SwingTown Episode 9: "Swingus Interruptus" - discussion

[JustAskJulie]

While Tom and Trina close their relationship, Susan and Bruce open a new door with Brad and Sylvia, but are interrupted by Laurie and her new boyfriend.

[awesomecplmn]

WOW! Sounds awesome.....and I love the actor who plays Brad......Mark Valley, I think his name is.

Cannot wait for this episode.

[SW_PA_Couple]

Watching it tonight on the (almost) HDTV. Went to a Radio Shack store to buy AAAA flashlight cells and made an impulse purchase; an "Analog Pass-Through Digital-to-Analog Converter". Picture looks pretty good. The new episode starts now on CBS.

Out of respect for the people on the West Coast, I will reveal nothing now about the story. I will say I really like the "CBS Proctologist" public-service advertisement.

~Michael

[knb2004]

Holy fuckin' snot!

Best hour of TV I've seen in awhile, and I'm only 45 minutes into it. Wow.

[JustAskJulie]

Tonight's episode was out of nowhere, completely unexpected in so many ways and oddly the previews were accurate....

By far the best episode yet.

Bruce did actually go back to Melinda's place during the blackout. At least he finally told Susan the truth. What I didn't gather was if he told her about the make-out session in the street or if she knew about it from another source.

Susan and Bruce getting caught by Doug and Lorrie.... which one is more awkward?
I think Bruce, in general, feels like he's losing control of his life... we've seen this for a while, ever since the Deep Throat episode anyway. The whole getting caught thing does lead to a good question, if swinging is really ok (if you believe it's really ok for YOU) then why can you not admit that?

I still say we are under-estimating Janet. There's much more to her than people and those in her life are giving her credit for. Hopefully, Roger will start to see that and open up to her. Those two obviously love each other they just need to learn how to communicate. That woman really would do anything to make her husband happy, but the problem is that she feels like she has to.... ie. her telling him that she was going home and he could stay there. She doesn't get that what he really needs from her is for her to just listen and be supportive... and he doesn't get that he really has to communicate his feelings and needs to her.

Unicorn.

Tom & Trina at the swinger club.... so perfectly accurate. Nothing worse than going to the club and wanting to play on a night when you can't but have plenty of options to do so. How depressing.

Bad History: Pong didn't come out till 1972.

Roger & Janet's son is a problem child... we are going to see more from that. I thought parents still paid attention to their children in the 60's and 70's. But, these parents sure don't seem to, not even perfect mom Janet.

Previews for next week (and tivos summary) basically Bruce decides in an effort to take back control of his family that they need to take a family trip to the cabin where they can re-unite....

[awesomecplmn]

"Bad History: Pong didn't come out till 1972."

The show takes place in 1976 though, right???
Unless you mean 1982, which, when I think about it, actually makes more sense.

[JustAskJulie]

Originally Posted by awesomecplmn

"Bad History: Pong didn't come out till 1972."

The show takes place in 1976 though, right???
Unless you mean 1982, which, when I think about it, actually makes more sense.

It was 72, I had to look it up. For some reason I had it in my had that the show was set in 69 (must have been a freudian slip).

[JustAskJulie]

Originally Posted by SW_PA_Couple

Out of respect for the people on the West Coast, I will reveal nothing now about the story. I will say I really like the "CBS Proctologist" public-service advertisement.

~Michael

Missed that. was that within the show or a commercial/public-service ad?

I know they are doing more PSA's during this show due to lack of advertising... along with the 3 minute sales pitch for Time Life Music of the 60's.

[cplnuswing]

I thought the first 50 minutes were BY FAR the best episode yet, but then absolutely hated the turn it took right at the end. "Who's up for an omelette?" You're a professional screen writer and that is the best you can come up with? That whole sudden shift with Brad just felt very, very odd and out of place to me. I'm wondering if they didn't have to rework that a little for network so they came up with that instead of just letting things progress a little further and have the daughter catch the parents in flagrante delicto with the other couple.

Then the whole Bruce reaction was weird too. The whole scene leading up to that was great and very entertaining, then Bruce goes off the deep end. Hmmmm, let's see, your teenage daughter just caught you smoking dope and getting ready to do the deed with two (to her) complete strangers, and then the focus of the scene shifts to a father being angry at a teen girl for having a boyfriend (albeit older boyfriend) at the house? It would have been much more interesting for Lorrie to have escaped unnoticed then let the drama build as she tries to figure out what is going on over the next few episodes and then it eventually comes to a head and there is an extremely uncomfortable but honest dialogue between her and her parents about relationships, sex, marriage, etc.

Roger and Janet's son continues to be an ass, but you wouldn't even know he is their kid unless you go back to like Episode 2. That could be a good story line given he's Janet's son but it's like it's just out there in a vacuum since they don't tie the kid to the parents.

Liked hearing the word unicorn, someone has done their homework! Wonder if that term was in use back then?

The neat thing about this episode for me was using the political convention as the backdrop. Strangely enough, I remember exactly where I was that exact night in 1976. We were on a family vacation and my parents were watching the convention in the motel that night. I was in grade school and I remember them explaining to me what was going on and how it all worked. Can't remember even where we were headed on that vacation, but for some reason that night has stuck in my mind all these years and that brought it back, which was cool.

[cplnuswing]

Originally Posted by JustAskJulie

Missed that. was that within the show or a commercial/public-service ad?

commercial/PSA, think it was the commercial break about 3/4 into the show

[sweet_tna]

I agree with Julie that this is the best episode by far. We were howling with laughter at some of the moments, and nodding in agreement/sympathy with others.

I'm soooo glad Bruce 'fessed up to kissing Melinda, but I do not like the way he approached it. "It's not a big deal, or it shouldn't be, since we had sex with another couple." But I think he got the point when Susan under-reacted to the news.

Trina is one smart lady. I highly suspect she is capable of following the directions on a box of muffin mix. But either way, it was the perfect vehicle for making up with Janet.

I have to say I agree that Janet has been underestimated. And I don't know why I didn't see it before, but at that moment by the pool with Tom when she was trying to tell him that no one would see her, "like that," I realized that was ME a few years ago! I too, was totally trapped in the goody-goody have-to-be perfect wife/mom role, and never thought anyone would see me otherwise. But there was a sensual person under all that dying to get out. Lucky for me, I've been able to do that. I hope the writers allow Janet to do so, too.

The club scene was great. We can totally identify with the feelings of being a "fish out of water" AND the "kid in a candy store". And kudos on the writers for introducing a unicorn. I also wonder whether they used that term back then . . . ?

I really liked Tom in this episode. Staying the course with Trina and being a good friend to Janet.

Okay, as for the Susan & Bruce; Brad and Sylvia, and Lorrie and Doug . . . First off, it was totally uncool of Brad and Sylvia to NOT let Bruce and Susan know that Brad only liked to watch. Poor Susan looked so confused and disappointed.

Second, as a tv viewer, it was hysterical to watch them be such total nerds and getting frisky, knowing what was about to happen. Then watching it all unfold . . . and the moment when they were caught was priceless!

Third, while I agree that Bruce overreacted a bit, I don't think he and Susan were out of line for being upset with Lorrie. Quite frankly, despite her claims of being an adult:
1) She acted like a child, lying to her folks about where she would be that night.
2) Sneaking around with Doug, knowing her parents wouldn't approve of her dating him.
3) Hiding when her parents came home, rather than getting dressed and remaining on the couch and explaining why they were there.
4) She's NOT an adult age-wise, and still lives under her parents' roof. Therefore, she has to live by their rules and what her parents do (because they are the adults) is none of her business.

That said, in their situation, I think I would have dealt with the situation a bit differently. But that's probably a post for another thread.

=)

[SnakeBabe]

ARRRRRRGGGHHH
I missed it

[awesomecplmn]

This was a really good episode, but Brad wanting to make an omelet suddenly was strange and I would be SUPER disappointed in that situation.

I would love to watch Janet and Roger just get really hot with each other for a while. Don't make them swingers too soon, just get them off their every other Fri schedule to start. I just love Janet. She is so vulnerable.

Looks like Bruce is going WAY WAY off the deep end next week. He is getting yucky and slimy. And I really hope Susan doesn't end up hurting Janet with her emotional relationship with Roger.

Great moment when Doug asked Lorrie, "Do you even know who the president of France is?" and when she answered him, he got all hot and bothered.

Another good episode!! I can't believe people aren't watching this.

[Cubemex]

I have to agree with many of the previous posts--this was probably the best overall episode. It had humor, tension, and seemed to have alot of the small details that probably occur between couples swinging for the first time ( we are new so can only guess they are accurate). However, I have to say that the scene between the daughter and the parents was really upsetting. How can the show equate swinging between consenting adults with what appears to be an illegal relationship between a 20-something teacher and his high school student. That part of the show has always bothered me. How could the parents not bring the legal issues up to the daughter when she was trying to embarrass them for trying to swing?

[vegaskid]

I thought it was a really good show last night but the ending certainly bombed the show. Well, now it looks like Susan and Bruces kids know. about fhem. wow, and their daughter is under age to sleep with her old teacher.