Lipstick Jungle (5.5): Everything Is In Shambles.

Before I say anything else, even joking about some mythical Harry Potter prequel is utterly cruel to rabid fans such as myself. I became biased against this episode as soon as I found out that Wendy and Nico were going to Scotland to woo Ms. Rowling into handing over said book.

As mean as the Scotland trip was for HP fanatics, it was exorbitantly worse for Nico. Not the brightest idea to invite your lover on a business trip but how heartbreaking to hear your best friend say that you would be a bad mother. I have to question the logic of further alienating someone who is emotionally unfulfilled enough to have an affair. Of course you would be a disingenuous friend if you didn’t tell someone when he or she are doing something wrong, but to hurt them and insult them will only encourage them to continue doing the thing you thought was wrong in the first place. This is why interventions are planned and have coaches. I like that the episode ended with the Wendy/Nico fight unresolved. What they said to each other is more than a quick hug can take care of.

Do I have to give my post-modern ovaries back if I say that I think it is kind of sweet that Joe (Andrew McCarthy) bought Victory’s company? It verges on her having the status of a “kept woman,” but he had a rational business explanation and he just wanted to help her because he cares about her. This girl has the business sense of a past-due potato, so I am inclined to think that her rejection of Joe, when she found out that he was her investor, is just a really expensive hissy fit. The best way to prove you are an intelligent and mature woman is to understand you limitations and accept legitimate help when you legitimately need it. There is nothing wrong with crying when you have to make a tough choice, but there is something wrong with making a bad choice to prove an immature point. Allowing Joe to be her business partner, but moving out of his house would best serve Victory.

The TV Girl

Lipstick Jungle (6): I Warn You, God Might Strike Me Down.

It would never work between then long-term, and it is utterly ridiculous for me to think this way, but I am totally rooting for Kirby and Nico. I am sure as retribution for this, someday I will be cheated on, and where will all my infidelity-encouraging be then? But this woman spends her entire day with sharks and bottom-feeders: people who are either making her job impossible or who want her job. Her husband ignores her, and while I am kind of endorsing the adultery here, I do not buy into the “he/she cheated first, that makes it okay for me” justification. And we all know Nico’s husband is cheating, but she did not know when she started the affair (in fact at this point she has vague suspicions that she has not even vocalized yet). Wait, back to my point. Her husband is self-absorbed (not in a narcissistic way) and inattentive. And then there is this dude, whom from her perspective is just a kid, with all the sincerity and hope only twenty-five year olds are capable of. He pays attention to her with only a limited agenda, listen to what she wants (her rules), assents to her wishes (going on the date with the actress), but doesn’t let her push him around (refusing to go on another date). I know the show is glamorizing adultery, I know in my heart that I believe infidelity is wrong, but I cannot help it; I have been suckered into seeing this relationship as more functional than her marriage and I want her to be happy. (Tangent: this is the opposite reaction I have to all things Grey’s Anatomy. I hope all those people stew in their own self-made misery and then possibly fed to blackbirds.) I can’t believe I am trying to justify this. I should stop now while I have a shred of credibility left.

The TV Girl

Lipstick Jungle (6): At Least It Is Not Cashmere Mafia.

In an effort to be completely unproductive on Saturday, I browsed the major network websites looking for something to watch. I have seen all the ads for Lipstick Jungle over the last month, and while I was not bristled by it (as I am by the very title Cashmere Mafia, who came up with that?), I did not feel strongly inclined to tune in. Well, sloth is the mother of desperation, so I said what the hell. I am pleased to report that while Lipstick Jungle has flaws, there is every indication that this show will only improve over time and become an endearingly entertaining show to relax with.

I am not going to go into detail about the premise of the show. It is your basic “women with high-powered jobs, amazing wardrobes, and complex personal lives” type show, but with some elements that distinguish it from its progenitor Sex and the City. (Both shows are based on novels written by the same author.) For example: two of the three main female characters are already married, so this is not just an exploration of how single women fill their time; the high-profile career is not always on the upswing, Victory (Lindsay Price) is having a complete professional disaster; not everything fits into teeny-tiny purses, the most realistic part of the show is the pack-horse necessity of transporting all a woman requires during the day; and most noticeable, the show is not tied together by a central intelligence narrator who recaps the life lesson for the audience at the end of the episode.

The distinctions give the show room to develop its own personality, but as I said above, there is need for growth. One major stumbling block for this show is the opening credits. I want to put these opening credits and the Season Three Veronica Mars opening credits in a room together and maybe they would confuse each other out of existence. Most shows now do not have theme songs; either a pop song is imposed upon it (Dawson’s Creek, Friends), or the show title flashes on the screen for a moment set to a snippet of instrumental music and the cast list runs on the bottom of the second scene (Ugly Betty, Pushing Daisies). Therefore it is kind of nice that Lipstick Jungle attempts old-fashioned opening credits, but the outcome is just ridiculous; the pictures that make the show appear to be a shoe commercial, and the trite fortune-cookie expressions of the breathy vocals seem immensely incongruent with the age-range of the characters.

Furthermore, the interaction between the main characters is not exactly forced, more kind of stiff. Wendy (Brooke Shields), Nico (Kim Raver) and Victory are supposed to be best friends, and the more casual conversations appear natural and realistic. It is when things get sentimental that plausibility gets stretched. Almost as if the show creators feel the need to apologize for the hardness these women adopt due to their career demands, the displays of feminine solidarity are hyperbolic, and I mean that in the classical sense. As I viewer I believe that these particular women would feel the kind of attachment to each other that they express, I just don’t believe they would expresses it in the way that, and to the degree to, these scenes are written and staged. I am not accusing the show of falsity, just overstatement. As the actors become more comfortable with their characters, and as the personalities are developed, I think there will not be such a sharp contrast between the drinking moments and the hugging moments. Sometimes there is just some creakiness when a show starts out.

And despite the creakiness, I do not foresee myself abandoning ship. I am not in a place in my life where I can “relate” to the concerns these women face, but in general they are bright, funny, and sympathetic women. What I find most compelling about them is their (for the most part) lack of self-pity. Nico has a, shall I say, interesting demarcation of priorities; when she meets Kirby (Robert Buckley) the twenty-five year old with whom she is having an affair, she asks him to guess her age before she tells him that she is married. Yet, she confronts honestly the reality that her actions have consequences. She hasn’t really made a choice yet, but she isn’t wondering why things are going wrong. Victory is affected by what others say about her, but she doesn’t allow that to stop her from pursuing what she thinks is right for her life and her career. Even though Wendy faces complex logistics in her marriage, she recognizes that a oh-poor-me attitude will only make things worse. It is refreshing to watch women who practice what they preach, and not be preachy. I do not necessarily want to be any of these women, but I do not want to throw rocks at them.

On a shallower note, Brooke Shields verges almost on the tranny look; she has all of this hair that does nothing to frame her face, which makes her features look harsh and her hair look fake. Cosmetically she needs to be softened. I adored the detail that her character does not try on shoes in the store because the clerks judge her for her long feet. It made for just a funny little moment that both humbled her character, and reminds the audience that fashion is not magic.

As a very, very shallow conclusion, Kirby (what an unfortunate name) is a wonderful piece of eye candy. Soulful eyes, disarming smile, beautiful body; I would totally have an affair with him. I am trying not to get attached; I don’t think he will stick around long. But I will thankfully enjoy the view while available.

The TV Girl