offers to go onstage next to keep the crowd riled up, but you need a Victim badge. She's got badges for Woman, Child of Immigrants, and Sex Worker (she reads horoscopes on OnlyFans and then shows stuff). "Ok, go ahead."
Scene 7: Billie at the tv station. She approaches Randy in the control room and asks for a position with more responsibility. He ignores her, so she brings up being young "in today's climate." In other words, give me a better job, or I'll claim that you assaulted me. "Ok, you've got the job."
Scene 8: Samir checking to see if he assaulted another former girlfriend or coworker. "No, you were always respectful."
"Great, because this other girl said that I assaulted her..."
"Wait, are you trying to coalition-build with me? You want me to agree that what you did to that poor girl was ok."
Scene 9: Practicing for the interview, with Billie standing in for Kyle. Meanwhile, Anton advises Issa that she's doing too much for the cause. "But I support it." Kyle appears with the free stuff he got for being a victim, and asks Anton, "Do you bl*w?"
Anton says that he does. Wait -- does he mean s*x? So Anton is gay? Owen Thiele plays a gay guy in "Overcompensating," and is gay in real life, so it's likely.
Issa complains tha the can't go with Kyle because he doesn't suppor the Cause. Anton counters that he's supporting Kyle as much as possible, by doing cocaine with him.
He meant cocaine? WTF?
Cut to Anton flirting with a girl at a party. Won't your girlfriend Billie get jealous?
I think we're done here.
Beefcake: Not in this episode, but there are some backsides later.
Heterosexism: Two heterosexual romances going on. Samir is single, but he's been with a lot of women. A lot.
Gay Characters: Kyle's boss, who doesn't appear. Morgan Lever (left), who played a gay character in Fellow Travelers, appears later as "Dot," a gender-transgressive name. Plus Anton may be into both men and women. That would generally be classified as bisexual, but on this show heterosexual desire is universal human experience, so gay guys flirt with girls and like to have their girlfriends fondle their body parts.
My grade: F
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