Max melts my TV-watching heart like a big, goopy scoop of gelato sitting out in the warm summer sun. For serious people, could this guy be any more perfect? Putting aside that the fact that he looks a bit like Chuck from Chuck (which is a good thing if you dig hot geeks), he also has a way with words. Not since Mark Darcy told Bridget Jones that he likes her just the way she is have I felt this swoony over a fictional profession of adoration.
Casey is really excited about the start of her new relationship with Max. She’s ready to “swim in the deep end.” Considering her relationships with Cappie and Evan centered largely on greek life and “pie,” diving into a new romance with a guy who has actual serious things to think about, like the death of his previous girlfriend, it’s understandable that she might be a bit nervous about how to be around Max.
Things don’t go well at first as Casey doesn’t want to unload all of the drama going on at the ZBZ house on Max, thinking it’s too trivial for a deep guy like him. The drama I’m speaking of involves Frannie, who has decided to un-bury the hatchet and return to her old, bitchy self. She’s got her eye on the ZBZ presidency again and whether it’s herself or some Frannie-clone, she wants to make sure someone on her side runs against Casey in the next election.
So while Casey’s busy getting deep with Max, Frannie’s winning over the pledges and ZBZ officers by feeding them smores, buying them gifts and making herself out to be the perfect BFF/ZBZ leader (rather than what she really is, which is as Casey so eloquently put it, a hot Frannie mess). Casey figures out what Frannie’s up to just as she sits down with Max to enjoy a horrendous campus play about Caesar. She leaves Max sitting there and rushes off to confront Frannie.
Casey attempts to make nice with Frannie but she’s not fooled and realizes that this is just an attempt for Casey to keep her enemy closer. This is for the best as I wasn’t really interested in seeing Frannie and Casey pretend to be nice to one another again. Just as Frannie’s about to get the girls into a riveting collage-making session, Casey has a gelato cart wheeled in and she treats the girls to some decadent icy-creamy goodness. Not to be outdone, Frannie gets them all massages.
At one point, Casey tries to be nice to Rebecca but Rebecca, much like Frannie, see’s through Casey’s niceness attempt. She realizes that Casey knows she has some sway with the other pledges and having her supportin the inevitable presidential campaign would be really good for Casey. Rebecca mentions that she hasn’t forgotten that Casey went to bat for her when Tegan was trying to get her de-pledged. Casey mentions that she knows how hard it can be to get over Cappie and Rebecca seems appreciative of her kindness. But after Casey walks away, Rebecca tells one of her random followers that she doesn’t mix personal with politics and while she and Casey might be “ok” in the personal department, she’s not committing to a side yet in terms of the politics. It’s likely that Rebecca will side with whichever sister can offer her the most.
The girls decide to play a game of “I Never” which never (ever) goes well when playing with people you don’t care for. It starts off harmless, with Rebecca admitting to never having taken public transportation. All of the other girls step into the circle, admitting without shame that they all have. The game quickly gets ugly when one random ZBZ sister makes an “I Never” in reference to Ashleigh’s high credit card debt. Ashleigh calls her out for stalking some A cappella group. Frannie and Casey start taking jabs at each other and it ends with Frannie calling Casey out for losing her virginity to Cappie and then writing a poem about it. Casey responds by looking slightly embarrassed and then just mad. She gets in Frannie’s face and eventually splashes water at her.
Max walks in just in time to see that and Casey feels awful for him having seen her that way. His response is to tell her that he loves that she’s alive. He goes on to talk about how she gets stuff done and does what needs to be done and he even liked seeing her throw water at Frannie. He tells her she’s the first thing that’s made him want to come out of his room since Sara died. Only someone as cold as Frannie wouldn’t melt hearing that. They agree that they’re happy together. I’m happy they’re together too.
In Rusty’s world, things are even more chaotic. He and his pledges are sick of doing chores and fetching food for the actives. They start bickering about who does more and Cappie decides that it’s time for the pledges to visit the old folks home. No, it’s not philanthropy task. Basically what this is, is the actives all sit around as though they’re invalids and the pledges wait on them. The task proves just as annoying as Cappie surely had intended it to. Sick of playing the role of the human remote or serving as a footrest, the pledges rebel by locking the actives out of the house. They hold the fortress for a while but after Cappie and his brothers cut the power and blast horrible country music at the house (and not the pop country music either – the annoying, twangy, yodelly kind), the pledges decide to call a truce. When they go to let the brothers in, the guys storm the house and drag them all into the basement.
Cappie explains to them that he’s happy the pledges all decided to come together as a group and rebel. He goes on to say that it shouldn’t have taken them so long to do it. The pledges feel like their revolution was all part of Cappie’s plan and their excitement is kind of deflated. After they leave to watch repeated viewings of Hard to Kill with the rest of the KT’s, Cappie confesses to Wade that he never intended for the pledges to rebel but if he let them think it was his idea, there was less chance of a repeat performance. Good thinking, Cappie! Little do the pledges realize, “Hell week” is coming!
Ashleigh spends the entire episode smiling vicariously over Casey’s new romance and preparing for her job as a tour guide. I had my doubts about her ability to memorize historical facts about the college but in the end, she pulled it off, showing off the campus while adding a bit of her own adorable flare to the tour. She even stopped her group to let them admire Casey and Max as they sat together on a bench.
Once again, I’m starting to think things are coming to an end for Calvin and Michael. Tonight the couple went out to dinner with Evan and Frannie. They dined on fine cuisine and Evan even allowed Michael to select the wine. He chose a fancy French bottle of wine that he’s always wanted to try (but could never afford). They enjoyed their dinner and at one point, Michael discussed how hard it was to find a job as a professor unless you have connections. He said it casually and without any hint of requesting help but Evan tucked this bit of information away for later use.
Later, Evan stopped in to visit Michael and offered to ask his mother, who has connections with the people at Princeton, to put in a persuasive word about Michael. Michael seems thrilled by this offer but there’s a catch. Evan essentially tells Michael that in exchange for the referral, he wants Michael to pass one of his brothers in his class. Michael says he won’t change someone’s grade if they haven’t earned it but after Evan makes it clear that this is a tit for tat situation, Michael thinks it over.
Michael later announces to Calvin that he got an interview for a job. Calvin presents Michael with a bottle of the fancy french wine (which was like $400), saying Evan bought a whole case of it and wanted Michael to have a bottle as a “thank you” for introducing him to it. But we know what the wine is really for. Michael doesn’t say a word to Calvin about the deal he made but I have a feeling that’s going to come out soon enough and I doubt Calvin will be happy to hear about this. He’s doesn’t strike me as the type to support that kind of thing.
