S03.E17: R&B

[sasha206]

This show is so ridiculous with the lack of realism.  I was a college student once.  No guy in college shows up to a date in a suit unless you are going to a formal.  And the dialogue.  I can't imagine college students talking like this.

And how about a little insight into what made her go out for a second date?  It jumps from don't call me to a marriage proposal.  And they were dating 7 years and she still wasn't ready?  Why?  

Then there is the jumping from career to career?  Did they both forget they have a tenement building?  She just becomes a dance teacher after years of inactivity?  How much could that pay?

[Katy M]

10 minutes ago, sasha206 said:

This show is so ridiculous with the lack of realism.  I was a college student once.  No guy in college shows up to a date in a suit unless you are going to a formal. 

Unless you're Randall, and you do everything over-the-top.  I think that was kidn of the point and why Beth was not dressed up to his standards.

[sasha206]

4 minutes ago, Katy M said:

Unless you're Randall, and you do everything over-the-top.  I think that was kidn of the point and why Beth was not dressed up to his standards.

And every single one of the men on this show are over-the-top.  And the women are complex, often ungrateful creatures.  

[RedbirdNelly]

On ‎3‎/‎27‎/‎2019 at 9:03 AM, Lady Calypso said:

I think eighteen year old Randall had the right idea in the first date. It's not his fault that Beth wasn't into it. He did put effort in it and it was noble. But Randall's issue is always going over the top. He was aiming for perfection but didn't seem to realize that maybe, just maybe, an eighteen year old girl wouldn't be into some five star fancy restaurant. He definitely could have toned it down and chosen somewhere less fancy, but I don't fault him for that. He wanted to impress her, thought that he could, and Beth had to let him down gently. What I do fault Randall for is going to his roommate afterward and assuming that was a great date that would surely end in marriage. I'm sorry, but when TV shows have the guy pronounce that he's going to marry some girl shortly after meeting her and barely knowing anything about her, I find it creepy. I know it can happen in real life, but it's still creepy. 

I think it can be creepy but since we know Randall is not a creep, it was not creepy to me. It also reminded me of my parents who have been married happily for 51 years. My mom almost did not go out on Date #2 because she thought he was getting too serious. She did go--and he told her he was going to marry her --on Date #2. I asked her years ago "how did dad propose?" She told me "oh, I don't remember; there were so many. . . " She honestly doesn't remember which one was "the one where we got engaged." He just knew, but she had lots of reasons why it would not work, and he had an answer to each one. . . You can interpret that as creepy/he browbeat her into marriage--but as one of their 4 kids having watched them interact for years, I can say, not the case.

I enjoyed this episode though it was painful. I liked seeing their backstory. I like them as a couple. They needed to express a lot and it got out there. Randall is mainly to blame here, in my book, though I'm not sure Beth is always being fair. I think (we haven't really seen all of these episodes so maybe I'm wrong) that they made choices when they had kids. If it's a joint choice, you can't really come back with "I made sacrifices" years later. I think Beth is very justified to say at this time, here is what I need. . . but I apply a slight discount to the earlier sacrifices because (I think; might be wrong) they were a joint, smart decision as a couple for the family/for what they as a couple wanted. My husband and I made similar choices (though the opposite) since my career had more potential upside--so he took the job with more predictable hours but lower long term upside. It was a joint "how do we make this work" decision.

[millennium]

On 3/26/2019 at 10:07 PM, CleoCaesar said:

But then with Beth’s “anxiety attacks” remark (which, yes, was a low-blow) he gets to be the victim. GAH. NO. STOP DOING THAT, SHOW. He gets to go off and sulk and it’s poor, poor Randall all over again. It’s infuriating.

Dead on.   He pushed her and pushed her until Beth lashed out, then he gets to be the hurt one, the martyr.   Checkmate.  Randall wins by default and gets to walk off feeling like the moral high ground belongs all to him. 

I guess I'm in the minority because I don't feel like the anxiety attack remark was all that harsh.   It was simply the truth.   The anxiety attacks were a luxury for Randall (and I say this as someone who struggled with anxiety attacks in my 20s and 30s).   They were a consequence of him wanting and needing too much for himself, his ego and ambition writing checks that his personal constitution couldn't cash.   A luxury because not only could he have his cake, but he could eat as much of it as he wanted, so much that it made him sick.   A luxury because  in the back of his mind he always knew Beth would be there to catch him if he fell, which freed him to fly as close to the sun as he pleased.  As the appointed care-giver who has had to live her life on call for Randall's emotional collapses, Beth has every right to throw them in his face.  

I don't get how stiff, awkward, "cut a rug" Randall becomes the singing, dancing, always-mugging Randall of just a few years later.   The two personas seem so different.  Are we supposed to believe Beth brought that out of him?  If so, he owes her more than he even realizes.

Freshman Randall being told "don't call me again" and then deciding "I'm gonna marry her" might have been regarded as sweet in 1950s romantic comedies but to audiences today it plays a lot like the warped fantasy of a fledgling stalker.   It totally disregards Beth's wishes and buries them beneath what Randall wants.   Will young Randall put up a white board on the wall of his dorm room to track Beth's schedule around campus so he can "just happen to bump into her" from time to time?

The young woman who plays college Beth is phenomenal at interpreting a younger version of the character.  

Edited June 10, 2022 by millennium