Home Economics Review: Bottle Service, $800 Plus Tip (25% Suggested) (Season 2 Episode 3)
The gang hits the club together on Home Economics Season 2 Episode 3, “Bottle Service, $800 Plus Tip (25% Suggested),” but they diverge into separate storylines while still maintaining an enjoyable balance.
From Club Noice to Club Lupe, it’s just a good time all around. The whole series is fun and charming, and on this episode we get to see fun and charming cutting loose.
And it’s just the right amount of wild for this group. Tom (Topher Grace) takes ecstasy which is actually an extra-strength aspirin, Marina (Karla Souza) spends the first half of the night in a text feud with a room mother, and Sarah (Caitlin McGee) and Denise (Sasheer Zamata) almost go to a queer warehouse rave.
Tom: Web MD effects of ecstasy…and my phone’s dead. I knew it! I should’ve brought my phone charger with me to the club.
It’s cute how they all try.
The square thinking they’ve been drugged trope can often be mishandled, but Grace pulls this off effortlessly (gracefully?) with Tom. It reveals new facets of the character and provides laughs. Tom has some of the best lines of the episode, and Grace’s delivery is pitch perfect.
Marina’s plot has her away from the others for most of the time, but Souza makes her shine on her own (or with the crowd of clubbers that become fascinated with the beef between the room moms). And it’s so satisfying when she ends up winning the text war with Kirsten.
Marina: You don’t know my husband, but if he’s having a blast at a club and we’re not then our Kirstens have already won.
Sarah and Denise are always great together, and on this episode they are just down right adorable. They’re both excited to be going out, finding fellow queers, and realizing they didn’t really miss out on their wild partying days after all.
Connor’s storyline is the catalyst for the night out, but it doesn’t feel central, and there’s nothing wrong with that. If it had dominated the episode, the rest of the plots wouldn’t have fared as well as they did.
This kind of storyline has a tendency to lean towards the silly or absurd or the far-fetched. Reining that in is an excellent example of the show’s excellent restraint. It’s able to get right to the edge but not go too far, and with a family sitcom that’s a difficult thing to achieve.
This achievement, however, doesn’t come from one place or one department—it’s a group effort. From the actors and the camera crew to the writers and editors, every aspect is working, as well as working in harmony, and it adds yet another layer to its fun and charming quality through its production value.
Extra Expenditures:
- Can we please have an episode with a FrisBea Arthurs reunion?
- “We’re at the age where the best part about going out is going home.”
- Sarah and her clogs are just precious.
Sarah: Besides, these shoes were made for dancing!
Denise: They were actually made for nurses working a double, but yes, let’s go party! - When Jenna jumps out of the moving rideshare vehicle and Denise says “Did I manifest that?” I, no joke, screamed with laughter.
- “Fresh beats. So yeet.”
What did you think of this episode of Home Economics? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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Home Economics airs Wednesdays at 9:30/8:30c on ABC.
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Erin Allen
Erin is a former script supervisor for film and television. She's an avid fan of middle aged actresses, dark dramas, and irreverent comedies. She loves to read actual books and X-Files fan fiction. Her other passions include pointing out feminist issues, shipping Mulder and Scully, and collecting pop culture mugs.