S01.E05: ... started a nuclear war

[paulvdb]

Quote

 

Devi allows rumors about her and Paxton to swirl during an overnight school trip. Fabiola opens up to Eleanor, who gets upsetting news about her mother.

 

 

[shapeshifter]

Lots of drama in this episode, but well executed. 

[dubbel zout]

I loved the whole Model UN plot. My older brother was big into that back in the Jurassic Age, and it's nice to see things haven't changed that much, hee.

[festivus]

I loved Devi getting the Model UN kids all riled up. Pretty funny.

Thinking your shit is the most important is typical teen behavior even without the tragedy.

[EtheltoTillie]

Great episode. I like that it’s about smart kids. 

[TrininisaScorp]

Loved seeing Brick from The Middle!  The entire model UN thing was pretty good, and Devi has some skill in getting people riled up.  I really appreciated it. 

[methodwriter85]

I was a theater kid who actually auditioned with Tom's "you think I'm crazy about that warehouse?" speech so Eleanor auditioning was gold for me. As a teenager, I would actually work out my emotions using sad monologues so I just loved this.

[tennisgurl]

The whole "My shit is bigger than your shit" is such a teenage thing, that seemed so real. 

The Model UN plot was great, and it was great seeing brick from The Middle as Russia! Devi really got those kids riled up, and it was fun seeing her being the coolest kid among the UN kids, even if it all did rather backfire on her. 

Edited May 16, 2020 by tennisgurl

[bettername2come]

It’s really interesting to see Paxton end up  mad about the sex rumor after he was initially interested in no strings attached sex. I also laughed at Eleanor yelling at Paxton and calling him a racist with his confused “I’m part Japanese” and his friend not knowing it. 
And nerds chanting “World War 3!” was something I didn’t know I needed in my life.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

I had really strict parents so if I had been caught drinking at a no parents party and then been bitten by an animal and taken to the hospital, I would have been grounded for life and given all kinds of extra chores so I could totally relate to Devi's punishment.

Weirdly, ironing is one of the few things I didn't mind doing as a kid. My family moved across the country when I was nine and my sister had just been born, so when we finally moved into our new house my parents told me that I was now responsible for doing my own laundry and ironing my own clothes. I think their exact words were "If you want clean clothes, it's up to you to wash them. If you don't want to walk around wearing wrinkled clothes, you have to iron them." Theoretically it was my choice. I could have walked around in wrinkled clothes so I wasn't forced to iron which might be why I ended up not disliking it (as opposed to my other chores which I HAD to do like mowing the lawn). But I never had to iron anyone else's clothes which might also be why I never minded ironing.

I wasn't a fan of John McEnroe's narration in the first few episodes, but I totally laughed when he complained about how boring it was to talk about Devi ironing. Sometimes I can hear Mindy Kaling in very specific lines, like when McEnroe said that although Devi was persona non grata at home, she was grata as hell at school. I thought it was cute that Trent was the one who initially invited Devi over in the cafeteria. I totally cracked up when Trent found out that Paxton was Asian and said he would try to be more observant (which was followed by Paxton saying, "You've met my dad like forty times," and Trent saying, "I thought that was your neighbor").

Poor Fabiola. She gathered up all that courage and called a family meeting and then couldn't bring herself to tell her parents the truth. I was so happy for her when she came out to Eleanor.

I had to laugh at the entire MUN situation. It is SUCH a good girl thing to go to an MUN conference just to get out of the house while you're grounded! But it was also hilarious how Devi kept referring to it as something that would look good on her transcript. Colleges don't care if you went to ONE conference. And then Ben claimed that if they worked together, it would look good on their transcripts. No, Ben, that's not how transcripts work. You don't get to write a detailed description of what happened at the MUN conference for your transcript. I know I should be horrified that Devi started World War III but what happens at MUN has no effect on anything. "WORLD WAR THREE! WORLD WAR THREE!"

I was surprised that the show was going to have Ben and Devi bury their competitive hatchet so soon (we're only halfway through the season) so it made sense that this was the moment when Devi decided to blame Ben for something that was really her own fault and then go nuclear on him.

I didn't do MUN in middle school or high school but I did one semester in college because I needed the extra units. Two of my friends said they would take it with me so that we could just hang out and have fun. We went to a conference (but it was at a hotel that was less than an hour away so it wasn't even a road trip) and all I remember doing while I was there was using the pages to send ridiculous notes to my two friends who were in a different committee. The conference we went to was HUGE though. There were at least a hundred people just in my committee meeting.

I knew it was just a matter of time before Paxton found out that Devi let people believe that she had sex with him, so I'm glad that it came out sooner rather than later. Usually in tv/movies, it's the guy who lies about having sex with a girl so it was interesting to see it turned around.

Because I love details like this, a list of the extracurricular activities that Devi and Ben split:

Devi:
National Honor Society
Newspaper
Chinese club
Orchestra
Mu Alpha Theta
Student television station
Amnesty International
Rainbow alliance
Young democrats
Animal rights
Spanish NHS
Interact club
UNICEF
Mock trial

Ben:
Beta club
Yearbook
Model UN
A cappella
Science NHS
Latin club
Student government
Cultural awareness club
Young Republicans
SOSADD
Physics club
Chess club
Global nomads
Quiz bowl

Edited May 30, 2020 by ElectricBoogaloo

[Mabinogia]

1 hour ago, ElectricBoogaloo said:

I think their exact words were "If you want clean clothes, it's up to you to wash them. If you don't want to walk around wearing wrinkled clothes, you have to iron them." Theoretically it was my choice.

That's a great way to do it! It wasn't an order so you didn't have that knee-jerk desire to rebel, and it taught a good life skill, you want a certain outcome, do the work to get it. 

1 hour ago, ElectricBoogaloo said:

You don't get to write a detailed description of what happened at the MUN conference for your transcript. I know I should be horrified that Devi started World War III but what happens at MUN has no effect on anything. "WORLD WAR THREE! WORLD WAR THREE!"

I really hope her college essay is "The Day I Started World War III". Though I would side eye any college that takes someone who in one day with MUN starts a World War. lol I do love how quickly that conference devolved though. 

[possibilities]

I felt sorry for Ben, because he really did seem to be sincerely trying to bury the hatchet, not only for purposes of his resume, but it's hard to forgive him for the "unfuckable nerd" thing, and I don't really like how hard they're driving on redeeming him, even though it's kind of working.

 

I think Paxton was bothered by the sex rumor because Devi's not cool, and it hurts his image to be thought to be having sex with her on the DL, when he's trying to get with the popular girls.

[Scarlett45]

Ah a MUN trip!

Devi, Paxton has every right not be mad. Ben is a jerk but this isn’t his fault, you were the one that LIED.