Opposite Date

Opposite Date

  You know, I used to watch this show just when it was on. I don't know why. Initially I recently gotten cable and just wanted to see what it was- it was a teen show like Zoey 101 or Drake and Josh but just a bit after my time to watch it, but I ended up turning it on whenever I was doing work or similar.  There's something relaxing about it. Because it's not really good. But at the same time it's not bad. It is bad. But it's not as distractedly awful as something like Two Broke Girls. Have you seen that show? Jesus christ. Anyway, Victorious is just white noise. And after a while it just became the thing I would throw on in the background if it was on. Would help me clear my mind. Now I write summaries and reviews. It's very zen. Don't judge me.

  Anyway. I didn't really pay attention to any development over time in the show at the time. But watching now, Season 4 (really starting with The Blonde Squad) is so different than the rest of the show in little minor ways. It's absolutely indistinguishable to anyone who isn't a maniac that has a blog for this, but it's completely different from season 1 in its tone, premise, and design. It makes you wonder if they really had a creative vision for stuff like this. 

 A big component of this change is that at some point it seems that Dan was roused from a 3 year nap and started feverishly trying to write character development and match up cast members for his preteen patrons. This one is about Jade, Tori, and Beck. We're given a pretty sloppy premise for why Tori and Beck are hanging out solo- but whatever. They make plans to hang out just the two of them, but they don't want to make it a date for fear of offending Jade (I suppose, it's never made clear how honest they're being when they say that). They strive to make it an "opposite date" by dressing roughly and getting bad food, but for all intents it seems to be a fairly normal date. Certainly better than the majority of mine.

    

 Near the end of it, Beck receives an (off screen) phone call from his aunt tasking him with taking her dog to the vet to get some medication. Note that it is like 10 PM. They go to the vet and are immediately bombarded with questions from other pet owners on the nature of the relationships between Tori, Beck, and Jade.

  

   Meanwhile, Cat leaks the info of Tori and Beck's date to Jade, and Jade and Cat go off to track the friend-couple down during their date. They confront Tori and Beck in an animal hospital, and Jade confides that she is okay with Tori and Beck hanging out. Because they're friends and she just "gets it" I guess. And that's about it.

   It's not a bad episode, but it feels awkward. The premise is very hastily established, and the ending just feels out of place in this show. All of the vet clients suddenly asking Tori and Beck about the fine details of their relationship isn't quite treated as a joke but it's not quite treated seriously either. It's an inherently silly situation, but it feels like the episode is trying to sell real character based drama during it. Jade comes and essentially gives acceptance to Tori and Beck, but no real ground is made. Tori and Beck are still friends with romantic tension, Beck and Jade are still exes also with romantic tension... for an episode seemingly building up to a big shift in how the characters interact there's very little payoff. Adding to this, Avan Jogia just seems so disinterested during all of it. Beck has absolutely no real input outside of "Well I have good vibes for everyone", and Tori fails to take a stance on if she actually wants to date Beck or not.

 Ultimately it feels like it would better as an episode of Boy Meets World.  Victorious simply doesn't have the infrastructure to support plots like this as characters are constantly battling  the self-contained episode structure the show has used. That being said, the driving scenes between Cat and Jade are good, and Elizabeth Gilles does her best to sell the episode. I'd give it an 8/10

The B-plot is Robbie and Andre being stuck in pear costumes.It reminds me of the B-plot of "A Film by Dale Squires" where Robbie and Andre fix Robbie's car. Like it's fine and you know the characters do well, but it's essentially one joke that spans the entire B-plot. I dunno, it felt a bit lazy to me.

Side Notes:

• In an error, Tori posts a status on the slap but says "Why am I even tweeting this?". The Slap is of course a separate entity in no way related to or parodying twitter, but at this time I think everyone stopped caring and regretted making The Slap a part of the setting. 
• Jade pulls over to make her call to Tori. Nothing really particular happens, I just thought it was a nice touch as a little safety lesson.