Truly, the last thing I want to do is like Two and a Half Men, the show is far too often below the belt for my taste. With that said, it seems like every couple episodes or so the writers get the formula right and a random episode of Two and a Half Men is really funny. “A Possum with Chemo” is one of those moments where the show really works.
Zoey (Sophie Winkleman) has tired of Walden’s (Ashton Kutcher) beard and hair and she’d like him to cut them. Walden’s resistance is bolstered by Alan (Jon Cryer) who councils him against letting a woman tell him what to do; letting women tell them what to do is for guys like Alan. On Walden and Zoey’s date to a fancy Italian restaurant, that Alan weasels his way in on, we encounter Lindsey (Courtney Thorne Smith) who’s dating a much younger man.
The key to the success of Two and a Half Men comes down to keeping things simple. After establishing two very simple stories we follow Alan giving Walden bad advice leading to him going back on his promise to cut his hair and the seeming miracle of Lindsey dumping her young boyfriend to get back with Alan.
Jon Cryer plays comic humiliation better than any actor on television. Cryer is so good in fact that I didn’t mind the four masturbation jokes before the first commercial break as they were inspired by Alan’s unique shamelessness. The lowbrow humor this week was really well integrated into the story which made it less intrusive and slightly less offensive and stupid.
I especially loved Lindsey’s crude reasons for getting back together with Alan. Tired of trying to keep herself put together at all times to keep her young boyfriend, Lindsey comes back to Alan. For Alan she no longer has to worry about makeup or the size of her ass or her farting because Alan’s not going anywhere; he literally can’t do any better.
If that’s not the perfect Alan storyline, tailor made to play to his brilliant humiliation while setting him up to screw things up again down the road, I don’t know what is. I’ve had a few Two and a Half Men fans tell me that they weren’t going to miss Charlie Sheen because Cryer was the true comic genius. I’m starting to see their point.
Ashton Kutcher has yet to show that he can carry his side of the show but he has his moments in “A Possum on Chemo.” Sophie Winkleman is bringing out the best in Ashton Kutcher and while the writers may still be struggling with what to do with Walden, Kutcher is beginning to make the best of the modest material he’s been given.
Random notes
- Did anyone think Zoey would stick around this long?
- Berta sighting this week as she revealed her past as a prison barber
- When CBS is making such sleazy jokes on 2 Broke Girls can anyone really argue with the Jake-pothead gags on Two and a Half Men?
- Someday I will writer a recap/review of Two and a Half Men that doesn’t mention or elude to Charlie Sheen, maybe. We’ll see.