“Men In Trees” Recap: No Man Is An Iceland.

I bench press my own body weight, plus another seventy-five pounds. I like to drink whiskey. And one of my favorite movies of all time is Fight Club.

I thought I better offer that up prior to admitting that I watch a show called Men in Trees. Others must be watching it, since the show was picked up for its second season. But I venture a guess that most of them don’t have guy parts.

Where are we at the start?

Jack and the girl formerly of Family Ties have split. So because Lynn and her pregnant-with-some-other-guy’s-kid self have moved on to another city, everyone assumes Jack and Marin are going to flip the on-again switch.

But Marin’s still rooming with Cash. Not Johnny, but instead, the homeless tent-dwelling guy who just so happens to look like one of those dudes you see in the cologne print ads. I find him annoyingly unreal. Yes, even in a show that is already farcically quirky to begin with.

The final weekend of winter and the impending spring thaw become the backdrop, the canvas if you will, to the episode. The idea of spring is, of course, re-birth and new beginnings, right? That sounds like the start of a feminine product commercial. Each of the storylines mimic this same notion. New beginnings, I mean, not the feminine product commercial.

Cash and his mediocre-at-best acting decide to go back to his wandering guy ways and moves out of Marin’s place. This opens the door for Jack and Marin to begin pondering whether either one should make the first step in beginning the courtship dance all over again. After all, Jack has gotten most of his “Lynn” tattoo removed. Well, except for the final “N”. Tattoo removal hurts too much, so you have to let time pass before doing the entire thing and being able to move on.

If anyone missed the fact that this is supposed to mirror getting over someone in a breakup … well, if you missed that, they laid it on pretty thick, so I am going to order you straight to television jail, without passing “Go” or collecting $200.

Patrick and Annie are planning their wedding. Problem is, both want Marin. Annie has already asked Marin to be her Maid of Honor. But after Patrick’s brother has been fired as his Best Man, now Patrick wants her as his Best Man. Yes, I just wrote a sentence that consisted of “her” in reference to “Best Man.”

Speaking of Patrick’s half-brother George, he and his boyfriend are at a turning point in their own relationship. When George considers marrying his step-mom’s cousin so she can get a green card … ok seriously, after reading this sentence even I’m wondering why I continue to watch this show. But seriously, all of the storylines are not as absurd as they sound. It’s an enjoyable-enough show. Anyway, as I was saying before I so rudely interrupted myself, once George is about to green card marry the step-mom cousin, his boyfriend realizes this jealousy means he may be more committed to George than he wanted to admit.

See what I mean, with all of the new beginnings?

By the episode’s end, we get a typical spring thaw. Through some messiness and muddiness, we see some budding and potential. Jack and Marin are talking again. George and his boyfriend contemplate their future. And Marin’s going to stand next to both Annie and Patrick. And at this rate, she’s probably going to cater the wedding, provide the music, and drive the honeymoon limo. These two can’t function without Marin! Actually, it seems like the entire town would fall apart without her.

This, That, and The Other Things:

* There was another storyline between the police chief and her boyfriend, where she finds out she’s actually the elder in the relationship. They resisted the urge to use the Mrs. Robinson music. But sadly, not only did they make a Mrs. Robinson reference, but they also used a cliché Ashton/Demi nod. 1 out of 3. Come on, writers. We can do better.

* I’m hoping we’ve seen the end of Cash. He reminds me of the Ray Pruitt and Noah characters on 90210, with the horrible acting. Wow. I can’t believe I just referenced those two characters. Seriously. I also used to watch The Sopranos.

* More Buzz. I dig his character. He’s one of the few “real” characters on the show.

* We haven’t seen Marin’s agent, Jane, this season. But we did get her ex-boyfriend, Sam, in a cameo this episode. So I bet they’re planting the seeds to have her return. While I did find myself getting bored with the Sam/Jane storyline, I think the Marin and Jane characters bounce off each other quite well. I would like to see Jane spend a little more time in Elmo, if nothing else, for this reason alone.

1 Comment

Comments are closed.