Hmmm, it seems SWINGTOWN‘s Susan got religion — literally. She insisted on saying grace before breakfast and attending church. What brought this on? Could be that she saw her husband, Bruce, kissing Sylvia last week and finding a business card with her phone number? Or is it just plain old remorse over dipping her toe into the dating pool of swingers? Yep, that’s it: Furious, she tells her husband “Sex has consequences.” (And this was a decade before AIDS and the “safe sex” crusades.)
Grant Show is great at portraying Tom as smarmy but not threatening. He’s seems like the friendly “perv next door.”
Commercial digression: The first break includes an ad for a pain-reliever (I’m not naming it; buy an ad on this page, Mr. Pharmaceutical Maker!) that mentions Woodstock, and the next features a hair dye for men (boasting Cream’s “Sunshine of Your Love,” no less!) and another version of the pain-pill spot. I’m sensing a theme…
One of the themes on the episode was privacy, expressed through a home-movie camera Tom and Trina used to capture “everything” they do (wink-wink). The Deckers even gifted the Millers with a camera of their own. Paul Simon‘s “Kodachrome” (about 35mm film) was also used on the show’s typically unsubtle soundtrack. Meanwhile, the battle for Susan’s attention (or, more figuratively, her soul) between Trina and old pal Janet reached a head when the two women got into a tug-of-war over a platter of Swedish meatballs. The struggle leads to Susan’s simmering sense of unease boiling over, so she rips down some hideous wallpaper she hates (it was put up by the previous owners and thus symbolized the past) and adjusted her dress to bare her shoulders; both acts thus “uncovering” the “new” Susan. She is woman, hear her roar. Samantha, the tough girl next door, continued to hold young B.J. spellbound, and perfectly encapsulated Janet’s feelings: “It sucks when you’re the one left behind.” It doesn’t matter if your own mother doesn’t recognize you or your best friend is becoming unrecognizably herself — it still hurts.
Laurie continued her pursuit of teacher Mr. Stevens. This week she managed to actually kiss him while Bob Dylan‘s “It Ain’t Me Babe” played. (BTW, if you like this song, skip Dylan’s version and go for the 1965 cover by The Turtles, which features, y’know, good singing; Dylan could write, but dude, c’mon his voice is an acquired taste…) CBS makes note several times that a lot of the music from each episode (though not all the tunes) are available at www.last.fm/swingtown.
The episode wrapped with Susan resolving her guilt by opting for a policy of honesty in her marriage with Bruce. She wants “all options on the table,” and for them to be completely open with each other. Honestly, what’s more soapy (and clichéd) than the ol’ “No more secrets/lies” pledge? That never goes well. I give Bruce and Susan until about 20 minutes into the next episode before somebody has a secret.
But it’s no secret that I will be back with the next installment of Night Shift…
Originally posted on Soap Opera Weekly.com
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