Trophy Wife 1.04: "The Breakup"

“Did you just pull me aside? First of all, no one pulls me aside, I pull people aside.”
-Diane

We all knew this day would come, from the pilot really. Meg finally reached her limit for how much of Kate’s new-found mom-ness she will tolerate. As the title of the episode suggests, this resulted in a big blow-up between Kate and Meg. I kind of wish the set-up to the fight had been a bit different. I thought that Kate having Meg run mom errands for her like taking Bert to orchestra was going to be the catalyst for something like this, but the disagreement is much bigger than that. Meg fundamentally thinks Kate isn’t fun anymore. I suppose that is to be expected, but I would have liked to have seen the lead up to the fight to be a bit more specific. That being said, I did appreciate that the series of events made Kate step back and evaluate how much she has changed in the year of being married. It kind of made me wish we had seen more of the really, really early days of Kate and Pete’s marriage. I’d like to see how she really started to at all settle in to her new life.

Remember how in the beginning of the pilot, Kate narrated about how she and Meg went through a lot of break-ups and always went for karaoke afterwards? The Kate and Meg fight plot builds on that little tidbit. Meg has just broken up with another boyfriend (whom she has lived with for two weeks), so she wants to crash at Pete and Kate’s for a little while. Kate kind of reverts back into her pre-marriage self, wanting to help Meg party her way through the sadness of the break-up. They put together a ridiculous concoction of multiple shots of vodka, and they go out for a crazy night on the town. After the partying, they crash back at Pete and Kate’s house, and the results are not family-friendly. Most of the issues are Meg’s, really. Kate’s just really hung over the next morning. Meg ate candy off of a model solar system Hillary was building and vomited in Warren’s slippers. Some friend she is.

Jackie’s branch of the family is again the group that gets pretty much their own plot in this episode. Jackie’s father sent Bert a Lego Millennium Falcon set for a gift, and Bert is super excited about it. The excitement wanes as Jackie turns out to be absolutely terrible at Legos. We learn later that Bert is actually pretty good at Legos, but I guess under Jackie’s direction, he was doing everything the wrong way. Jackie hates to see Bert disappointed, so she calls in Warren as a reinforcement. Warren has been diligently studying for the “PPSAT” at Diane’s insistence, but he’s happy to take a break from that for some Legos time. With Warren’s help, they make great progress on the Millennium Falcon, but it’s all over once Diane calls and realizes where Warren is. She comes over to Jackie’s house and makes Warren go back to studying. Because heaven forbid he become a dermatologist or something. Diane’s especially unhappy that Jackie tried to tell Warren that a college education isn’t really necessary. Before he leaves, Warren gives Bert the confidence to be able to finish the Lego project.

The Meg situation gets even worse when a neighbor stops by to complain to Pete and Kate that her son saw a woman topless in their pool. That woman is Meg, of course. At that point, Kate’s mission is to get Meg out of their house by the end of the day. This is easier said than done. She takes Meg back to the apartment she shared with the now-ex, and the ex is even douchier than Meg is. Apparently the break-up was caused by an argument over Meg throwing out a jar of curry infused mustard. And they’re both still acting like children and fighting over it. Kate can’t believe that all of this grief for her family has been caused by a damn jar of mustard, and I’m definitely on her side with this one. When Kate calls Meg on this, Meg retaliates by saying Kate isn’t fun anymore, and she accuses Kate of abandoning her for her new family. Kate has had it, and she leaves.

Kate arrives home from the confrontation with Meg and unloads on Pete. She’s really upset about the prospect of losing her best friend, and Pete gives her some advice that just makes things even worse. He says it just matters if somebody apologizes – it doesn’t matter who. Kate wonders if Pete has ever used this on her to get out of an argument, and she’s not happy about the thought that he might have. Pete decides to take matters into his own hands, and he goes to Meg’s house to try and smooth things over. I don’t like the idea that the rational husband has to solve problems for his crazy wife. It just doesn’t feel right to me. In her conversation with Pete, Meg basically proves how completely narcissistic she is. She’s upset that Kate disappeared for a week after getting married…for her honeymoon. Pete exaggerates how much Kate talks about Meg and thinks about Meg, and Meg starts feeling a little better.

Pete, Meg, and Meg’s ex all go to Pete and Kate’s house for the big make-up. Meg brings a new solar system model as a peace offering, although Hillary thinks it’s pretty sad compared to what she was working on. The assignment isn’t due for another three weeks, though, so she’s really going to be just fine. Diane has just passed off her neuroses to her kids, which is a shame. Kate, however, is impressed that Meg took the effort to try and make a replacement at all. Spending one hour one something for someone other than herself is apparently a rarity for Meg. I thought I’d want to see more of Meg back in the pilot, but I think they need to dial down the narcissism a few notches if I’m going to enjoy seeing her again. Jackie and Diane have enough annoying quirks between the two of them. We don’t need Meg in the mix, too. Kate and Meg reconcile, and Kate and Pete are finally able to settle down and watch Magic Mike, which they had been trying to do since the beginning of the episode. Only now they’re watching with Bert. Awkward!