S02.E04: Friends With Benefits

[formerlyfreedom]

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The 126 is on the scene when a disastrous wedding comes crumbling down; Grace helps a dominatrix and her slave involved in a shocking situation; Owen and Gwyneth struggle to label their new relationship.

Airing Monday, February 8, 2021.

 

[formerlyfreedom]

James Urbaniak as the Imp and Grace made this episode - "Fifty Shades of Grace" indeed!!!

[anna0852]

Grace will never live that one down! I nearly died laughing. 

I did not see that ending coming. 

[DearEvette]

3 minutes ago, saoirse said:

James Urbaniak as the Imp and Grace made this episode - "Fifty Shades of Grace" indeed!!!

Seriously.  Best part of the episode. Hands down.  I enjoyed watching the faces of her co-workers as they listened to that whole thing unfold.  it was great.

I liked the Marjan storyline and the twist they gave it.  She believes in the traditional and her fiance wants to embrace the modern. 

Only two episodes in and I am already finding the Strands tedious.  The older Strands.  TK and Carlos I like. 

Otoh, I do think they are writing Mateo so much better this season so far.  They seem to have settled on him being a comedic puppy and I like it.  It works for the character more than his more dramatic turn last season. 

[anna0852]

I really want to see Judd's reaction to that call. Just Grace trying to describe it would be amazing. 

[Bulldog]

1 hour ago, DearEvette said:

I do think they are writing Mateo so much better this season so far.

I have to disagree with this.   They seem to be writing him as borderline (trying to think of a politically correct way to put this) . . . special.  Yeah, we'll go with special. 

[Court]

Grace is the best. 

[jewel21]

Man, Grace really delved into that role with gusto, lol. That was impressive. 

I liked Carlos and TK this episode. 

I was not expecting the baby storyline. I'm curious as to how it will develop. 

[preeya]

I thought we were rid of Dr. Cuddy.

With her bun in the oven this is going to get unbearable.

Edited February 9, 2021 by preeya

[possibilities]

This episode made me remember why I liked this show. 

I love Marjan. I also think Paul is in love with her. I hope that goes somewhere.

I love TK and Carlos.

Grace is the best part of any episode she's in.

I could do without Rob Lowe and Dr Cuddy. Maybe they will go back to NYC. The baby story is shite.

[GodsBeloved]

Grace and her 9 1 1 call for the win. 

The thing that confused me though was how did the guy call 9 1 1? The phone was on the table and I didn't think he could reach it let alone make a call.

I did like Marjan's story and the twists. But ... I didn't get her comment about not honoring a commitment. She went to her friend's hotel knowing he was willing to break his commitment to her but yet told him how she felt in hopes of getting back together. Then she does a 180 and now the fact that he is willing to break his commitment is a problem.

 

9 hours ago, anna0852 said:

I really want to see Judd's reaction to that call. Just Grace trying to describe it would be amazing. 

Me too. I bet he would be so uncomfortable considering he didn't want to hear about Robe Lowe and his call girl turned ex wife's amazing sex😄

Edited February 9, 2021 by GodsBeloved

[DearEvette]

16 minutes ago, GodsBeloved said:

The thing that confused me though was how did the guy call 9 1 1? The phone was on the table and I didn't think he could reach it let alone make a call.

 

Probably a 'Hey Siri' or 'Hey Google' or Alexa voice activated thing.

[GodsBeloved]

9 minutes ago, DearEvette said:

Probably a 'Hey Siri' or 'Hey Google' or Alexa voice activated thing.

As someone who just got a smart phone a few months ago and who has no interest in setting up Siri, Alexa or any other voice activation thingy, that would explain my confusion 😂

[jewel21]

He mentioned during the call he used Siri. 

[shapeshifter]

1 hour ago, GodsBeloved said:

Grace and her 9 1 1 call for the win. 

Grace going into dominatrix mode with her 9-1-1 caller was a situation comedy made for this show. The colleagues were all initially looking over to see if one of their own was losing it because she sounded loudly abusive to her caller, but then they had these little looks of almost-realization like: Is she doing what I think she's doing??? LOL
I want to share this with my 9-1-1 dispatcher daughter, but I cannot figure out how to do it properly, LOL.

[dshgr]

Loved this episode, but I have zero interest in the geriatric baby story.  Lisa Edelstein needs to go back to NY.

[sempervivum]

3 hours ago, GodsBeloved said:

She went to her friend's hotel knowing he was willing to break his commitment to her but yet told him how she felt in hopes of getting back together. Then she does a 180 and now the fact that he is willing to break his commitment is a problem.

I thought she 1) didn't want to regret that she never revealed her true love to the fiance, and 2) never expected him to change his mind. But I agree that defies logic. It also made me a bit angry, and if I knew anything about Muslim rules, I'd be ready to pounce on her the next time she steps over the line somehow.

I assume the 'old folks havin' a baby' storyline will end quickly and tear-jerkily.

[DearEvette]

53 minutes ago, dshgr said:

Loved this episode, but I have zero interest in the geriatric baby story.  Lisa Edelstein needs to go back to NY.

I know geriatric is the proper term for a pregnancy after -- gosh I think it is only 35, but for some reason 'geriatric baby' made me immediately think of that Benjamin Button old man baby.  LOL.

edited to add:  One other thing I appreciated about the Grace scene was that before she went into full on Dom mode, it showed her doing on-the-fly research to help her get a visual of what the Imp's situation was, how he was tied-up and what the different names of the methods of tying were and she used the lingo she saw on the web pages to  communicate with him.  That was a nice touch.

Edited February 9, 2021 by DearEvette

[tennisgurl]

"Fifty Shades of Grace" indeed! That was absolutely the highlight of the episode, I was dying throughout the whole call, especially her co-workers expressions as she gets more and more into dom talk. It also showed how great Grace is at her job, doing quick research on the fly about BDSM and positions and terms to use, and just rolling with the call, no matter how weird it got. I really wish we could have seen her telling Judd about this one...

This was mostly a good episode, nice to get back to "normal" after starting the season with a bunch of big event episodes, but I am really not down for a late in life baby plot. We have enough going on without that kind of drama. 

[GodsBeloved]

24 minutes ago, tennisgurl said:

"Fifty Shades of Grace" indeed!

hehe. I liked Permission to speak Your Grace ... Please Your Grace, I'll do it  ... Yes Your Grace ... Thank you Your Grace

[shapeshifter]

2 hours ago, sempervivum said:

5 hours ago, GodsBeloved said:

She went to her friend's hotel knowing he was willing to break his commitment to her but yet told him how she felt in hopes of getting back together. Then she does a 180 and now the fact that he is willing to break his commitment is a problem.

I thought she 1) didn't want to regret that she never revealed her true love to the fiance, and 2) never expected him to change his mind. But I agree that defies logic.

Having had more unrequited love relationships in my younger years than I can possibly count or recount, the messiness of the hotel room scene seemed very realistic to me, albeit perhaps not as tidy as a fictional version should be. 
And, yes, as @GodsBeloved, said, she "never expected him to change his mind." 
Perhaps if I had told some of those Schmoes exactly how they had hurt me, I would have not wasted so many hours and years pining away for them, and, perhaps even more importantly, they wouldn't have pulled the same crap with the next who-knows-how-many naïve women. And they did. I have *stories.*
So, I think Marjan will now be able to move on without so much pining away, and, most importantly for her, she didn't even come close to having sex with the guy, which would have been a total disaster for her for so many reasons.

[Bulldog]

Seemed to me that Grace (whom I LOVE) slid into the dominatrix role a little too easily.  Made me wonder what she and Judd do behind closed doors. 

[Sandman]

19 hours ago, DearEvette said:

Only two episodes in and I am already finding the Strands tedious.

I'm no longer surprised that these two are longer married; I'm astonished that they ever communicated well enough to get married -- and raise a child -- in the first place.

[Demian]

10 hours ago, shapeshifter said:

Grace and her 9 1 1 call for the win. 

Still, the result of it was a guy dislocating his own shoulder on purpose, and as someone who's dislocated his shoulder on accident, I absolutely could not watch that scene -- in fact, I actually placed my hands over my eyes so I wouldn't have to watch that scene.  Between that and the skin sleeve from the volcano episode, I'm now expecting the urge to vomit to hit me every single episode of this goddamned show.

(But yes, I will still tune in every week.)

[SnoGirl]

Loved 50 Shades of Grace. She is so cool under fire. I hope we see an episode some day where she’s not answering calls but is caught out in an emergency and we get to see her wow the firefighters. Judd would totally “That’s my gal” her too.

I really loved Marjan’s story too. I really like the juxtapose of the ‘Fire Fox’ who is strongly entrenched in her religious beliefs. And I really liked in the end that she walked back her romantic gesture when she also realized she wanted something different. I’m not religious, more spiritual but the beats of belief in this show is really interesting. I like that its not faith pushed but humans discussing what they believe and what they’re willing to do with those beliefs.

[DanaK]

I really like the Grace character. I thought her storyline was pretty entertaining, but did she hang up before medical help got there? I thought that was a big no no for 911 operators

[possibilities]

I agree this is not a good show to watch while eating dinner. 

[ShortyMac]

I don’t buy the pregnancy storyline. Lisa Edelstein is 54, and Rob Lowe is 56. They might be able to play characters a few years younger, but, not young enough that Gwenyth can get pregnant. Come on. 

[shapeshifter]

24 minutes ago, ShortyMac said:

I don’t buy the pregnancy storyline. Lisa Edelstein is 54, and Rob Lowe is 56. They might be able to play characters a few years younger, but, not young enough that Gwenyth can get pregnant. Come on. 

It used to be very common for actors to play 10 years younger. If they’re playing 8 years younger, that would be 46 and 48, but then she should have still been using birth control. 
My main problem with the storyline is: Why? Why have her get pregnant? 🤦🏼‍♀️

Edited February 10, 2021 by shapeshifter

[perkie1968]

6 hours ago, shapeshifter said:

I don’t buy the pregnancy storyline. Lisa Edelstein is 54, and Rob Lowe is 56. They might be able to play characters a few years younger, but, not young enough that Gwenyth can get pregnant. Come on. 

The first thing I did was google how old she was because the stupidity of a pregnancy at that age is just, NO.  i'm hoping it will turn out to be menopause which is a million times more realistic than a pregnancy at 54.  

Carlos/TK, also just no.  If my boyfriend introduced me to his parents as his "friend from work" especially five minutes after throwing his weight around at the bar where the bartender was hitting on TK, I'd be pissed.  His explanation, that though his parents knew he was out, he didn't want to throw it in their faces.  What?  He wasnt throwing TK to the ground and shoving his tongue down his throat in front  of his parents, all he'd be doing is introducing them.  also, if he'd taken the time before hand to tell his parents he was seeing someone without going into details that would make them uncomfortable, then it wouldn't have been such a surpirse when he ran into them.  

[DearEvette]

3 hours ago, perkie1968 said:

The first thing I did was google how old she was because the stupidity of a pregnancy at that age is just, NO.  i'm hoping it will turn out to be menopause which is a million times more realistic than a pregnancy at 54.

I also did some google-fu.  And while it is not impossible to get pregnant that late in life it is statistically less probable.  According the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology:

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A woman’s peak reproductive years are between the late teens and late 20s. By age 30, fertility (the ability to get pregnant) starts to decline. This decline becomes more rapid once you reach your mid-30s. By 45, fertility has declined so much that getting pregnant naturally is unlikely for most women

Also a woman is born with all the eggs she'll ever produce.  As you get older the remaining eggs are less viable.

So we are to believe that either 1) they've been fucking like rabbits on the regular with no contraception or 2) they do use contraception and his sperm is superman sperm and zeroed in on the one of her few viable eggs left.

[perkie1968]

1 hour ago, DearEvette said:

his sperm is superman sperm and zeroed in on the one of her few viable eggs left.

Well, he is Rob Lowe after all!!  I mean, the man looks fantastic for his age, he must have fantastic genes!!

having said that, I had a pregnancy at 39/40 and it was considered high risk for me and my daughter.  I worried about everything, literally, every issue, every weird thing, every side effect, everything for 9 long months.   I can't even begin to imagine what a pregnacy at 54 would be like, mentally and physically.  Even if they pretend she's a handful of years younger (and they can only go so young since TK is probably close to 30), she's still in the really, really scary age for pregnancy.  

[shapeshifter]

1 hour ago, perkie1968 said:

Well, he is Rob Lowe after all!!  I mean, the man looks fantastic for his age, he must have fantastic genes!!

having said that, I had a pregnancy at 39/40 and it was considered high risk for me and my daughter.  I worried about everything, literally, every issue, every weird thing, every side effect, everything for 9 long months.   I can't even begin to imagine what a pregnacy at 54 would be like, mentally and physically.  Even if they pretend she's a handful of years younger (and they can only go so young since TK is probably close to 30), she's still in the really, really scary age for pregnancy.  

I will be expecting a Janet Jackson reference (she gave birth at 50).

[iMonrey]

Quote

One other thing I appreciated about the Grace scene was that before she went into full on Dom mode, it showed her doing on-the-fly research to help her get a visual of what the Imp's situation was, how he was tied-up and what the different names of the methods of tying were and she used the lingo she saw on the web pages to  communicate with him.  That was a nice touch.

This seems to be a recurring theme, because two weeks ago Grace instantly pulled up info on the scorpions while on the phone with the food truck lady. I know this show is pretty off the wall and I give it a lot of leeway, but her ability to just Google or Wiki domination sex positions on the fly and pull up the exact info she needs instantly is a little too far fetched. I don't think those are the kinds of photos she'd find first, y'know? And the kind of photos her initial search would lead her to aren't the kind they could show on network TV.

Quote

Carlos/TK, also just no.  If my boyfriend introduced me to his parents as his "friend from work" especially five minutes after throwing his weight around at the bar where the bartender was hitting on TK, I'd be pissed.  His explanation, that though his parents knew he was out, he didn't want to throw it in their faces.  What?  He wasnt throwing TK to the ground and shoving his tongue down his throat in front  of his parents, all he'd be doing is introducing them.  also, if he'd taken the time before hand to tell his parents he was seeing someone without going into details that would make them uncomfortable, then it wouldn't have been such a surpirse when he ran into them. 

Yeah, ditto. This reminds me of an episode of Will & Grace when Will broke up with Patrick Dempsey because he introduced Will to his boss as his brother. The difference was that Patrick Dempsey's character was in the closet, whereas Carlos is not. I do think TK reacted childishly at first giving him the silent treatment then storming off. But I also think Carlos has some issues about his parents he needs to deal with if he's actually out to them and still won't even introduce someone as his boyfriend. Maybe it'll turn out he's not really out to them after all.

[shapeshifter]

17 minutes ago, iMonrey said:

Carlos has some issues about his parents he needs to deal with if he's actually out to them and still won't even introduce someone as his boyfriend. Maybe it'll turn out he's not really out to them after all.

Or Carlos isn't really committed to TK?

[Toothbrush]

10 hours ago, perkie1968 said:

The first thing I did was google how old she was because the stupidity of a pregnancy at that age is just, NO.  i'm hoping it will turn out to be menopause which is a million times more realistic than a pregnancy at 54.  

That's what I was hoping too, but she mentioned 2 lines on a pg test. 

[perkie1968]

17 hours ago, shapeshifter said:

will be expecting a Janet Jackson reference (she gave birth at 50).

Did she actually give birth though?  I thought there were rumours that she used a surogate and that no one understood why that would be such a big secret in this day and age.  

 

13 hours ago, Toothbrush said:

That's what I was hoping too, but she mentioned 2 lines on a pg test. 

What I understand of pregnancy tests (and any doctors here can correct me!!) is that they detect levels of blah blah blah in the urine, which indicates pregnancy.  Is it possible that those levels of whatever would be the same if someone were in menopause or pre-menopause?  

[shapeshifter]

49 minutes ago, perkie1968 said:

18 hours ago, shapeshifter said:

will be expecting a Janet Jackson reference (she gave birth at 50).

Did she actually give birth though?  I thought there were rumours that she used a surogate and that no one understood why that would be such a big secret in this day and age.  

I wondered too and looked it up.
Just going by Wikipedia's "On January 3, 2017, Jackson gave birth to a son"  (wikipedia.org/wiki/Janet_Jackson#Personal_life).
But who knows for sure?
 

[BookWitch]

When I was in hospital for my 3rd son, the nurse was telling about a woman in her 60's who had come in for what they thought was appendicitis. Turns out she was in labor. Kid was fine but they were stunned. Wondering how they were going to tell their 20 and 30 year old children they had a new sibling. When I go to the gyno I always hear about women my age (50's) that are pregnant.

The Marjan boyfriend story was weird.  She's looking at the match logically and expects the emotions to come later. He's already there. They probably should have talked about that years ago. I think she's just afraid that the plan isn't working the way she thought it would.

[shapeshifter]

3 hours ago, BookWitch said:

The Marjan boyfriend story was weird.  She's looking at the match logically and expects the emotions to come later. He's already there. They probably should have talked about that years ago. I think she's just afraid that the plan isn't working the way she thought it would.

To me, the Marjan story is in a way the old story of any couple having "grown apart;" it's just shown through a different cultural lens.
While I was an academic librarian for 20+ years, I was shocked to learn that a student from India who worked along side me at the desk for her 4 years of college was now getting married to a young man to whom she had been betrothed virtually her entire life. But then I was even more pleasantly surprised when she brought him to the library for a visit after their honeymoon. They were very much in love; it was "a good match." They both went on to graduate school and pursued professional careers. I am sorry I have since lost touch with her, so I can't give a more recent up date.  

[Toothbrush]

 

11 hours ago, perkie1968 said:

What I understand of pregnancy tests (and any doctors here can correct me!!) is that they detect levels of blah blah blah in the urine, which indicates pregnancy.  Is it possible that those levels of whatever would be the same if someone were in menopause or pre-menopause?  

I would think not, because if so pre-menopausal/menopausal women would be getting false positive pg tests every day. But the last thing this show needs is a change-of-life pregnancy/baby.   

[Lunula]

Dear Hollywood writers,

PLEASE PLEASE stop with the "surprise pregnancy" story lines. It's fucking 2021 and a woman, especially a woman like Gwyneth who is highly educated, middle-aged, well-employed, with the knowledge and means to protect herself against such bullshit, should be able to figure out how to use birth control. 

Even women without insurance in the United States can get birth control pills on the cheap. And if not, ya know, condoms? 

I'm sick to freaking death of surprise pregnancy stories. It's irresponsible, stupid and IMO, pretty much never makes a show better. Why can't we be shown a loving couple who wants children getting pregnant, or adopting, instead? No trickery. No idiotic surprises. No irresponsibility. Just smart people making sound decisions. 

Hey, I know surprises happen. I know birth control can fail - but I'm sick of using it as a lazy plot device. And I'm especially sick of this "middle age woman gets pregnant" trope. Lisa Edelstein turns 55 in May. FFS. 

Edited March 9, 2021 by Lunula