Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Samantha Who?: The Boss

Timothy Olyphant guest-starred in this episode. Who is Timothy Olyphant, you ask? I don't know! Because I don't get HBO. But, he was on the series Deadwood and became popular through that, I guess. But he IS popular. So, I guess it was a big deal that he was on this week.

This week's episode dealt with Olyphant, playing one of Samantha's bosses, coming in to propose to the titular character. Except Sam doesn't remember having an affair with Olyphant, so she turns him - and the diamond ring - down. Olyphant doesn't like hearing "no" and woos over Samantha's parents. (Quite easily, too.) Still, Samantha rejects his advances. But not before almost loosing Andrea as a friend. (Andrea was quite smitten with Olyphant) And Dena, taking an online romance writing course, explained what was going on the whole time.

The biggest moment would be when Todd comes storming into the Newly household, jealous that Sam is dating a billionare. In a moment of anger and confusion, Todd did what he only knew how: He kissed Sam. And not just a peck. This was a kiss. Whoo-boy!

What worked: Samantha was truely sorry that she didn't remember Olyphant and was extremely gracious and gentle. She didn't fall head-over-heels just because he's a billionaire (her mom did, though). She tried to remain true to who she knew she is. They could have easily made it where Sam was smitten with Olyphant and didn't care about anything else, but having her take this slightly unexepcted route made the episode much more charming and engaging to watch.

And I really like Dena's subplot where she analyzed the characters and their romantic stereotypes. If you've never seen the movie Stranger Than Fiction, then you might have missed what it's like to have any entire storyline about telling the main story. It's terribly meta, but completely fun just the same.

What didn't work: I'm not quite sure I buy that Andrea would just become so sad and depressed about loosing Olyphant. I know Andrea tries to make herself look tougher than she actually is, but I thought she would have tried to exact revenge, get even. Within the time constraints of a half-hour, I can *maybe* see why they did what they did. But I still don't quite buy it. (Even at that, the actress continues to earn her pay with her incredibly powerful, engaging performances.)

Next episode: Sam and Todd deal with the fallout from their kiss. And Sam tries to save a butterfly habitat from demolition. Oh, Sam. It airs next Monday on ABC at 9:32 p.m.

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