Adults<\/a><\/p>\nPop Girlie<\/p>\n
\n Season 2<\/p>\n
Episode 6\n <\/p>\n
\n Editor\u2019s Rating<\/p>\n
2 stars<\/p>\n
**\n <\/p>\n
\n Samir dreads telling his girlfriend, Carly, that her sudden pursuit of a career as a K-pop artist is doomed.
\n Photo: FX\n <\/p>\n
Sometimes I look at the notes I take after an episode of TV, especially a lightweight sitcom like this one, and I\u2019m not sure what to write about. I could list the top-five moments that made me laugh, sure, but that\u2019s not enough. I firmly believe sitcoms like this one deserve to be recapped and reviewed in full. Plot-driven or prestige-y seriocomedies aren\u2019t the only ones that deserve coverage.<\/p>\n
But sometimes you get a sitcom episode that\u2019s just \u2026 fine. It makes you laugh a few times, but very little about it lingers or feels substantial. That\u2019s \u201cPop Girlie\u201d for me.<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s see if we can figure out why. The episode starts promisingly enough with a funny premise: Anton\u2019s throwaway adages are causing people to make drastic, impulsive decisions with their lives. Merely speaking a phrase like \u201cRaw is the new cooked\u201d is enough to convince a diner chef to experiment with sushi. Saying \u201cA bare thigh is a wasted opportunity\u201d to a waitress results in a giant infected tattoo. And, most relevant to the episode, claiming \u201ca dentist is just a singer who hasn\u2019t grabbed a microphone\u201d leads Samir\u2019s girlfriend to abandon her dentistry plans and pursue a career as a K-pop artist while in the middle of applying to residencies.<\/p>\n
Random, but sure. We haven\u2019t seen a ton of Carly yet this season, and it\u2019s good to give her a spotlight, though she sounds almost unbelievably delusional with this new dream. It\u2019s also good to give Samir a meaty story. He has spent all season bragging about what a natural and caring boyfriend he is, but now he\u2019s being confronted with a much harder challenge: being honest. I understand his impulse to support his girlfriend\u2019s dreams no matter what, but come on, how do you take a single called \u201cHiccups (Body Go Crazy)\u201d seriously?<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a perfect song in how amusingly terrible it is, from the lyrics themselves to the dubstep-influenced sound. But it\u2019s pretty easy to suss out the basic beats of the story from there. Carly keeps taking her new passion further, apparently spending all her tuition money on shooting a music video and renting a venue for a live performance plus merch and catering. Through it all, Samir knows it\u2019s his responsibility to tell her the truth, but he just can\u2019t, no matter how many times his friends remind him it needs to come from him. But then \u2026 eventually, I guess it does click, with Anton\u2019s help, because Samir offers Carly an out while backstage and she takes it. Issa also plays a big role in saving the day, stalling for time with a performance of \u201cI Dreamed a Dream,\u201d which she\u2019s been waiting to give since taking vocal lessons.<\/p>\n
A lot of this stuff is funny, but it also doesn\u2019t ever really go anywhere unexpected or hint at some deeper truth. Once again, things just sort of end with the credits rolling at the 20-minute mark before we get any closure on the event or Carly\u2019s now-depleted savings, outside a basic one-sentence \u201cI was just stressed and worried about my life being ordinary\u201d explanation to justify her outlandish behavior. There\u2019s room to go deeper there without sacrificing comedy, even in a show like this! And Samir\u2019s journey in the episode remains fairly static throughout with no new twists or texture to his \u201cI need to tell my girlfriend the truth, but I can\u2019t bear it\u201d dilemma.<\/p>\n
The same goes for Anton\u2019s side of things. Yes, it\u2019s funny to watch him realize how much of a destructive effect he has had by unintentionally steering so many acquaintances in the wrong direction. There\u2019s also a sweet moment when Paul Baker reassures Anton that people just care what he thinks, a generous and accurate reframing of Anton\u2019s toxic influence. But it feels like a scene or conversation is missing near the conclusion of the episode, when Anton apparently redeems himself by offering Samir advice (and then stalling onstage). The idea here is that Samir wants to know what Anton really thinks, a parallel to Paul Baker\u2019s earlier comment, but we don\u2019t see what Anton tells him. When we see Samir next, he\u2019s ready to tell Carly the truth, so it seems Anton just reiterated the same advice everyone has already been sharing about honesty.<\/p>\n
In a typical episode of Adults, I tend to prefer the main story over a B- or C-plot because it usually feels a tad more thoughtful and fully fleshed out. But I think I prefer the wacky subplot in this episode over the Carly story, partly because Paul Baker makes for a fun straight man to play off Billie\u2019s deranged career thirstiness. She\u2019s still looking desperately for a job, which is the other ongoing narrative of season two, second only to the Issa\u2013Paul Baker\u2013Anton love triangle. And Paul Baker is the natural character to help her in this situation since he has so many jobs himself.<\/p>\n
The specifics of Billie\u2019s obliviousness and overcompensation really make this one, such as her deeply unwise ways of \u201cspicing up\u201d some networking chat and her bad habit of sleeping with men she\u2019s supposed to be connecting with professionally. As always, she\u2019s in denial about her irresponsibility, bragging about juggling her career and her sex life as if she\u2019s Samantha Jones. Her ultimate fumble is glue-company CEO Scott Ritger, whom she brings to Carly\u2019s show with the assumption that they\u2019ll sleep together. She goes off on Scott when she hears him on the phone with his wife \u2014 but this time, of course, the CEO doesn\u2019t actually want sex from her. He believed Carly when she described the show as a networking event. He even correctly interpreted her tongue-out emojis as self-deprecating, not sexual. Now she doesn\u2019t get to have sex with him or get a job from him, the original thing she ostensibly wanted.<\/p>\n
So another pathetic ending for poor Billie, who\u2019s just trying to make some money and figure out her life \u2014 and have a lot of sex while doing it. What\u2019s so wrong with that? The most solid and relatable running joke in \u201cPop Girlie\u201d comes from Billie\u2019s amenability to a wide range of career paths. \u201cI could want to work in medical sales,\u201d she remarks early on. \u201cI could want to work in glue,\u201d she says after meeting Scott. \u201cI could want to be a locksmith,\u201d she adds near the end with Paul Baker joining in. It\u2019s a funny encapsulation of the type of mental gymnastics we perform when we don\u2019t know where our lives and careers will take us next. Almost every crazy storyline on Adults has that kernel of emotional truth \u2014 which makes it just a tad disappointing when the show doesn\u2019t take full advantage of its potential.<\/p>\n
\u2022 \u201cDid you hear that song? It sounds like a Stroke wrote it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2022 Carly\u2019s 96-year-old grandfather came here from the Philippines for her performance, and it will not be the last thing he ever experiences, thankfully.<\/p>\n
\u2022 I should mention that Rachel Marsh kills it throughout this episode and makes her character funnier than she may be on the page.<\/p>\n
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