S01.E11: Moved To Tampa

[Tara Ariano]

Phil's odd life continues.

[editorgrrl]

Will we ever learn who permed Phil's hair?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TNc81pWA14I

[DittyDotDot]

I know it's probably rhetorical, but you can pick up home perm kits at most drug stores...Phil showed some real commitment to that disguise.

[sonyab]

Now we have Phil and Tandy! ROFL! Poor Phil is so sun burned ouch!!!  Now Todd is jealous! Hey Todd if you don't stop, Melissa might break up with you.

[LetItStop]

Anyone think new Phil will turn out to be gay?

[drafan]

Anyone think new Phil will turn out to be gay?

Hunky new Phil will either be gay or have a thing for Carol.

 

I wonder from where Carol steals her clothes? (See how I phrased that ?) I can see her leaving something in trade by the cash register just to make it legal. That dress was gorgeous on her.

 

I'm kinda sick of Tandy in his stripey underwear. Makes me think it's always the same pair. Blech.

[CMH1981]

I think someone in another subthread mentioned they thought that all of this is just the mental anguish of Phil-Tandy as he is driving the truck towards the boulder in the pilot episode.  The fact that he keeps sabotaging himself in order for sexual pleasure just proves it to me.  He marries a woman he can't stand for sex and mere hours afterwards a more beautiful woman arrives.  Phil-Tandy's wife proposes that he can be used as a "stud" even while he is married then another man shows up due to his signs of life right before he gets his wish.  Phil lies to two new women in regards to there being others in order to have a threesome then it all falls apart right before said threesome begins.  Now we have him getting his wish again for being a stud basically now that he is "divorced" and while trying to prevent any other men from showing up he is sabotaged again and therefore rescued by a new guy for the group thereby ruining his plans.  It's either that, or God really is being a dick to Phil-Tandy.

 

So is Melissa really shallow in that now Phil-Tandy was available she was having second thoughts about her current boyfriend?  I can't read Melissa at all, especially since new Phil showed up.  I get the not throwing the word "love" around so casually, but I can't tell if she is happy w/ her current suitor.  I just don't buy she is into Todd that much.  Yes, they have common interests, but I think she is shallow and the idea of Phil-Tandy being available again as a sex partner piqued her interests, and then new Phil showed up.

[applecrisp]

Everyone on this thread has really committed to calling Will's character Tandy.  We don't really know anything about the "other Phil".  I just think it is too soon.

[DittyDotDot]

Phil will always be Phil to me, but for sake of clarity, I'll call him no-longer-Phil.

 

Of course the-jackass-formerly-known-as-Phil screwed up his do-over...as I figured he would. And, now he's not even Phil anymore. Just can't help yourself can you no-longer-Phiil?

 

Anyone think new Phil will turn out to be gay?

 

That or I kinda hope he thinks all of them are terrible and useless so just leaves or something like that. I think it'd be hilarious if they drove this guy, who obviously has lots of skills and could make their lives easier, away.

 

 

So is Melissa really shallow in that now Phil-Tandy was available she was having second thoughts about her current boyfriend?  

 

I always figured she was just as shallow as no-longer-Phil, just not as much of an ass to act on her shallowness.

 

 

It's either that, or God really is being a dick to Phil-Tandy.

 

I think of it less as God toying with no-longer-Phil as it's no-longer-Phil continually screwing himself over. If he had been a bit more respectful of Carol and not married her just to have sex with her, he wouldn't have been unavailable when Melissa showed up. If he hadn't felt the need to win Melissa over with all the romantic overtures she didn't care about or want, Todd would've never seen the fireworks and drove away unawares. If he hadn't felt the need to lie about his dairy intolerance, he could've been partaking in the same dairy enjoyment everyone else was...And, if no-longer-Phil hadn't felt the need to go paint that sign, new-Phil would've probably never seen that ladder and probably never shown up. Pretty much everything that's gone wrong for no-longer-Phil, is really on no-longer-Phil. God keeps giving no-longer-Phil things, no-longer-Phil just keeps mucking it up.

[sonyab]

"Everyone on this thread has really committed to calling Will's character Tandy."

 

Well he IS related to Jessica Tandy! ROFL! 

 

"We don't really know anything about the "other Phil".  I just think it is too soon."

 

Yeah you are probably right. I just think it's funny that his middle name is Tandy and that the people on the show want to call him that. I'm surprised that Phil didn't make up a middle name. :)

[peeayebee]

I thought it was going to be White-Phil and Black-Phil, or at least that someone would suggest it.

 

It occurred to me that New Phil might be gay, but I'd figure he would have disclosed it by now, what with the women glomming onto him. Or maybe this is a case of don't ask don't tell.

 

I was cracking up at Old Phil trying to use his pants for shade and then trying to stretch his shirt over his whole body to protect it.

 

I don't think Melissa DOESN'T love Todd. I completely buy that she takes a while to get to that word, and even that she takes a while to realize that she loves someone. That's not to say that she will eventually love Todd, but I believe that right now she just isn't sure.

 

Carol looked beautiful in that dress. It reminded me of Marilyn Monroe's famous white dress.

[DittyDotDot]

I was cracking up at Old Phil trying to use his pants for shade and then trying to stretch his shirt over his whole body to protect it.

 

OMG, that was hilarious. I kept thinking he was going to roll off the scaffold and land on something soft enough to break his fall, but also prickly so he'd be injured. Never expected him to be rescued by new-Phil. But new-Phil carrying no-longer-Phil like a damsel in distress was also a highlight of the episode for me.

 

BTW, how do you think new-Phil knew where to take -no-loner-Phil. Everyone else was driving around for days and couldn't find their cul-de-sac, but new-Phil drove right to it, it seems. New-Phil does seem really handy to keep around.

[azathoth]

Even with TV there comes a certain point where suspension of disbelief is no longer feasible, and last night they reached it. I can accept a new guy showing up who is ridiculously good-looking and can fix or build anything, but he just happens to have the SAME NAME as Phil? No way. I was the one who posited the Owl Creek Bridge scenario, but now I'm convinced Phil is in Hell, or at least Purgatory. The only other explanation is that New Guy was been stalking them for weeks, learning about them, and calling himself Phil Miller is just part of some plot to take over the tribe.

 

If the others won't call Phil by his first name, he should only answer to Mister President.

[Traveller519]

Wow, this show is pulling no punches with showing that everyone has their Bad as well as Good Characteristics. Even Todd, who up to this point has been the most sympathetic character, was shown to have a pretty vicious petty/insecure streak. New Phil appears to be just as shallow as regular Phil but has the physical attractiveness to get away with it, kind of like a male Melissa.

[drafan]

I was noticing the credits and the two producers (or some kind of show executives) are named "Phil something", and "something Miller", hence the character's name.

 

I'm still gonna call him Tandy until it changes.

 

JJ always looks bored out of her mind, but I did love her delivery of the line "No you're not." , when Tandy answered that yes, he was related to Jessica Tandy.

 

I keep thinking that the Mary Steenbergen character is going to leave any minute now, because she seems kind of guest-starry and expensive.

 

Her sidekick, OTOH,  is kind of a non-entity. She could leave at any time and no one would notice.

[Ms Blue Jay]

I agree with DittyDotDot that (well I guess this is obvious) the major theme of the show is Phil Screws Himself.

 

Phil never waits patiently or treats people with a little respect to get ahead.  Phil always does the most extreme thing possible without thoughts of consequences or potentially hurting others to get what he wants.

 

Everyone else he exists with wants the possibility of meeting new people (maybe not Todd anymore), but Phil tries to eliminate that.  He always tries to "lord" over people and play God.  Every time he has a small chance of something simply happening on its own, he always thinks he has to act big, very aggressively, to ensure that it happens before it even does.

 

Phil exercises absolutely no patience or trust over other people to keep their word.  No, he wants to be the one to personally eliminate all possibilities of something else happening.  

 

It's good to be assertive to go after what you want, but Phil is always very close to getting what he wants if he lets events play out but he can't trust it, can't stand to.  He'd rather be aggressive to force the issue, which then blows up in his face.

 

He's also the kind of person who lies so much, and for no good reason, but he's also not skilled at it so he's constantly found out.  

 

I think that this is part of what Seinfeld was trying to do with George Costanza, but this show is an even more extreme version.  Phil should spend one episode doing everything that is the opposite of his instincts.  But I know he doesn't have the will to do that for more than 5 minutes.  

Edited April 20, 2015 by Ms Blue Jay

[Boilergal]

Funny how quickly karma works on Friggin Phil.

 

He wants to be the center of attention, but goes about it in the absolute worst ways.  Glad that Melissa is there to call him out on his lies now. 

 

It's a silly fun show!  Hope it can come back.

[Irlandesa]

So is Melissa really shallow in that now Phil-Tandy was available she was having second thoughts about her current boyfriend?  I can't read Melissa at all, especially since new Phil showed up.  I get the not throwing the word "love" around so casually, but I can't tell if she is happy w/ her current suitor.  I just don't buy she is into Todd that much.  Yes, they have common interests, but I think she is shallow and the idea of Phil-Tandy being available again as a sex partner piqued her interests, and then new Phil showed up.

What gave you the impression that Melissa is in any way interested in Phil-Tandy? 

 

She didn't tell Todd she loved him but Carol mentioned last night that she and Phil-Tandy had been married for three weeks. So Melissa and Todd have been having sex for less time than that.  I get the situation might intensify feelings for Todd but that doesn't mean it's strange that Melissa isn't there yet.  And she did try to recreate the heart pancake the next morning to indicate that she still cares, she just might not be all in love. 

 

But it's also possible that she will never fall in love with Todd.  He was just the best option available.  But I still don't see anything but disdaine for Phil-Tandy.

[theatremouse]

So is Melissa really shallow in that now Phil-Tandy was available she was having second thoughts about her current boyfriend?  I can't read Melissa at all, especially since new Phil showed up.  I get the not throwing the word "love" around so casually, but I can't tell if she is happy w/ her current suitor.  I just don't buy she is into Todd that much.  Yes, they have common interests, but I think she is shallow and the idea of Phil-Tandy being available again as a sex partner piqued her interests, and then new Phil showed up.

I didn't see her do anything especially shallow. She got icier with Todd because he both: seemed to be more invested than she was yet in a way she wasn't comfortable with and he wasn't especially graceful about dealing with imo, her reasonable response. Then skillfulPhil showed up and Todd immediately started acting like a jealous ass. So that added to the less-than-happy current relationship. She didn't do anything to indicate she were interested in new-Phil more than as interesting as any new person is at this point. Todd was not helping himself here.

 

BTW, how do you think new-Phil knew where to take -no-loner-Phil. Everyone else was driving around for days and couldn't find their cul-de-sac, but new-Phil drove right to it, it seems. New-Phil does seem really handy to keep around.

It was dark by the time the Phils showed up, and Carol had just said Phil was gone for nearly 24 hours. So we don't really have a sense of what time it was when the rescue happened, other than after 5pm. They could've been roaming aimlessly for a bit, and then once it was dark they were easier to find because they were outside at their fire pit thingy, so maybe some signs of said fire were visible from where the Phils were by then.

I keep thinking, it's weird with there being only 7 people it simultaneously feels like too many and too few. It has not been that long since Forte-Phil was about to kill himself. He craved human interaction and couldn't deal with being alone. Now he's surrounded by people who either he doesn't like very much or who do not like him very much. It's weird because if they believe they're the only people left, do they really have a choice of deciding they do or don't like each other? It seems a given this group has decided that basically, they're the only ones. They need each other. The fact that they put up with Forte-Phil at all speaks to that. If there were more people, they could be more choosey and decide they don't want anything to do with him. Or he them. But there aren't enough people for that to really be doable.

If it were real I wonder how much the spectre of survivor's guilt, or fear that they haven't really survived they're just not dead yet, etc might be hanging over them. Even though it's a comedy, and even though clearly not every moment can or would involve such heady things, in the first couple episodes one could see, even when dealing with funny scenarios, how that type of real heavy logic still made sense for the character, even when you weren't looking right at it. But as they add more people, it starts to become a lot more standard petty human behaviour. Which maybe is exactly what'd happen with real humans, which is sort of an interesting sociological point... I think what I mean is, I don't want the post apocalyptic backdrop to fade into the backdrop. I like when the situations we see these people in are very specific to the fact of what happened.

Kind of an interesting concept: so sad, so alone, hoping for any person anywhere, and now he's got them and they pretty much all dislike him, and its his own fault. If Phil were smarter and despondent and did want the new people to show up and maybe make a new start with them he should've "moved to" some exit three or four exits away from the current crew and found himself a new house and let people meet him there and not be an ass this time.

Or if he weren't such a crappy liar he could've said he actually was planning to move to Tampa when he spray painted it, since no one in Tucson liked him, and get himself a mini pity party.

Also where the hell did they get flour that hasn't gone rancid after more than 2 years to make pancakes?

Edited April 21, 2015 by theatremouse

[ChipBach]

Funny how quickly karma works on Friggin Phil.

 

He wants to be the center of attention, but goes about it in the absolute worst ways.  Glad that Melissa is there to call him out on his lies now. 

 

It's a silly fun show!  Hope it can come back.

Of course, he was rescued by NewPhil and never thanked him for saving his life...  He reminds me more of Larry David on "Curb Your Enthusiasm"...  Unredeemable.  Hilarious.  I think it is actually funny (in a Walking Dead sort of way) that most of the entire world has died within a few months and not one body has been shown.  

[DittyDotDot]

It's a silly fun show!  Hope it can come back.

 

It is a silly show, and FYI it did get renewed for another season. Someone posted something in the media thread.

[DrLar]

If new Phil isn't gay then all 4 women are going to fight with them, one of them is gonna go cray-cray and maybe kill new-Phil... or maybe murder-suicide..

 

Or

 

New Phil isn't gay but during the war his genitals got hurt by a grenade / rocket so he can't function sexually.. so that's why he wasn't in the military anymore and doing charity stuff

[dcalley]

Finally, someone mentions solar and wind power! Thank you, NewPhil!

[CMH1981]

 

What gave you the impression that Melissa is in any way interested in Phil-Tandy?

 

When original-Phil and Carol announced their divorce, Melissa had a piqued look on her face.  I think it has something to do w/ the actress playing Melissa.  She has one look on her face it seems in every scene, it's very distracting and makes it hard to get a read on the character.  

[SlackerInc]

If he had been a bit more respectful of Carol and not married her just to have sex with her, he wouldn't have been unavailable when Melissa showed up.

 

Carol really pushed it though.  "This marriage is happening, Phil, so just deal with it."  It's not like Phil-Tandy scammed her into marrying him so he could get sex.

 

I'm really feeling for Phil-Tandy at this point and kind of hope he catches an occasional break.  He's become (as I think someone else pointed out upthread) sort of like Gilligan from the eponymous Island.

 

I was thinking the excuse Phil-Tandy could give for the billboard thing is that they have a decent little group now, but they don't know if the billboards could bring some gang of marauders upon them or something.

[Irlandesa]

Carol really pushed it though.  "This marriage is happening, Phil, so just deal with it."  It's not like Phil-Tandy scammed her into marrying him so he could get sex.

 

I'm really feeling for Phil-Tandy at this point and kind of hope he catches an occasional break.  He's become (as I think someone else pointed out upthread) sort of like Gilligan from the eponymous Island.

 

I was thinking the excuse Phil-Tandy could give for the billboard thing is that they have a decent little group now, but they don't know if the billboards could bring some gang of marauders upon them or something.

He didn't scam her but she didn't scam  him either.  She was very clear that if he wanted sex, she wanted marriage.  And as annoying as some of her quirks are, she upheld her end of the bargain. He had every opportunity to refuse but we've seen the lengths Phil will go to for his boner. 

 

I don't feel sorry for him other than the fact that they made him change his name.  Things have gone well for Phil-Tandy when he isn't sabotaging himself.  When he was honest in the last episode, he got his divorce from Carol.  But this week, he's back to being underhanded and sabotaging himself.

 

And yes, he could come up with an excuse why he was up on that billboard but no one would believe him because he has a history of lying and it is a lie.  It's still making a decision for others about what people get to be around when the whole reason they came to Tuscon is because they wanted to be around other people. 

[DittyDotDot]

Carol really pushed it though.  "This marriage is happening, Phil, so just deal with it."  It's not like Phil-Tandy scammed her into marrying him so he could get sex.

 

I didn't mean to imply he scammed her, but he also proposed just so he could have sex with her. If Phil didn't want to be married, he shouldn't have gotten married--it was a choice not an actual necessity and no one was holding a gun to his head. If Phil had been less of a Phil he would've just went back to his porn stash and let Carol continue growing her tomatoes. Then when Melissa showed up, he wouldn't have been unavailable. In general, when Phil does the right thing on the show, he gets rewarded. Phil just keeps squandering his rewards. I, for one, find it hilarious!

[Rockstar99435]

I don't feel sorry for him other than the fact that they made him change his name.  Things have gone well for Phil-Tandy when he isn't sabotaging himself.  When he was honest in the last episode, he got his divorce from Carol.  But this week, he's back to being underhanded and sabotaging himself.

 

Exactly. Phil should stick with being honest. It gets him what he wants. He runs into problems when he decides that his wants are more important than anything else.

[Portia]

The only time I felt a shred of sympathy for Tandy was when he was trying to stretch his t-shirt over his legs to avoid sunburn.Dude, I've been there!

I really love the weirdness of this show's writing. It would have been easy for them to give Phil an embarrassing middle name like Leslie or Homer, but no, they gave us Tandy. Perfection. I also thought it was friggin' hilarious that another Phil Miller showed up, and for the record, it's not beyond the realm of possibility, IMO. Phil and Miller are common names, and I've seen coincidences like that in real life.

I'm going to have to re-watch to get the phrasing right, but I loved when Melissa was all flustered by New Phil's handsomeness and stammered something like, "I went to Habitat for Humanity College." I want to hate January Jones, but every now and again she kills it.

Edited April 21, 2015 by Portia

[henripootel]

I was thinking the excuse Phil-Tandy could give for the billboard thing is that they have a decent little group now, but they don't know if the billboards could bring some gang of marauders upon them or something.

That was my first thought for a cover story when Phil wanted to go skinny-dipping - we don't know these guys aren't twisted murderers so I was checking them out.  Thoroughly.  That'd have been a funnier resolution than the one we got.  Did like the instant 'He's not related to Jessica Tandy' line - a bit of actual humor in this humor show.

 

I'm now taking bets that old Phil hates new Phil until he finds out that new Phil is gay, they he loves him!  Cuz he won't want to stick his dick where old Phil wants to stick his own!  It'll be comedy gold!  Or not.  Sorry, still one of those who thinks this show has largely squandered an interesting premise and excellent actors.

Edited April 21, 2015 by henripootel

[possibilities]

one of those who thinks this show has largely squandered an interesting premise and excellent actors.

Me, too. It's like they've officially decided the show will be about nothing other than who Phil most wants to fuck, and each week they'll introduce a new character to shake up the rankings. Now they're expanding it to be not only who Phil wants to fuck, but it's only to add the other characters also having insecurities or ambivalence, and competing for attention. Great!