Nothing In Common 3x13

Nothing In Common

 

Busy and Amanda sit beside a river as Amanda reads a poem she has written called Abracadabra. Busy is bored and doesn't care for the flowery stanzas. As they leave the park or wherever they were, they pass an old homeless woman and Amanda, having no money, gives her the poem to cheer her up. Amanda is excited that Busy's Uncle Pasquale, a publisher, is coming for a week long visit.

 

 

The Ramones and Amanda sit down to dinner with Uncle Pasquale. He begins to sing a song that Amanda made up when she was seven about her and Busy's friendship that is set to the tune of, ahem, the wedding march. Weird that he would even remember that. Much to Busy's dismay, Amanda keeps trying to push her poetry. She even makes up a poem on the spot about Frankie's bad breath. Uncle Pasquale is impressed and seems interested. Then he chows down on some corn on the cob, getting the corn stuck in his teeth (important for later).

 

 

Amanda gathers her best poems and puts them in a flowery box for Uncle Pasquale, which she gives to Busy. Busy has a demo tape of songs she has made with someone named Maxine. Amanda offers to help with the lyrics but Busy, being kind of a bitch in this episode so far, says they already have lyrics. Amanda has to beg to even listen to the tape. A girl named Wendy comes up to their table to spread the news that she's organized a book club. Amanda is into it. Busy is not.

 

 

Busy overhears Amanda and Wendy listening to her tape. Wendy laughs and makes fun of the lyrics, making Busy mad at Amanda.

 

 

We meet Busy's friend Maxine at the bike rack. Amanda gives Busy her poetry and asks her to be careful with it and to give it to Pasquale before her planned visit to Maxine's. Busy, still angry about the tape, slams the poem box haphazardly on her bike's back basket and goes off to Maxine's instead. The poetry flies off the bike as they are riding through the park.

 

 

Amanda comes over and she and Busy learn that the poetry has been ruined. They return to the park, somehow knowing that's where it is, and try to rescue what's left. Busy is apologetic, but before long the two are arguing over having insulted each other's respective music and poetry. The two girls finally acknowledge that they have nothing in common and little to base a friendship on.

 

 

Amanda and Busy both bring bags of stuff the other left at their house to cement the fact that that the friendship is over. Also, Amanda is dressed like a pirate for some reason. The girls hang out with their new friends, but keep noticing each other.

 

 

Amanda listens to Wendy's poems, they do makeovers and rate boys as they pass...(Didn't Amanda get all upset when this was done to the girls in season one?)

 

 

Busy and Maxine play terrible music, play video games, play Pogs and listen to terrible music. Busy and Amanda keep mentioning each other, but still, all appears hunky dory.

 

 

Busy and Maxine walk through the park, passing the same old homeless lady we saw before. Busy confesses that she hates coming this way because the lady scares her. Why? Busy brings up Amanda giving the lady her poem, which Maxine scoffs at. Busy then turns and gives the lady some change.

 

 

More long sleeves and poetry reading. Amanda seems to be getting bored with Wendy thinking everything is deep and poetic.

 

 

Busy has Maxine over for dinner and she keeps making this face. Later, Maxine calls Busy's family weird, which she takes offence to.

 

 

The teacher gives the class an assignment to write about their most memorable birthday. Busy comes up to Amanda and asks if she's going to write about her ninth birthday, when they put Brandy to sleep. Amanda asks if Busy is going to write about her tenth, when she got her first drum kit. Wendy misunderstands about "Brandy" and thinks Amanda drank too much brandy on her ninth birthday and got sick.

 

 

Uncle Pasquale comes into Busy's room asking about Amanda's poems. She tells him how she and Amanda aren't friends anymore because they have nothing in common. Pasquale says they never had anything in common, but that's not why they were best friends. Then he winks. What is that supposed to mean?

 

 

Busy and Amanda are each at a restaurant with their respective friends. They look wistfully at each other from across the room. Soon Amanda leaves and Busy follows. Busy has parsley stuck in her teeth like Uncle Pasquale. She takes some floss from Amanda and gives it back to her used even though they just passed a garbage can. Busy admits that her song lyrics suck and Amanda comes up with a peanut butter and jelly analogy of their friendship that Busy doesn't understand. Busy agrees to accept Amanda's help. They do the secret handshake thing, I believe for the last time, and walk off trash talking Wendy and Maxine.

 

Next episode: We'll see a much older version of both Busy and Amanda as they enter junior high. 

Sister, Sister 3x12

Sister, Sister

 

Amanda is excited about a concert Busy's band is having Saturday. In preparation for the event, she's letting Busy give her a home perm. Wonder how that'll turn out. She also has to have dinner with Mel and his fourteen year old daughter. We learn that Phyllis is signing her divorce papers today and is going back to using her maiden name. Busy asks Amanda if she's going to change her name now too. Who does that?

 

 

Methinks Busy, sick of people thinking Amanda was the pretty one, did this on purpose. Well, mission accomplished. The salon can't see Amanda until Monday, so basically she's going to look like this for the rest of the episode. Phyllis is throwing out stuff that reminds her of Leonard. Amanda writes three wishes in her diary, including that Phyllis would stop pretending to be sad about the divorce. Why not just wish the divorce never happened? Amanda again contemplates living with her father.

 

 

Amanda and her mother meet Leslie, who looks much older than fourteen. Phyllis tells Amanda that the four of them will be spending the weekend at Mel's, meaning Amanda will miss Busy's concert.

 

 

Amanda calls Busy and tells her the news. Busy's first thought is that this must mean Phyllis and Mel are sleeping together. Amanda denies this, even when Busy cites their trip to New York in a previous episode. Amanda is sure that the hotel room had twin beds.

 

 

Leslie plays a large instrument that I think is a cello for Phyllis and Mel. When she and Amanda are told they will be sharing a room for the weekend, neither girl are thrilled with the arrangement. Amanda goes into Leslie's room with the cello music playing in the background and looks at Leslie's old childhood photos on the wall, including one with Leslie's now deceased mother.

 

 

Phyllis takes the girls shopping. Amanda gets mad when Leslie tries on a dress that Amanda had admired in the window. Leslie feigns innocence (or maybe she really didn't mean anything and Amanda is being oversensitive). Just then a store clerk asks Phyllis if her daughter (meaning Leslie) would like the dress wrapped. Amanda pulls a shocked expression when Phyllis doesn't say, "No, this is just my boyfriend's daughter," to the uncaring employee. Amanda calls Busy and complains, exaggerating the severity of the situation.

 

 

Leslie acts jealous when Mel shows Amanda attention. A feud erupts at dinner when Leslie wants to go over to a friend's house. Phyllis says she wants them all to stay together tonight, causing Leslie's Miss Perfect mask to slip. She and Amanda say hurtful things to each other, ending with Amanda saying that just because Leslie's mother is dead doesn't mean she can steal hers. Ouch.

 

 

Phyllis goes outside to talk to Amanda. Amanda accuses her of sleeping with Mel and Phyllis admits that she is. Amanda really starts sobbing then and her mother tells her that things change and she'll never love a man like she loves her daughter, etc.

 

 

Amanda writes in her diary some more and then sits on her bed in Leslie's room, with Leslie lying awake in the other bed. Amanda confesses to Leslie that when she was little she wanted a sister, but one day she didn't want one anymore. Leslie says all she wanted was a mother, but now she's not so sure. Neither girl apologizes for the things she said, which I guess is more realistic than if they had. But, spoiler alert, Phyllis marries a different guy later on. I'm not sure what the purpose of introducing Mel and Leslie was if it was going to end like that.

 

Next episode: Busy and Amanda question their friendship as they each hang out with other friends.

Sweet Thirteen 3x11

Sweet Thirteen

The episode begins with Amanda, her mother, and her mother's new boyfriend Mel discussing Amanda's upcoming thirteenth birthday party. Amanda wants a more grown up motif without any chaperones, which her mother objects to. It's also clear that Amanda isn't too keen on Mel, though he seems perfectly nice. He calls her Mandy when she prefers Amanda.

 

In the next scene it is stated that Amanda's dad is taking her and Busy out to eat at a French restaurant for her birthday, because he is aware of Amanda's maturity. Amanda finds a letter she wrote when she was ten predicting what she would be like at thirteen, but the envelope says she can't open it until her birthday. Even Busy seems a little weary of Amanda's stupidity and the episode has barely begun.

 

 

Phyllis and Mel tell Amanda they are going to New York. At first she thinks they mean she's going too, but it turns out just the two of them are going on Friday, Amanda's birthday. Sounds horrible, right? But then Amanda will be at her father's on that day and wouldn't see her mother anyway. She still gets angry and writes "sMel" in the soap on Mel's car. Clever and witty as always.

 

 

At school on Friday Amanda reads the three year old letter to herself. Ten year old Amanda wanted to have become an awesome French kisser, have her poetry published, played hooky, and have an older boyfriend by age thirteen. Feeling down at not having accomplished any of these tasks, Amanda convinces Busy to skip school with her.

 

 

Amanda and Busy are bored sitting on a bench at a shopping center when friends of Frankie show up. One guy asks for money to buy cigarettes and Amanda gladly hands over the $20 her mother gave her. After he comes back having spent nearly all her money, the cops show up. Not sure why the cops would bother them about skipping school as these three guest stars all look to be in their 20's. But anyway, in need of a place to stay, Amanda offers up her mother's empty apartment.

 

 

Amanda tells Busy that this "party" will make up for the unchaperoned one her mother wouldn't let her have. The guy who took her money, Wright, comes in and asks why they were skipping. Amanda mentions it's her birthday and Wright says that means they'll have to party all night. Amanda swigs some beer and runs out of the scene.

 

 

Amanda calls her dad and asks if they can go to the restaurant another night because Busy is throwing her a surprise party. Busy is in the background waving her hands as if she wants nothing to do with this scheme.

 

 

Busy is bored as Joy and Reed make out on the couch. Amanda goes out to Wright with more horderves. There's a weird close up of Wright eating a cracker in a very dramatic fashion while looking creepily into Amanda's eyes. Amanda notices Mel's car out in the parking lot. She explains that she calls her mother's boyfriend Smel. I wonder if she's copying Chrissy when she called her mother's boyfriend Dick instead of Rick.

 

  

Amanda hands over Mel's keys and they all go for a joy ride. There's a funny scene where they get an old lady to wave back at them and everyone laughs. Even Busy loosens up and begins to have a good time.

 

 

The group stops under a freeway to spray paint graffiti on the cement walls. Amanda is asked to try it and I swear it looks like she is just writing "Smel" again. Busy goes to be the lookout in case the cops come, which I guess is as good an excuse as any to get her out of the way so Amanda can be tricked into writing "Smell" on Mel's car. The gang tells her that "indelible" means "can be washed out with soap and water" and of course she believes it.

 

 

Wright drives fast (50 or 60 mph according to the speedometer). Bizarrely, Busy laughs and smiles during this ride, but when Wright stops she yells at him for nearly wrecking the car. When they get back to Amanda's place, Amanda demands the keys back, corrects Wright when he calls her Mandy and tells the group to get lost.   

 

 

Phyllis and Mel believe the writing of the word "SMELL" on his car was gang-related. They think Amanda stayed at her dad's house after all.

 

 

It's the day of Amanda's party and she's feeling guilty. Mel has convinced her mother to go out for the evening like Amanda wanted. Busy tries to tell her she did the right thing because she would've gotten into a lot of trouble for her behavior.

 

 

In the next scene, Amanda asks to speak to Mel privately. It's pretty sad because Mel and Phyllis look pleasantly surprised at this, not realizing that it's to confess that she spray painted his car. I think this episode would have been more realistic if it had ended with Amanda feeling like shit but not confessing. How many times did you own up to doing something you knew would get you into heaps of trouble when you were off the hook? I guess this is supposed to show that Amanda is growing up after all, but it doesn't ring true.

 

Next episode: Amanda is jealous of Mel's daughter.

Just Friends 3x10

Just Friends

 

Busy and one episode wonder Jamie are discussing an original song that will be featured in this episode. They play some baseball and then Amanda shows up. Jamie's demeanor changes so you know he's got a thing for her and not Busy. Jamie gets Amanda to try a little baseball, which of course she is bad at.

 

 

Amanda talks about a party the girls will be attending later on in the episode. Busy isn't showering because she's playing catch with Jamie after school and will just get sweaty again anyway. I hope she has gym last period or else that's really inconsiderate.

 

 

I think the sweatiness and the dressing more like a boy (notice the backwards cap) are supposed to be reasons Jamie doesn't see Busy as a girlfriend, but maybe he's the only character on this show with an ounce of gaydar. In this scene, Busy thinks he's about to ask her to the party, but instead he says, "Busy, would you...give me Amanda's phone number?" Burn!

 

 

The teacher is talking about magnets and opposites attracting. Amanda says someone called her last night and hung up.

 

 

Jamie tells Busy what we've already guessed; that he chickened out of calling Amanda. Busy asks Jamie why he likes Amanda when they have nothing in common. One of the attributes he names is her smell, which gives Busy an idea. Jamie asks if she can fix it so the three of them can walk to the party together.

 

 

In the school restroom, Busy asks Amanda if she'll go to the party by herself because Jamie is coming by. Amanda wants to know if Busy like-likes Jamie, which Busy vehemently denies. I'm not sure why, because she IS supposed to like him. Anyway, this is the first time we've really seen Busy like a guy without Amanda pushing her into it from the beginning.

 

 

Busy bathes before the party, I guess in part because of what Jamie said about liking Amanda's smell. Busy asks her mother about how she and her father met and this is close as I ever am to being convinced she isn't a lesbian. But notice there is no boy in the scene.

 

 

Busy puts on some of Amanda's perfume and I think she also stuffs her bra, though she doesn't look as bad as she did in Tongue Tied. Jamie arrives with Amanda, having picked her up on the way. Busy says that Amanda lives like a mile from her. I always kind of pictured them being neighbors, but maybe they were before Amanda moved. Anyway, Jamie tosses Busy a desperate look and says he was in Amanda's neighborhood. Then Jamie asks what smells like mosquito repellent. Apparently the same perfume that attracted him to Amanda smells bad on Busy.

 

 

Jamie asks Busy to see if Amanda likes him. Amanda sees another boy she likes, Alex, looking at her and Busy gladly pushes them together. Busy and Jamie dance. Busy requested Shattered Hearts, the song they were talking about earlier. Jamie wants to ask Amanda to dance, but Busy tells him Amanda doesn't like him. It is strange that this is one of the only cute boys who have appeared on this show that Amanda hasn't been drooling over. Maybe she sensed that Busy wanted him for her beard and obeyed the girl code.

 

 

Broken hearted, Jamie decides to leave the party early. Busy tags along. Busy hints that there is a girl who really likes him out there. Busy and Jamie share a special friendship handshake similar to Busy and Amanda's, and then Busy leans in for what is possibly her most awkward kiss on this show. Jamie jumps back comically, yelling, "Busy! We're friends. Just friends." It's one of the coldest shut downs you've ever seen.

 

 

Amanda is excited to show Busy her first hickey. Jamie avoids Busy.

 

 

Busy finally admits to Amanda that she did like Jamie but he liked someone else. She evades the question of who that someone else was, so Amanda never finds out it was she. Busy questions if there's something wrong with her, because she was the one with so much in common with him. Amanda explains that love is like magnets and is not logical. Jamie comes up then and asks Busy to play catch after school. Busy says no, but maybe next week.

 

Next episode: Instead of having a bat mitzvah, Amanda decides to act like a complete idiot for her thirteenth birthday.