The Husband:
So, what’s been going on over on The CW on the glorious show known as Privileged? I wish I hadn’t let the episodes pile up on me so hard, because I do think the show deserves as much attention as it can get. I’m glad to say that I finally got my wife to start watching this show with me, and as there are only seven episodes left after its premium Tuesday night spot is taken over by the return of Reaper (woo-hoo!), I hope she’ll stick around for the rest of the season.
Rose & Sage
While Sage has continued her pro-career and anti-school stance and even got the two Baker Twins their own publicist (Kathy Najimy, still rocking it hardcore over on King of the Hill), she becomes upset with Rose over two inevitable things:
1. Rose really does want to succeed in school despite that fact that she is far less intelligent than Sage.
2. Rose is turning out, in public circumstances, to be a better celebrity and personality than Sage, being a better person, being prettier and having a fantastic singing voice.
One of these things is more talented than the other.
Putting some of their fame on hold, they both focus back on their schoolwork, but after Rose gets a “D” on an English essay, she becomes freaked out that she will never get her grades up to the level that Megan is trying to get them to. Stealing the answer key for an upcoming history exam, Sage happens upon a very clever way to get the answers into the classroom and in front of Rose — design them onto a specially made purse with the letters of the answers making a pretty, multi-colored and non-obvious spiral. (Genius!)
Megan finds out about the purse just in time to get it out of the classroom before the test starts, resulting in her grounding Rose “for infinity.” When the grades finally come in, though, Megan lets Rose off the hook, as no matter how many issues Rose may have, she’s just a sweet girl who lets things freak her out too easily.
Laurel
Finally getting her own story, Laurel allows Megan to write a biography on her life, but only if she begins to control the content coming in. Megan decides to go a little rogue from the preset ideas Laurel has and goes into deep research on the life of Ms. Limoges, happening accidentally upon a very big secret — Laurel had an affair with a lawyer while her husband was away in Vietnam, and then pretended that the resulting baby (i.e. Rose and Sage’s dead mother) was her husband’s upon his return from the war. Laurel mistakes Megan’s uncovering of this secret a way to get an upper hand on their relationship via blackmail, but soon realizes that Megan would never be that evil.
Awww, old people in love.
Instead, she decides to visit her ex-lover in Santa Barbara (Michael Nouri, Summer’s father on The O.C.), where she tells him the truth. Learning that he has a new family, the lover follows Laurel back to Palm Beach, where they may be able to make their love work again.
Megan
Megan, sort of recovering over the last few episodes after a ridiculous amount of drama regarding her asshole sister and her ex-alcoholic father, finally reaches a non-fighting understanding with best friend Charlie (who is still secretly in love with her) and finally begins dating Will the Next-Door Billionaire Pretty Boy after accidentally outing him and his identity to his employer (who did not realize he was paying a billionaire minimum wage to take photos for him and get him coffee).
You probably should have told me I was severely underpaying you.
Things become complicated when Will is offered the chance to do a five-month photo shoot in Brazil (longest photo shoot ever!), and had apparently known that already when he asked Megan to be his girlfriend. Megan gets pissed at this and confronts him on his assery — you have to admit, it’s kind of fucked up — but he says that had he not asked her to be his laaaaaaady, she may have found somebody else to bang while he was away. Now that he doesn’t have the photo shoot after all — he was somebody’s second choice, technically — he tries his damndest to get back on Megan’s good side, going so far as to use his wealth to bring New York City to her, including pastrami sandwiches from Carnegie’s, a chestnut vendor and a big fucking huge Christmas tree for the mansion’s backyard. (Awwwww…)
Megan is starting to let Palm Beach cloud the logic center of her brain a little bit more recently, but that was bound to happen sooner or later. She’s becoming more like the twins while the twins are evolving into better people, and by episode’s end I think we’re going to see another situation, like when Megan’s college friend came to visit, where someone from Megan’s past points out that she is kind of losing her uniqueness. If that’s not an interesting tale to you, then the show probably isn’t for you anyway.
Special Mention – Ignacio Serrichio
Last episode, Sage begins to harass/flirt with Marco’s new kitchen assistant, Louis, who is played by none other than Ignacio Serrichio. The fun this here is, I know Ignacio personally. (He actually goes by “Nacho,” but I have a tendency to call people their full first name unless otherwise requested.) Born in Argentina, he spent time studying at Syracuse (I believe) before he transferred to my SoCal university, where we both worked on the student-directed production of Neil Simon’s Barefoot in the Park (he played Victor Velasco while I did tech and ran the sound board). Later he stole the show on the university’s mainstage in Neil Simon’s Rumors (a brilliant show directed by a professor who was sort of a mentor to me, as he took an interest in my writing/criticism and did an independent study with me during my senior year). Ignacio also did a great and special small-stage production of John Leguizamo’s Freak (apparently getting permission from Leguizamo himself) that I covered for the school paper as a favor to him. He’s definitely a great guy with a lot of confidence and talent, and he’s a lot of fun to be around. I don’t think he ever graduated from my university as he was cast on General Hospital while he was still a student, but if anyone was to come out of the shows I saw of his and make a career out of it, it would be him.
He followed a short stint on General Hospital with a guest spot on an early and minor episode of House (surprising the hell out of me when I saw his name on a major network show), and then a role in a small religious film. I didn’t see much from him for a few years, but apparently he not only returned to GH for a spell but also did six episodes on Ghost Whisperer, which I do not watch nor have I ever watched.
Nacho, cooking up cassoulets and turning up the heat on Privileged.
But now, he’s been given a very good, primo role on a critically acclaimed (and kind of middle-of-the-ratings) show, and now that Sage has her eyes on him (despite all their bickering) a very fun, romantic role. He’s a suave motherfucker, let me tell you, so this is definitely my favorite of his TV performances. (His role in Rumors, still, is the best thing I’ve ever seen him do.) He’s a gifted comic actor, so this arc better pan out or I’m going to cry foul to Privileged if they waste such a good talent.
There you go. Another edition of “The Husband name-drops somebody.” Believe me, I have plenty more.
