Episodes: Series 3 - Episode 7 | Television

Episodes: Series 3 - Episode 7

Posted by: S.P. Young • February 21, 2014 @ 12:33am

"Did you see the nineteen year old?"

Matt LeBlanc is truly messed up in the head. While he is not a deliberately vile person, he is nearly incapable of empathizing with the difficulties that other people are going through. This also included the harm that he had inflicted on Jamie. After getting dumped by Jamie for cheating on her (with Dawn), Matt did not even feel bad about it. He just simply moved on with no effort or consideration for the hurt that he had caused. When confronted by Beverly on this issue, Matt was quick to make all sorts of bad excuses, making it seem like it was not his fault. He just appeared more interested in grabbing food off the table, than in looking at his on-going relationship self-sabotaging.

The only real sign of humanity in Matt came out after an encounter with the Make A Wish Foundation stalker (we need to keep this website safe for work, so her name will not be mentioned). It turned out that the stalker was not actually following Matt and his children at the mall, and that she got herself a boyfriend. This meant the stalker lost interest in Matt, and only then did it hit Matt on an emotional level. On a completely sick and twisted way, Matt had come to the realization that his screwed up relationship with his stalker was really the longest relationship he had ever been in. Yes, it even meant more to him than his marriage to Diane, and everything they tried together to make it work. The title image in the above right hand corner has got Matt passing on his marriage wisdom onto Sean.

For Sean there was little left to do in America, except to get lured by Eileen, the crazy treadmill agent lady. Eileen and Kim (from FOX) really wanted to secure the rights to The Opposite of Us, and were relentless about it. All the way to the point of getting Sean to go out for lunch, without the presence of Beverly. Could this possibly be a catalyst to yet another split between Sean and Beverly?

Beverly, while not tearing a strip off Matt for celebrating a paralysis injury, spent her time walking on the beach and sitting together with Carol. Just take a look at Carol. The woman is a total wreck, after having more sexual problems with a boss. The inevitable comparisons between Merc and Castor were there, but Carol missed the big picture:

Herself.

"What did I do?" That was the question that she asked herself and Beverly. Even when Beverly pointed out all the wrongs in Castor, Carol was unable to find it in herself to see all the bad in Castor. When Beverly had to be specific in how Castor covered Carol's mouth with his hand, Carol still defended Castor. "Not always." This is a great example of somebody asking to be miserable and disempowered. Carol being completely servile and seeing only the good in Castor, made her ignore the rest of him. She has a hint that there is something wrong with Castor, but she has no idea that the guy is severely medicated for mental health reasons, or that he thinks she is stupid. She also did not seem to display that she found office sex with the boss to be inappropriate. But she did find Castor not touching her to be somewhat off. Even when Carol talked to Beverly about how bad her life is, she still apologized to Beverly. The problem is not just in the dynamic with her bosses, but it is in how Carol interacts with everybody.

The final scene with Carol saw her at an outdoor lunch, witnessing Sean having a friendly lunch meeting with Eileen and Kim. Considering Beverly's friendship with Carol, and how Beverly was not interested in selling the rights, Carol's presence hints at what is to happen with Pucks, and between Beverly and Sean in the near future. After all, everything always starts off innocently enough.