S01.E09: Picnic

[ElectricBoogaloo]

As Chip follows a turtle around Paris, he meets Penelope.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

It's a good thing I took French in high school or I would have been annoyed that there weren't subtitles in the flashback scenes.

 

While I think that this episode was supposed to make me feel for Penelope who was trying to escape her father, I ended up feeling more for her dad. He has offered her the opportunity to record but she says no. Instead she just lets him pay her rent while she plays in bars. Sorry, Penelope, but if you want my sympathy you are going to have to be financially independent from both Chip and your father first.

 

My favorite part of this episide was all the other performers coming to Chip's rescue and the ensuing scenes where they ran off and Chip hung out with them. If only he had stayed with them he would have gained a family and some skills!

[Mindymoo]

I actually liked that there weren't any subtitles in the scene with Penelope, her father and Chip. I don't speak French, but I think it was supposed to make us feel sort of lost, like Chip. We could tell they were arguing over Chip but not exactly what they were saying.

 

Even without Christine, this was another fantastic episode. The scenes with Chip and the street performers were beautifully shot, and it was just a masterfully done sequence. And while I didn't necessarily feel sorry for Penelope, it did humanize her a bit to me. She wanted some kind of identity independent of her father, since the only people in France that wanted to know her wanted to know her because of who her father was. Chip appealed to her on a superficial level at first because he had no clue, and then on an opportunistic level when he had to hightail it back to Bakersfield. And Penelope did let Chip know from the start, before she married him, that it was just for the green card. She said that it wasn't going to end well. I'm not trying to excuse her actions at all, but I can understand them now, and she doesn't seem as cold as she did. She at least seemed to care for him on some level- wanting to get him something to eat after all he had was a carrot; warning him that it would end badly and he would get hurt; telling him flat out that she wasn't in love with him and she was only doing it for the green card. So yeah, I don't hate her anymore. Don't like her, wouldn't want to be around her if she was a real person, but don't actively hate her.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

I still don't fault her for their failed marriage because we saw in the very first episode that she told him she didn't love him and just wanted a green card, so she was honest about that and made no pretense of wanting a real marriage with him. I just have a hard time feeling too sorry for someone whose daddy is paying her rent but is whining about wanting to be her own person. Go ahead and be your own person. Get a job, pay for your own food and lodging, sing under a different name. Voila!

[Fisher King]

I also liked the lack of subtitles. None were necessary IMO.

Chip hanging with the other street performers was the best.

I think I actually gained some respect for Penelope. She's been truthful & up front with Chip all along.

And I didn't miss Dale at all.

Stop teasing us with losing Christina, show. That just can't happen.

And Chip gnawing on that 6-foot sub was kinda gross.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

But the Ditka wine was awesome!

[peeayebee]

I loved this ep. 

 

I liked getting more background on Penelope. It was nice seeing how much she felt under her father's shadow, what with people wanting to use her to get to him, plus her probably feeling always compared, unfavorably, to him. I liked seeing that she was completely upfront with Chip and never led him on. Yes, she kissed him, but that was to annoy her father. Plus, it wasn't a romantic kiss at all, even though Chip probably took it that way. 

 

Of course she's not completely blameless since she accepts her father's financial support. Still, this ep humanized her more.

 

It was good to see Megan's dad from Mad Men again.

 

The scenes with Chip and the mimes & street performers were wonderful. So great when they stepped in to help him with the police. The mime putting a wall betw them was hilarious. Seeing Chip happy makes me happy.

 

Oh, and the scenes with the turtle! First off, I liked the exercise, having the turtle slow you down so you can really see what's going on around you. I'm not sure that was the purpose of the exercise, but that's what happened with Chip. But then... oh man. I should have seen the crunch coming.

 

Yes, Ditka wine. Hee. At least he chose it over the Trump wine.

 

It was just hysterical when Chip made the champagne tower fall and then kept slipping and sliding. I was crying laughing.

 

Penelope: Opah!

Chip: Oprah!

 

I loved when Penelope and her father are arguing, then she says something in English and then asks Chip what he thinks. He says his French isn't very good. Her face when she says, "We must speak English better," cracked me up.

 

Hoagie cashier: Sir, can we give him a pound and a half of the yellow squirt? [Man nods] (heavy sigh) I thought that was going to be my third strike.

 

Martha: Are you hungry? I got some food nuggets and fries.

 

Martha: I asked for waffle fries, but they look like criss-cut.
Chip: I think they're the same thing maybe.
Martha: Well, not if you know fries.

 

I noticed that Chip says Dale's umbilical cord was wrapped around Chip's neck when they were born. But in a previous ep he says that Chip's a day and a half older.

 

I really don't think they're going to let Christine die, but I'm still worried.

 

Just a fantastic ep.

Edited March 18, 2016 by peeayebee

[Fisher King]

Hoagie cashier: Sir, can we give him a pound and a half of the yellow squirt? [Man nods] (heavy sigh) I thought that was going to be my third strike.

 

This was hysterical! But I don't want a squirt of anything ever on my food now. Ever.

[possibilities]

Did Chip propose on the same day they met? Penelope was certainly obnoxious in California, not even trying to get a job, or use her trust fund, expecting Chip to pay for everything, not even being friendly to him or even minimally polite. But Chip was also batshit insane, not listening to her very bluntly telling him it was a green card marriage and she didn't love him, proposing after what was clearly a very short time even if it wasn't actually the first day they met, and generally being divorced from reality.

 

I was crushed by the demise of the turtle. I think my love of turtles has gone from what I thought was a passion for the turtle on Elementary to a more generalized turtle-glee. I thought it was just Clyde from Elementary who was somehow incredibly charismatic, but I found the Baskets turtle magnetic as well. I need to make friends with some real life turtles. I feel like a tween who's obsessed with Some Movie Star.

[Misstify]

My favorite part of this episide was all the other performers coming to Chip's rescue and the ensuing scenes where they ran off and Chip hung out with them. If only he had stayed with them he would have gained a family and some skills!

That was AMAZING.  I loved how even as they were running away from the police, one of the clowns was doing a kind of exaggerated run--never breaking character.  And Chip could hang out with them without knowing French because...mimes.

[Lone Wolf]

This was hysterical! But I don't want a squirt of anything ever on my food now. Ever.

Jack In The Box (fast food chain for anyone unfamiliar with them) used to offer a dressing colloquially known as Jack Sauce for their burgers.  No thanks.

 

I was crushed by the demise of the turtle. 

 

I see what you did there...between that and the snake in "Cowboys", reptiles don't fare very well on this show, do they...Speaking of which, that hoagie looked like a python.

 

I liked the other street performers defending Chip from the gendarmes.  From what I've seen of the ones in my area (Venice Beach/3rd Street Promenade) they'd have called the cops on him just to eliminate the competition.

 

Nice to get Penelope's backstory.  

[candall]

French clown nightlife, c'est magnifique.  Who knew?