S05.E01: This Is What You Came For

[jewel21]

Zoey returns to Cal U to support Junior’s first day on campus but soon realizes that she may be missing her Cal U days more than she let on. After meeting his new classmates, Junior seeks to escape dorm life by attending Doug’s White Party.

Airdate: 07/20/2022

[gingerella]

Why would you feel the need to be on campus of your alma mater because it was your little brother's first day in college? And is that the same Doug as in Doug and Jaz? If so, why is he throwing a party that a freshman would be at? That's just weird. If that's the level of story line this show is done before the season begins. I used to forward to this show, now?

Edited July 18, 2022 by gingerella

[txhorns79]

On 7/18/2022 at 2:45 PM, gingerella said:

Why would you feel the need to be on campus of your alma mater because it was your little brother's first day in college?

You wouldn't.  It's a little silly, but hopefully not a harbinger of things to come.  I was curious how they are going to do the show where they've essentially started a new spin off for Junior while continuing to follow Zoe. 

[HerkyJerky]

No offense: But that is NOT what I came for!

[Aileen]

On 7/18/2022 at 1:45 PM, gingerella said:

Why would you feel the need to be on campus of your alma mater because it was your little brother's first day in college? And is that the same Doug as in Doug and Jaz? If so, why is he throwing a party that a freshman would be at? That's just weird. If that's the level of story line this show is done before the season begins. I used to forward to this show, now?

I thought it was pretty clear that the only reason Zoey was there was because she was running from her fears in NYC. She was struggling and took the first chance she could to go back to simpler college times. If she was secure in her life in NYC she wouldn't have been there.

Doug's party wasn't for college students. He made it clear that this was an "adult" party and not what Zoey was used to at Cal U. Junior was only there because Zoey invited him. 

I appreciated the quick update on the other friends and hope that continues.

I really loved the moment where Junior took over the narration. It'll be interesting to see how Zoey factors into the show going forward.

[ljenkins782]

18 hours ago, HerkyJerky said:

No offense: But that is NOT what I came for!

Yeah, if their goal was to create the most insufferable opening montage in television history, well done. Otherwise, I was unimpressed.

Zoey has got to be one of the most unlikeable main characters ever. Her continual trend of failing upward is hard to relate to/root for, but perhaps it's a generational thing. I guess there ARE plenty of young people making a killing as influencers and other professions for which mega talent may not be required. But Zoey's wealthy childhood, favorite child status, popular girl, middling student/dropout with an unaccountably prestigious internship, turned superstar designer just gives off that "born on 3rd base" vibe that I find hard to root for.

Not digging the new crew either and the fact that Luca's sister is one of the few carryovers from the old crew is not a draw for me. She's so stilted that I'd almost wonder if she and Luca are siblings in real life, except Luca at least had believable swag to him as long as they didn't give him too much actual acting to do.

Also didn't need the visual of Jr doing it in an unlocked bathroom at a party on night 1, oof. I'll give this a few more episodes, but the ending montage of Jr with the new crew felt wholly unearned, like why did they suddenly come together? Season 1 of this show hit the ground running for me, I got such a sense of all the main characters right off the bat.

[Bichon]

This was terrible. Junior acted like a bore, totally unlike his previous enthusiastic, lovable, goofy character that we watched grow up over 8 seasons. Seeing him in the bathroom having sex when he was such a stone-cold jerk earlier was unbelievable. I'm pretty sure I reacted like his Mother would during that reveal!  And his suite mate  - I would have run to the housing office ASAP after meeting that uptight, angry girl. WOW. I wasn’t going to watch it again, however, the episode guide for season 5 sounds much better than this premiere. 

[Blueeyedgirl]

Unimportant nit: Aaron has a tenure track professor job?  No PhD? Or even a Masters? Not even on the same continent as reality.   At least he had to focus on intro courses…what about research?

not that anyone else’s is realistic. 

i miss the old show from seasons one or two-ish. 
 

Edited July 23, 2022 by Blueeyedgirl

[Lethallyfab]

Can you IMAGINE being an actual academic with a master’s/PHD and having Aaron take your tenure-track spot based on an UNDERGRAD degree and hosting a lot of popular “salons”?   I would be so livid.

And in “I just find it funny how…,” I think it’s very interesting that show didn’t even attempt to find a reason to include any women from the original cast.  
 

This is also some massive attempts at ret-conning Junior’s appeal.  He was written as a dweeb for the entirety of ‘black-ish’ and always was, is and forever will be a dweeb.  But now he’s supposed to be an appealing lead?  

[DanaMB]

Unfortunately, I didn’t like this episode which has been the pattern lately. Im taking it off the DVR. 

[gingerella]

8 hours ago, DanaMB said:

Unfortunately, I didn’t like this episode which has been the pattern lately. Im taking it off the DVR. 

Same, I'm out.

[tennisgurl]

There were a few moments I liked, but this did not bode well for the show going forward. The writing for Junior seems off, even if its on purpose to start his character arc, and I have no thoughts whatsoever about his new crew. Zoey's crew all hit the ground running so hard, you got a sense right away of who they were in their first scenes together and you could buy that they all bonded so hard on that first day that they stayed tight for years. No one really made much of an impression here and I don't know why they even want to hang out or care at all about what Junior is up to. 

Nobody falls up quite like Zoey does. She can fuck up over and over and the universe will bend itself backwards to make sure she still ends up on top. Aaron is pretty close though, of course he gets on a tenure track without so much as a masters degree.  

Edited July 25, 2022 by tennisgurl

[ljenkins782]

3 hours ago, tennisgurl said:

There were a few moments I liked, but this did not bode well for the show going forward. The writing for Junior seems off, even if its on purpose to start his character arc, and I have no thoughts whatsoever about his new crew. Zoey's crew all hit the ground running so hard, you got a sense right away of who they were in their first scenes together and you could buy that they all bonded so hard on that first day that they stayed tight for years. No one really made much of an impression here and I don't know why they even want to hang out or care at all about what Junior is up to. 

Nobody falls up quite like Zoey does. She can fuck up over and over and the universe will bend itself backwards to make sure she still ends up on top. Aaron is pretty close though, of course he gets on a tenure track without so much as a masters degree.  

Yeah, the new people weren't even memorable, let alone likable, in their introductions. 

And while I know the end of the episode was supposed to imply that Zoey wasn't that comfortable in NYC and that she'd come back to CalU trying to "go home again", but honestly, the crowing montage of Zoey's improbable (yet typical) string of achievements didn't do a great job of conveying that tone. And her college years weren't exactly carefree.

Aaron's equally improbable path to the top must be a contagion thing, maybe anyone in Zoe's orbit catches her extraordinary luck by osmosis.

[nilyank]

On 7/24/2022 at 12:26 AM, Lethallyfab said:

Can you IMAGINE being an actual academic with a master’s/PHD and having Aaron take your tenure-track spot based on an UNDERGRAD degree and hosting a lot of popular “salons”?   I would be so livid.

Are we to assume that Aaron's got his masters last year and is currently getting his PhD? From what I remember from this episode was that he was offered an Asst Professorship on the tenure-track if he does well. I guess they wanted him because of he was getting plenty of public attention with his demostrations and "salons." Supposedly he has some kind of media presence.

Let us not forget that this is the same school that had Charlie as a professor and later as the Dean. And where Zoe was able to graduate from there in 4 years despite being caught cheating and dropping out for a year or so.

Edited July 26, 2022 by nilyank

[DearEvette]

On 7/21/2022 at 5:56 PM, ljenkins782 said:

Yeah, if their goal was to create the most insufferable opening montage in television history, well done. Otherwise, I was unimpressed.

Zoey has got to be one of the most unlikeable main characters ever. Her continual trend of failing upward is hard to relate to/root for, but perhaps it's a generational thing. I guess there ARE plenty of young people making a killing as influencers and other professions for which mega talent may not be required. But Zoey's wealthy childhood, favorite child status, popular girl, middling student/dropout with an unaccountably prestigious internship, turned superstar designer just gives off that "born on 3rd base" vibe that I find hard to root for.

So much this.  

I hated this episode.  If they needed to have an episode like this, I think it would have worked better somewhere in the middle of the season.  I liked Zoey in season 1 and 2 of the show but by S3 she became the most unlikable person of the show for me. 

The show really needed to just focus on Junior acclimating.  The scene in the end with him and his floor mates came out of nowhere.  We didn't spend any real time with them.  I can't help but contrast it to S1 where we got to meet everyone and saw how they became friends and they felt like college students.

I have worked at colleges my entire adult life and new students no matter how sophisticated, no matter how plugged into the culture don't talk like these people.  They are transitioning from high school and living at home to living somewhere else with strangers and navigating a new space they are unfamiliar with.  These people all talk  like social influencers, they are so self assured. 

I agree Junior felt very un-Junior like.  I wanted goofy Junior back.

On 7/23/2022 at 4:28 PM, Blueeyedgirl said:

Unimportant nit: Aaron has a tenure track professor job?  No PhD? Or even a Masters? Not even on the same continent as reality.   At least he had to focus on intro courses…what about research?

not that anyone else’s is realistic.
 

For me that is a HUGE nit.  I know this is a fantasy.  Colleges are hella political!  It is rare for even an adjunct or contract instructor with a PhD to be hired straight into a tenure track line.  A school this size of this, which looks to be a DI public university  would  do a friggin national search for a tenure track line.  They would never pluck  an internal candidate with a BA degree (MA possibly?) and hand them a tenure track job.  And his colleagues would never respect him.  Credentials are everything in Higher Ed.

Anyway, besides all that, tonally, this was just boring, and unfunny.

[zenithwit]

On 7/21/2022 at 2:56 PM, ljenkins782 said:

Also didn't need the visual of Jr doing it in an unlocked bathroom at a party on night 1, oof.

Add in the fact that Kiela was having sex in an unlocked bathroom at her ex-boyfriend's party.  It's like the writers completely forgot that there were  previous seasons of this show and that the characters have pre-existing relationships with each other.

Edited July 26, 2022 by zenithwit

[possibilities]

Lock the door, for godsake. I mean... even if I'm not having sex in the bathroom, if I'm using that room for normal purposes at a party, I'm locking the door.

[ljenkins782]

8 hours ago, possibilities said:

Lock the door, for godsake. I mean... even if I'm not having sex in the bathroom, if I'm using that room for normal purposes at a party, I'm locking the door.

Seriously! I only use bathrooms for their intended purposes, but nothing sends me into a panic more than a bathroom that doesn't lock with a toilet that's too far from the door to push it closed if someone barges in. 

Quote

Add in the fact that Kiela was having sex in an unlocked bathroom at her ex-boyfriend's party.  It's like the writers completely forgot that there were  previous seasons of this show and that the characters have pre-existing relationships with each other.

I actually had forgotten that Doug was her ex (the unpredictable schedule of the show makes following continuity hard for me), but I'm not a writer on the show.

So that makes it even worse, especially considering Doug's extreme views on women he's dated sleeping with anyone else. He and Jazz were on a break when she slept with someone else and he still acted like she slept with his brother in his own bed while they were still together. I can only imagine his reaction if he'd stumbled upon his recent ex doing it in an unlocked bathroom at the party that he was so desperate to present as upscale.

And is Kiela supposed to be the RA? She was shown leading the introductions, is she the new Aaron? If so, having sex with one of your new advisees that you just met that day shows some really poor judgment.

Quote

The show really needed to just focus on Junior acclimating.  The scene in the end with him and his floor mates came out of nowhere.  We didn't spend any real time with them.  I can't help but contrast it to S1 where we got to meet everyone and saw how they became friends and they felt like college students.

Yeah, it seemed like they were trying to replicate Zoey's bonehead moment where she admitted to what she did to Ana and everyone looked at her like she had 2 heads. But then they showed how she overcame that terrible first impression. I feel like we only got the "2 heads" moment with Junior and then zero follow up, except the visual of his butt facing out of the bathroom to indicate that he'd made inroads, so to speak, with Kiela.

But hey, we got more endless montages of Zoey being selfish and being the worst dancer on earth, so I guess that's what they thought we came for??

[Meedis]

On 7/26/2022 at 10:09 AM, ljenkins782 said:

And is Kiela supposed to be the RA? She was shown leading the introductions, is she the new Aaron? If so, having sex with one of your new advisees that you just met that day shows some really poor judgment.

That was my main problem with it.   Supposedly Kiela presented herself as a person of authority and then she decides having sex with a "subordinate" was a genius idea.

I'm not really feeling this season so far.  I'll give it a few more episodes...maybe.   But if this is an indication of how the season will go, hopefully this will be the last one.

Edited July 31, 2022 by Meedis

[QQQQ]

I missed the set-up for Junior going to college. But was he moving into a dorm? Isn't he, like, 22 years old??