SwingTown Episode 11: "Get Down Tonight" discussion

[JustAskJulie]

Synopsis:

Bruce and Susan go line dancing with Trina and Tom; Janet starts a temp job at a local newspaper.

I could see how working at a newspaper could be a very good thing for Janet, it may open her eyes to much of the world that she has not seen.

[awesomecplmn]

I am really unhappy with the turn of events of having Roger kiss Susan. I've really started liking Janet, and now they go and do this to me.

[JustAskJulie]

I think what we've seen is so much reality. Susan and Bruce may or may not have been perfectly ok if they had never opened themselves up to something new... or it could have been that the move was change enough to start opening doors. Overall, I think Bruce is still the same and Susan has changed and started realizing that there is more to life than blindly following what her husband says/does. Look at Roger & Janet and Janet is perfectly happy blindly following her husband and being the submissive wife. Susan was much more like her, I believe, before they moved. But, she was more open to change. The change that has occured has brought out new ways of thinking for her and made her question her life and what she wants out of it.

I think the thing that bothers me the most about all of it is that Trina and Tom, (more Trina), knowing that there are issues in Bruce & Susan's relationship, are still encouraging them to swing.

[JustAskJulie]

Oh, and what happened between Rick and Sam's cousin?

[JustAskJulie]

Holy Crap! I just watched the preview for the next episode.... Trina is pregnant and they are promoting it as "everything has it's consequences...". Sounds like another scary issue we've seen pop up on here from time to time.

[Alura]

Originally Posted by JustAskJulie

Oh, and what happened between Rick and Sam's cousin?

"Absolutely nothing!" said the cousin with no small amount of chagrin.

My guess is that the scene was designed to build on Rick's hinted-at-previously homosexuality. Rick has been quite aggressive sexually but it seems when it comes down to it, he's not quite there. Perhaps the future will tell... maybe in two weeks.

Again this week the commercials did not forecast a second season for Swingtown. Intel was absent and the rest were either promoting CBS' shows or public service announcements. We did have one series of paying commercials but they were all local companies. Oh, yeah! Time-Life is still trying to sell music from the seventies.

Mr. Alura

[JustAskJulie]

Originally Posted by Alura

"Absolutely nothing!" said the cousin with no small amount of chagrin.

My guess is that the scene was designed to build on Rick's hinted-at-previously homosexuality. Rick has been quite aggressive sexually but it seems when it comes down to it, he's not quite there. Perhaps the future will tell... maybe in two weeks.

That thought crossed my mind.... just made me wonder what did happen... did she kiss him? show him her boobs? touch his penis?... that caused him to totally freak out.

[Jeok]

Well...I believe this series will just STOP! The holyrollers and the mental midgets of all religious fanatics of all organized religions have condemned it, totally. And even if it were to continue, come on people, it's a drama. Every situation will end in some kind of disaster, because of Vanilla world stereotyping of the Lifestyle. Also, I was married to "A Janet" for 16 years, my daughter's mother, without any swinging involved, and I divorced her. With her, I needed no enemies-and crap on keeping your enemies closer, Not Within Family! She was a "taker" and most successful swingers I have known are "Givers" in more ways than just sharing a spouse. My second marriage invloved swinging, we loved it, but she died because of a brain tumor. I have known couples like Trina and Tom; they are not "Evil" as the show is now beginning to portray them. It is none of their business what problems another couple is having. They are examples of what an ideal relationship could be. Then, the writers have to go MORAL and show all the pitfalls. Remember, this is supposedly the 1970s. They were adventurous for that period. So far, the series is just a mildly racy "Soap Box Opera" without much controversy. I predict it will not be in the Fall Line Up of renewed television dramas. Murder and violence propoganda is more acceptable to the Vanilla masses. This series has the potental of broadening social consciousness and expanding tolerance; DOOMING it to cancellation.

[cplnuswing]

Originally Posted by JustAskJulie

I think what we've seen is so much reality. Susan and Bruce may or may not have been perfectly ok if they had never opened themselves up to something new... or it could have been that the move was change enough to start opening doors. The change that has occured has brought out new ways of thinking for her and made her question her life and what she wants out of it.

I think the change is more related to being exposed to new things by moving to a new neighborhood and meeting new people, especially the Deckers, whether or not any actual swinging occurred. I think Bruce and Susan were doomed from the start, this is just accelerating the meltdown.

Originally Posted by JustAskJulie

Holy Crap! I just watched the preview for the next episode.... Trina is pregnant and they are promoting it as "everything has it's consequences...".

Ditto. My eyes popped open and mouth dropped at that bombshell Hard to tell where that one will go, completely unexpected development.

Originally Posted by JustAskJulie

That thought crossed my mind.... just made me wonder what did happen... did she kiss him? show him her boobs? touch his penis?... that caused him to totally freak out.

That kid has control issues, which he got honest from his mother IMHO. Tries to control everything around him and then when he discovers he isn't in control, lashes out. To me, he's just a poster boy for an abusive husband when he grows up. Maybe Alura is right and he is struggling trying to control his true sexual orientation, or maybe whatever the cousin did made him feel like he wasn't in control of the situation since she was obviously more comfortable with her sexuality and expressing it than he knew he was.

The best period reference of this episode I noticed were the Pop-tart wrappers, the old white paper type. Where in the world do you find a supply of vintage Pop-tarts???

[fordman460]

So do you think Bruce is Trinas "baby daddy"?

[sexcupid]

I don't think Bruce is the baby daddy. I'm pretty sure Tom is the baby daddy. I mean, they were on a self imposed break. I mean, knowing how the female cycle works...I won't say it's impossible to have sex with someone and a week later find out your pregnant, however it may be next to impossible for it to have been that person's sperm that did the trick.

I mean, unless you are seriously tracking your cycle...many women don't notice anything amiss until the first missed period and by that time on average you are anywhere from 4-6 weeks into a pregnancy.

Interesting episode though. I have to say while I really don't mind the Doug/Lori storyline...I don't like the actress that plays her. I mean, perhaps the girl really is the 'paragon of 70s teenage attraction' (hey, I don't know...I was born in 78 and remained blissfully unaware until sometime in the 80s lol)...she overacts. I know it's a drama...but you know, there are limits. lmao

[vegaskid]

What I saw was that Roger kissed Susan and she reciprocated back. He is bound to fuck her but I hope she has Bruce's permission and do you perceive that Janet will fuck Tom?

[awesomecplmn]

I am thinking that Janet may show up at Tom and Trina's door when she learns about the kiss between Susan and Roger. She can't turn to Susan.....and so that will leave the Decker's as her only place to turn. T

Then maybe some kinky three way action between Janet and the Deckers.

[PB&J]

A pity that swinging isn't working out so well for Bruce and Susan- because that pool scene in this episode was hot. It bothered me that there had to be quaaludes before they could play. Is the message that people could only possibly participate in this lifestyle if their "natural" inhibitions had been lowered by drugs or alcohol?

They're not going to be able to save their marriage by swinging, and sex with Roger will be a mistake, because even if she did have Bruce's permissison, there's too much emotion involved on both sides for it to be swinging. And even if she DID get permission (unlikely) there's no way that it won't be cheating on Roger's side.

sexcupid, I agree about the actress playing Lori- she sets my teeth on edge every time I see her. I'm roughly the same vintage as her (was 16 in '76) and she doesn't remind me of any of the "types" I knew.

Still, LOVE watching the show. We usually watch it on the show website, especially now that it's on Friday nights and we're often busy! Love it with hardly any commercials.

[Thrax]

Originally Posted by cplnuswing

The best period reference of this episode I noticed were the Pop-tart wrappers, the old white paper type. Where in the world do you find a supply of vintage Pop-tarts???

They didn't have to find vintage Pop-tarts, just mimic them by showing some type of rectangular pastry-looking thing -- maybe current Pop-tarts, maybe not -- in a white paper wrapper. And since they probably had to film multiple takes of that scene, the props people would have to have maybe 20 "Pop-tarts" on hand, just in case. Or they could have had fewer and just turned the pastries upside-down in the wrappers to hide bitten-off corners.

It's amazing what is done in tv and movies to aid production and trick the viewer, without CGI. When you see a character eating an ice cream cone in a film or tv show, you are seeing an actual cone, but the "ice cream" is often a scoop of mashed potatoes (sometimes colored to mimic a particular flavor). Real ice cream would melt under the lights used during filming. Maybe if you looked closely you could tell, but in most cases you aren't concentrating on the ice cream cone, you are concentrating on the actor.

When you see a pitcher of ice-water in a restaurant scene, or drinks with ice, it's likely that the "ice" is shiny clear plastic to reflect light much like the real thing. That's so props people or the set dressers don't have to be constantly replacing the melted ice. And the plastic ice has to float, like real ice; it can't sit at the bottom of the pitcher or glass.

"Red wine" is typically regular grape juice, "white wine" can be white grape juice, "champagne" is often the non-alcoholic version or may be a pale ginger ale, beer is often the NA type, "whiskey" is watered-down cola, etc. Most productions use non-alcoholic beverage stand-ins because their actors are often working long hours and they usually need the actors to be sober enough to work.

For those who are not already totally bored with this topic, here's a list of some prop foods.

The magic of television.

I noticed the Freakies cereal box in the background once again in this episode, too.

Sorry about the extensive threadjack and sorry if I ruined your future viewing by revealing some of these "secrets."

Thrax