Trust

Brian gets pissed off at Abe for doing a practical joke, but should he?

Analysis

Another good character episode, but seemed played out in a few areas. The show picks up where it left off with last week's two main plots: Abe dealing with his dad's illness, and the Roadies shooting a Spaghetti Western.

Here Abe calls, or gets a call from his father's (Some of you informed me that was his girlfriend. So I stand corrected.) girlfriend telling him that his dad's bleeding has stop, and is on his way to a full recovery. Thus bringing the whole ordeal to a close.

So after a long drive featuring filler shots of the Mexican landscape (Obviously the #1 cliche of the season), the Roadies arrive in San Miguel de Allende where they meet......hey! Isn't that Antonio Banderas! Oh well, they call him Peter, but he's the spitting image of the actor. Anyway, Peter's the director of the Film Festival. Their mission? To air their movie "Fistful of Pesos". But before they can do that, they must market the movie by passing out some fliers around town.

Then Peter hands them a bag full of Fisher Price walkie talkies to keep in contact with. Ooooh Goodie! The kids screamed and giggled like little pre-schoolers on Christmas morning. Show of hands.....am I the only one who thinks these kids overreact to certain things? These troopers exhibit the same amount of enthusiasm as my fellow 6th and 7th graders did when we went on fieldtrips!

So the Roadies hit the town handing out fliers......well most of them. Alas, poor Gladys spends nearly half of the episode rolling around in agony in the woodie complaining of stomach aches. Fortunately, she recovers and is able to make it to the Film Fest in time to see the debut of their film. The movie, "Fistful of Pesos" was suffice to say lame, and given the audience's response, they weren't too thrilled with it either. It was a yawner, unless you ladies were interested in seeing Josh's naked rear end.

The episode's main plot centers around Brian meeting, then hanging with this one girl (Sylvia) who owns a local furniture store. And it isn't until his guilt meter sounds off that Brian makes a bee-line for the woodie to call his girlfriend to profess his love for her, and commitment. All this despite the fact that just a few minutes ago, he was flirting with another girl. It's also here where a subplot emerges and take center stage for the rest of the episode. Where Abe (Without his consent) tapes Brian's "private" conversation. And it's not until next morning when Abe's bragging to everyone that he's going to sell his juicy tape to "Hard Copy" that Brian finds out, and gets REALLY pissed! Now provided I'd be pretty hot too if someone taped any conversation of mine without my consent, let alone with my girlfriend. But Brian repeatedly beat the issue in the ground as the episode progressed!

Here's the deal! If Brian was so concerned about having a private chat with his girl, then why in the heck do it on the tapped to the bone BMP phone!?!? That thing is BMP's main meal ticket to high ratings! And considering his business would be on the airwaves in a few months, he might as well had done it on a speaker phone! I also question Brian's justified continued hostility towards Abe. Saying that it was a breach in their trust was one thing, but I don't think he even fully forgave Abe at the end of the episode. AS IF the "real" reason Brian was so pissed off was his concern that tape would pop up somewhere in the vicinity of Sylvia. Especially after he had told her (Off camera) he was single, but I digress.

I don't care too much for this whole relationship between Brian, and Sylvia either. Why? Because BMP Law states that a guest character involved in a romance must be gone by the end of the episode! Real Rules has had a habit of having these guest characters who become romantically close to a cast member of a show, then are gone by the end of the episode, never to be heard of again. Acouple examples: RW Boston, Syrus gets involved with this mother who's son attends the youth center. Sure it caused an uproar that almost resulted in Syrus get booted from the firehouse, but the whole situation was all wrapped up by the end of the episode. And despite the fact that he kept seeing her, we heard nothing about her again! RR Europe, Chris meets this girl (Melissa)... They spend the evening getting to know each other, then they get a hotel room to really get to know each other... And by the next episode, she's nothing but a distant memory. So why should I give two cents about Brian and Sylvia sipping on Margaritas, getting to know one another, laughing, and having a good time if it means squat by next week? Never mind the rest of the season.

As for Abe. He strikes me as someone who doesn't consider, or care about how his actions affect other people. In "Cobwebs and Margaritas" Abe made Holly cry when he began asking too many personal questions. And after dinner, he continued to patronize her in bed (No pun intended), not so much as taking two seconds to consider her feeling, or how much of a idiot he made out of himself. It's the same deal here where Abe tapes Brian's private chat, then struts around bragging..."I gotta tape! I gotta tape!". And what was his reason for doing this absurd action? Oh, just a practical joke! Ya like jumping into a puddle, and splashing mud on someone? But what more can you expect from Abe? He's 18, considered young and dumb, and as Holly mentioned, he still has a lot of growing to do. But didn't we all at 18?

Gladys's roll in the whole controversy ranged from accuser, to councilor, to instigator. I must say at this point that Gladys is starting to annoy me. First she hammered down on Brian for in her words, "Leading this poor girl on!". Then all of a sudden, a few scenes later she's pampering Brian, telling him in effect that feeding this poor girl a line of B.S is ok in the long run. Boy! Talk about a change of heart.

Now provided Gladys's objections were warranted given her bad history with guys, and plus the fact that Brian has a girl back home. But Gladys's constant pressing of the issue got tiresome after a while. However, things got interesting when full attention was turned towards Abe. Particularly that one scene outside the restaurant/bar where a slightly intoxicated Brian figures the best way to relieve his tension is to whoop Abe's ass! Gladys jumps on the bandwagon explaining that Abe partitioned her to kick his ass a few days ago. She declined, but made it clear, and I quote: "I am not going out without a fight!". Woah! Talk about FORESHADOWING! I know Gladys's intentions are good, but she doesn't have to make EVERY issue not pertaining to "Gladys" her business.

Josh also got to play mediator even though how brief it was when he pulled Abe aside and told him that Brian was really, really pissed about the taping incident. That conversation inturn forced Abe to contact Brian, and apologize. Although I felt Brian didn't fully accept it.

Holly and Sarah got to play busy bodies. Sticking knives in Abe while talking behind his back. And Sarah maintains the status as most under developed character of the season thus far. But the main issue in this episode is the tile which says it all...."Trust". Can Brian trust Abe not to pull another prank? Maybe! Can Brian's girlfriend trust Brian? Maybe! Can Sylvia trust Brian for that matter? I don't care! Can I trust that Gladys will stick her nose into other people's business? Yep! Can I trust the producers wont over-hype a episode for ratings? Hell no! Excuse my language.

One more thing. I also question the chronological order of events as they apparently took place in this episode. Mainly because of Josh's hair. There were at least over a dozen scenes where Josh's hair switched from the "Coolio Cornrow", to the standard "Fabio Fashion". Now granted Cornrows take at least an hour or two to create, and given Josh's hair maybe longer. But either Gladys can do some quick hair, or there's some MAJOR cutting and pasting going on in the BMP editing booth! I'll settle for the latter.

So call it a 4. I feel I'm being awfully generous here considering the lame movie debut that there really wasn't a need for. Thus taking up precious camera time that could've gone to let's say.....character development?


NEXT WEEK: The kids get bullied, but not by Chihuahuas this time! I can hear Gladys's complaints already.

Jump straight to "Fight the Bull!". Or go back to "Cinema Spaghettios".

Didn't like my review? Then check out Billy and Tracy's, or Kelley's review.

Road Rules Reviews Copyright © 1999