Look, sometimes an episode is a filler. That’s a fact. Not all episodes can truly be used to advanced the overall arc, especially on a show like this one. Sometimes you have episodes that are just meant to further characterization, episodes that are just meant to have characters relate to each other in new ways, and episodes that are just meant to be, well, fun. “College Confidential” is all of that.
Of course, Whiskey Cavalier isn’t exactly a show that goes deep every week, and even when it does, it’s a show that attempts to do so while keeping the whole tone of the show light and funny, so it’s not exactly surprising that even their filler episodes would manage all of those things. What is a bit of a surprise is how much I enjoyed an episode where it feels like nothing important truly happened.
It’s been a hard past couple of weeks, what with Avengers: Endgame breaking my heart into a million pieces, and then Game of Thrones making me so angry I wanted to throw things.
Sometimes I feel like TV (hell, entertainment in general) tries too hard. Yes, we do want epic stories, and we want heroes, and we want to feel things – but we also want to just, you know, laugh. Have fun. We want things that make us feel better. We even, sometimes, want shit we can watch and just forget we even watched a few hours later.
Case in point: reality TV. We (the collective we) watch a hell of a lot of that, and it isn’t exactly because it’s making us better or teaching us something.
And that doesn’t even have the added advantage of Scott Foley and Lauren’s Cohan explosive chemistry, or how cute Jai and Susan are when they plot together, or Standish’s face when he thinks Frankie and Will are judging him, which this show does. And reality TV absolutely doesn’t give you the twisty feel-good ending, instead it usually pulls the rug out from under you in a bad way.
So three cheers for Whiskey Cavalier!
Now, to get a bit serious, this episode did manage to show us some things: everyone agrees Will and Frankie are mom and dad, Will and Frankie included, because the two of them have apparently settled into a partnership that feels like domesticity very, very easily, and soon enough Frankie’s gonna realize and freak out, probably (or has she grown enough?).
Also, Susan and Jai are getting along, which yay, because they had their issues there for a bit, and I like it more when everyone in the team likes each other, you know, especially when there’s only a few episodes left and inevitably the show is going to do something to hurt us!
Oh, yes. This was a fun, filler episode, and that’s all good and well, but we’ve been watching TV for long enough to know that can’t last, especially when there are just two more episodes to go. Pain is coming our way, or at least feelings are, and considering the journey we’ve gone through with these characters in only eleven episodes, I only have this to say:
Bring it. And not just for two more episodes, either. Bring it for season 2, as well. I’m in.
Thanks for watching #WhiskeyCavalier! pic.twitter.com/JU7BF7vaUB
— Whiskey Cavalier (@WhiskeyCav) May 9, 2019
Things I think I think:
- This episode fell a bit out of place, like maybe it was filmed to go earlier in the season, but not in a truly obvious way, like the last time they aired an episode out of order. So I guess what I’m saying is air your episodes in order, but also, if you’re not going to, at least do it this way and not how you did before, okay, thanks.
- Will and Frankie need to go undercover as a married couple again, cause they have that DOWN now.
- The US government as the good guy doesn’t really hit the mark, though, okay show?
- Sometimes this show is like a fanfic come to life, and honestly, I write fanfic, I should write for this show, so ABC you need to both renew it and hire me because I KNOW A TON OF FANFIC TROPES YOU HAVEN’T USED YET.
- That thing Lauren Cohan was wearing at the beginning of the episode? BURN IT.
Agree? Disagree? Share with us in the comments below! Whiskey Cavalier airs Wednesdays at 10/9c on ABC.