Swingtown "Go Your Own Way" (2008)

While this episode was better than last week's we still seem to be in a holding pattern regarding most of the storyline aside from the parents. I'm sorry but I just don't find the kids that interesting. Laurie is a pretentious upstart who is an annoyance to both her family and the audience. The plot lone with her waiting out the clock before her and her teacher can get together is supposed to increase the anxiety factor of those watching but I have just been getting bored with both of them. Is it love or lust pushing them together because I don't see either one between them. I think it's supposed to be love for her and lust for him but you get no reading from the actor in this role. If that's the way it does play out that could lead to some interesting plot developments but as yet it's just taking up screen time. I realize the show isn't supposed to be all about sex but where's the summer fun the ads promised? I don't mind relationship drama in lieu of the sex but it has to be engaging and that is not what we're seeing here. To be perfectly honest I think the most intriguing couple with regards to their relationship is Tom and Trina. Swinging aside, the actors share a real chemistry and I like spending time examining their marital problems. They make for the most fun and captivating couple but we really only get to ever see them through everyone else's eyes.

Rounding out the Miller children is BJ who continues his own courtship with Samantha from next door. Samantha is probably the only child character that I like because her inner turmoil and emotional distress just outweigh anything any of the other characters do. She is an inherently sad character with her troubled relationship with her mother and warrants the audience's sympathy and I would like to see more of her story aside from her hanging out with BJ. She's an emotional powder keg and when she explodes I'm afraid for who will be in her way.

Finally we get to Susan and Bruce and their first real fight post-swinging excursion. I thought the additional layer of Susan abandoning her motherly duties (picking up Bruce, making meals, etc.) was an unneeded addition to the argument they had this episode. I think it should have focused on Susan's changing views and how that conflicts with Bruce, who is not used to his wife having opinions and voicing them so adamantly. To make it about how she isn't cooking and cleaning puts Bruce is a more negative light as he comes off as a chauvinistic man who wants his woman in her place. Maybe that's what the writers are going for but I think the struggle they are trying to show the audience is how their relationship is changing in the face of so many new experiences. To me that's more intriguing than domestic squabbles and better fulfills the premise of the show about changing lifestyles.

Janet and Roger are having their own awakening with Janet quickly trying to dismiss her actions at the cabin last week. This was the first episode where I didn't find the character annoying and instead she came off willing to make changes by even sitting through a viewing of Deep Throat. It was a nice touch that she was charmed by Harry Reems (Rick D. Wasserman) and able to overcome her prejudices because she liked him as a person. Of course in the end he's more than willing to invite Janet to the sexy after-party in the basement but Janet and Roger aren't ready for that yet. It was comical that their viewing of the movie turned them on enough to have sex when they got him in the middle of the kitchen and not on their assigned night. This may not seem like much but for Janet it's definitely a huge leap out of the normal and we can only expect more new experiences for the Thompsons as well.

Favorite moment: Tom and Trina's discussion involving their new situation. Trina points out the parallels to what is happening now with how her and Tom first got together. It's not trite because she is not accusing him of anything and at no time gives him grief that he went to a party while he was in Tokyo. She's conveying her real fears that they might grow apart which Tom assures her that it could never happen. I know we'd all like to believe but I don't think any couple will be immune to the troubles that are just over the horizon. The fact that Tom would rather spend alone time with Trina than head to basement for their weekly swinging session was a sweet moment in their relationship and cements them as my favorite couple of the series.