Sunday, June 24, 2012

Review: Out With Dad 2.11 "Out With Doubts" (part 1)

Before I get to my thought about the latest episode of Out With Dad, I wanted to post some links to some OWD-related items.

First, if you haven’t watched this video by Livi, you should do so now!  It features appearances by Kate Conway and Lindsey Middleton and incorporates theme from the show.  The song itself is incorporated into the latest episode of OWD.  If you’re thinking “Livi who?”  she’s an uber-talented Canadian singer/songwriter.

Next, you should watch this announcement by some members of the cast of Out With Dad, especially if you like rocks!

Hopefully those of you in or near Canada (and having a valid passport) will be able to attend the party and have fun while supporting this wonderful show.

Upon further viewing, I’m not sure if the rock thing was intentional.  I hope no one is disappointed if they don’t get a rock…

But now, on to “Out With Doubts”, the latest episode of Out With Dad.  As always, Jason has my brain revolving as I try to digest the developments that happen to our cast!

I think I’ll start with Ryan Brown.  Yes!  Ryan Brown!  I’m so happy to finally “meet” him.  And though he has no lines, his personality shines through with his actions and Vanessa’s comments about him.  I’ve wanted to see what he’s like since she first mentioned him a few episodes (and many months by out time scale) ago.  Ryan is a quiet kid who gets picked on.  I hope his relationship with Vanessa is making him feel better about himself and giving him some confidence.  I’d think it would be hard to pick on the kids when he’s hanging out with her all the time.  After all, what does he care what other kids think when he’s with the girl he’s “totally in love with”?  The other guys are no doubt just jealous, anyway!  Which brings up a potentially difficult situation: what happens if Ryan finds out about Vanessa’s sexual orientation?  We the viewers don’t really know for sure if Vanessa is gay or bisexual or what.  But all someone has to do is find out about Rose and then they might suspect Vanessa and then they might harass Ryan…(Something like “You idiot!  You’re in love with a lesbian!”) it would be totally stupid, yes.  But people act stupid sometimes.  And of course, I think Ryan’s a nice friendly kid, but he may have been raised to believe homosexuality is sinful, and if he heard something, suspected something, or Vanessa told him something, he might turn against her.  Or believe that he really is an idiot for falling for her.

Well, that sure is a lot of contemplation I’ve done about a character that appears for about two seconds!

By the way:  Vanessa’s back!!  Though the above pretty much covers what she’s been up to lately.  Her news about how her mother seems to have forgotten Rose exists sounds like the typical reaction her mother has when she doesn’t agree with someone’s lifestyle.  I don’t see Vanessa getting permission to spend time with Rose anytime soon.  If she wants to see Rose, she’s going to have to sneak it in.  Which will be disastrous if she gets caught.

On we go to Claire.  She’s still being Claire as she disrupts Rose’s English class with some sophomoric hijinks.  Okay, I’m being intentionally over-critical of her behavior.  Really, she seems to be taking an opportunity to be funny without thinking about the consequences.  Her outgoing personality and desire to make Rose smile make it very easy for a viewer to like her.  And she seems to have Vanessa worried.

Nathan has one of those moments in life you hate.  This scene is based on an event that happened in Writer/Director Jason Leaver’s life. Though I’ve never been in a meeting such as this, I’ve had encounters with prejudice people who just seem to assume I’ll agree with their prejudices. There’s really nothing Nathan can say or do that will change the homophobic thoughts and actions of his client.  He has to sit there and bite his tongue.  If he said something it certainly would lose him some needed money and change nothing about the client.  You would think the idiot would have realized his story wasn’t entertaining to Nathan and his colleague by their lack of reaction to his tale.  When I went back to re-watch this episode, this scene was hard to watch again.  It’s frustrating and makes me want to reach into the screen and do something Nathan can’t!  Well done to the actors and Jason Leaver!

Wow!  I can’t believe I’ve written this much and haven’t even gotten to the big decisions ahead for Rose!  I’m just going to post what I have here now and write more later.  I’ll post part two of my review as soon as I get it done!

See you then!

No comments:

Post a Comment