Greek 3.08: "Fight the Power"

“It’s like our reintroduction into the social top tier! And I’ll be in charge of making our pledges humpable again! You should be thanking me!”

-Rebecca

“Fight the Power” was really more about what you do when you’re in power and everything is falling apart than fighting the actual power. And there’s a kind of lame Cappie/Rusty B story, which is unusual because I usually love me some KT stories because they’re goofy sweet. Even the addition of Dale to the craziness and a brief acknowledgement of Cappie/Casey angst didn’t save that plot.

The episode begins with the ZBZs at a mixer. At a miniature golf course. On Thursday. At 9:00 AM. The sisters, understandably, are not pleased. They all think they should be sleeping. I’m thinking at least some of them should be in class. Yeah, I’m the nerd who never missed a class in college. Ashleigh and Casey are trying to act as happy as possible in the hopes that the sisters will just roll with it, but a small group led by Laura tells them that such a lame social calendar is not acceptable. Laura herself threatens to deactivate. Ashleigh impulsively decides to tell the dissenters that she is planning a much cooler mixer with the Omega Chis on Saturday night, hoping that Casey’s newfound friendship with Evan will turn the lie into the truth.

Evan agrees to help out the ZBZs, but it turns out that organizing this mixer is easier said than done. Evan and Calvin agree that they’re each going to share their secrets with the rest of the brotherhood. Evan is going to reveal that he’s broke, and Calvin is going to reveal that he’s dating Grant. Evan’s secret is revealed earlier than planned, however. His Iron Man car gets towed because Evan couldn’t make his lease payments, and word of Evan losing his trust fund quickly spreads throughout Omega Chi. Even though he’s still officially President, many of the brothers don’t take him seriously anymore, including Grant. The brothers of Omega Chi are not going to be seen at any lowly ZBZ party.

When Ashleigh hears that the Omega Chis backed out, she panics. She is desperate to restore ZBZ to glory as quickly as possible. She has a new, more elaborate plan. She’s going to plan a “four pack,” aka a mixer with one other sorority and two frats. She figures if she can get the Gamma Psis (the new number one house) to participate, the Omega Chis will change their mind, and her sisters won’t hate her and deactivate. The response from Gamma Psi isn’t what Ashleigh hoped, though. She gets a box of frowny face cupcakes and a form letter rejection note.

Ashleigh drags Casey over to the Gamma Psi house to try to get them to reconsider, since Casey knows an influential Gamma Psi from Pan-hel. Unfortunately, that Gamma Psi is about as lame as I was in college and has no opinion about the group’s social schedule. Ashleigh is forced to appeal directly to the Gamma Psi president. Casey tries to stop her, but Ashleigh offers to pay the Gamma Psi house electric bill for the rest of the semester if they’ll come to the mixer.

Ashleigh goes all out for the mixer, spending a ton of cash on a band, an open bar, and ice sculptures. Casey is concerned because the money they raised at Founders Weekend was supposed to last for the rest of the school year, not be blown all at once. The investment doesn’t even pay off. The Gamma Psis make a big show of leaving after only making a short appearance, and their president is sure to mention that ZBZ is now paying their electric bill. This mortifies the ZBZs and makes them plummet in social standing even lower than they already were. Meanwhile, Evan gets in a fist fight with his chief rival for Omega Chi leadership right in the middle of the dance floor.

Meanwhile, Rusty seems kind of lost since Jordan left. He wanders into the KT house while the rest of the brothers are playing a game where they drink every time Jeremy snores. Rusty makes his way up to Cappie’s room only to find Lana, Cappie’s cater waiter girlfriend, naked. Rusty pretty much spends the rest of the episode tagging along with Cappie and (a now clothed) Lana. Rusty makes the observation that Lana is like the female Cappie. In this episode, she definitely is, but I didn’t really get that impression in the other two or three episodes she’s been in. It seems like a kind of abrupt character change for story purposes.

Cappie blows off a date with Lana and goes to Gentleman’s Choice instead, and Rusty is upset. He thinks Cappie and Lana are perfect for each other, and he convinces himself that the only reason Cappie blew off his date is that he is afraid of being in a real relationship. Rusty, being totally inappropriate, goes and finds Lana as she’s getting off work and convinces her to give Cappie another chance. Cappie doesn’t want another chance with Lana, though, and Lana, being pretty smart, figures that out quickly. The only redeeming part about this plot is seeing Dale’s reaction to being in a strip club (oh yeah, didn’t I mention, Rusty drags Dale along for this whole “save Cappie” adventure). He wants to “save” all the strippers, and he gives them religious business cards of some sort.

The end of the episode brings big moments for both Casey and Cappie but, unfortunately, for any big Casey/Cappie together moment, I think we’re going to have to wait until next week. At the big meeting to discuss the disaster of a mixer, Casey covers for Ashleigh and says it was her idea, not Ashleigh’s, to pay the Gamma Psi electric bill. Casey explains to Evan that she needed to learn how to be the “President’s best friend.” Rusty and Dale, still at Gentleman’s Choice with Cappie, remark that the last few times Cappie has gone to the strip club, it’s because of Casey. Realization then dawns on both of them. Cappie does still want Casey back after all, and Cappie doesn’t deny it when they question him about it.

I didn’t love this episode because it continued the silly “ZBZ isn’t Number One” plot and had Cappie/Rusty/Dale interaction that actually managed to not be very funny. With the promise from the previews of Cappie/Casey goodness to come next week, however, I’m still in.