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Lipstick Jungle Rundown: Episode 13, "La Vie en Pose"

BuzzSugar — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 15:30:06 -0800

Aw, you guys! I was doing OK with the (probably) final episode of Lipstick Jungle - until they went and hit me with a montage! Seeing the ladies in all their stages of friendship (happily toasting and tearfully consoling each other) made me realize just how much I'll miss this show.

But if it's gone, it went out with an episode that answered many of the questions I've had: Will Joe and Victory actually get married? Is Shane gone for good? To talk about it, just read more.

First of all, Victory's parents are adorable. And very Midwestern. And not used to Joe at all. At the same time, Joe isn't used to people being put off by his grand gestures. So he just keeps trying to wine and dine them with private visits to museums ("they're burning all these lights just for us?") and fancy dinners (but Victory's mom would rather eat her leftovers from the plane).
So it's all pretty much a disaster, to the point that Victory's dad won't give a toast at the engagement party and Joe suggests maybe just not getting married at all.
Nico, meanwhile, apparently spent New Year's Eve with Griffin - and, in typical Griffin fashion, he immediately wants her to sign a letter saying they have a relationship outside the office. I know he's a by-the-books guy, but that still seems a little sudden.
Shane's gone, and it seems to have made things better between him and Wendy. Maddie isn't seeing that, however, and so she acts out big time - even sneaking out to see that college guy she met at Victory's urging. Hee! Love Maddie.

This week's silly work plotline (Wendy wants the rights to a story, but Parador wants them too, and Griffin assumes Nico tipped Wendy off) mostly just serves as a way to get Nico over to Wendy's for one of the most honest conversations I've heard in the whole series: She admits she's been in free fall since Charles died.
It cracks me up that Dahlia and Sal are still together. I imagine the two just going around and stirring up trouble all over town.
The trouble she stirs up for Nico is that appearance on the Today show where the hosts just want to talk about her cougar tendencies. But Nico handles it with grace and says some sweet things about Kirby, including that the age gap that was supposed to divide them "gave us room to breathe." I loved the reaction shots of Griffin and Kirby both watching.
I did not, however, love Griffin's actual reaction. I mean, of course Nico could talk openly about Kirby - she'd had months to process the rise and fall of that relationship! She's been with Griffin what, a week?
Nothing like a toast to make me teary even before the montage.
Drunk Maddie's back! And she's mad because Wendy isn't being honest with her about splitting up with Shane. Except Wendy's totally not splitting up with Shane, a fact Maddie can only realize after puking into a trash can and then talking to her dad.
The second Victory told Wendy that Joe was in financial trouble, I knew that would come back to haunt her, and sure enough, Joe's silently livid and tells Victory some things have to be just between them.
But then! He tells Victory's mom to see if their hometown church can host their wedding!
Then Kirby shows up at Nico's, and he wants her, and they're maybe going to kiss, until Nico's cell phone rings - and it's Griffin. But she doesn't answer, either; we're just left with that moment.
And then: montage!

So, that's (most likely) it. Are you happy with the way things wrapped up? Which guy do you think Nico chooses? And which of the series' greatest moments did you wish had been in the montage?

Photos courtesy of NBC

Lipstick Jungle Rundown: Episode 12, "Lovers' Leaps"

BuzzSugar — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 12:30:23 -0800

On this week's ~~ad for Natasha Bedingfield's music~~ next-to-last episode of Lipstick Jungle, many of our characters go out on a limb for love - and none more so than Victory, who spends most of her time cooking up the perfect proposal for Joe. Wendy, meanwhile, drags Shane into counseling to talk about his desire to go on tour-slash-flee from his family, and Nico gets smooched in an elevator! Lots of stuff here with only one episode to go, so to talk about it, just read more.

First of all: Joe owns Victory's heart! Aw! While there's a part of me who just thinks he treats her like crap all the time and doesn't deserve to own her heart (case in point: stranding her alone with a bottle of champagne and the special proposal suit on a Friday night), I've started to find their love affair kind of sweet.
And proposing with a "Will You Marry Me" suit is totally adorable - and so much better than the Times Square jumbotron and whatever else she considered.
It's also interesting to see Joe so down on his luck and down on himself as a result. His whole identity is wrapped up in being Joe Bennett, Super Billionaire. But Victory just cares about the cupcake, and I think Joe finally realizes that.
Also, does anyone else think Victory's assistant would be best friends with Kenneth from 30 Rock? I cracked up at his handkerchief comment: "That's vulgar. I always keep it in my outside pocket, especially during flu season."

Meanwhile, Shane's still sneaking around and kind-of-maybe making plans to go on tour with Natasha Bedingfield. So of course Wendy finds out, flips because he kept it a secret, and drags him into an extremely ineffective marriage counseling session. Man, I've never seen two people who needed more to just sit down and talk to each other like adults.
Which they finally do! Hallelujah! After some false starts (including Wendy suggesting the whole family go out on tour, which Shane is almost stupidly resistant to), she realizes she should let him go. While I still think Shane was being a jerk for a few weeks and I really didn't want him to win this one, it's pretty clear their marriage will be better for it - as evidenced by that scene with the two of them in bed setting "ground rules."
Nico's whole plotline with the young firecracker of a web producer feels kind of silly, but it gets us to the real point: Griffin gets what he wants, and what he wants is to make out with Nico in an elevator!
He also wants to protect her, though, and that's an interesting position for Nico, who - if nothing else - does not believe she needs to be taken care of.
Which makes it all the more interesting when Kirby shows up and asks Nico to go to Aspen with him. As friends. Yeah, I bet they'll be "just friends" once they lay eyes on their romantic cabin in the snow.

So: One week to go! Will Nico choose Griffin or Kirby? Will Joe Bennett still find some way to ruin Victory's proposal? Will we ever get to see Shane in that ridiculous rockstar jacket? I guess it won't be long now till we know. NBC is billing the next episode as a "season finale" but in the event that Lipstick does go off the air for good, how do you hope it ends?

Photos courtesy of NBC

Lipstick Jungle Rundown: Episode 11, "Indecent Exposure"

BuzzSugar — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 10:32:27 -0800

This week's episode of Lipstick Jungle really made me sad that things aren't looking good for the show's future. It wasn't that the episode was so good on its own, necessarily - it just set into motion a lot of interesting stories, like Nico's maternal impulses and Wendy's faltering marriage, that I'm not sure we'll get to see through to the end. Ready to talk about it? Just read more.

First of all - this started bugging me last week, but when did Shane become so evil? Did I, like Wendy, just like him better when he was the slightly subservient househusband? He's being such a jerk these days! I get that he thinks it's time to focus on his career for a change, and I understand why he'd be a little surprised at not getting support from Wendy considering she's the one who pushed him to work. But still, read your son a bedtime story, OK?
Also, even though the writers don't seem to know what to do with characters in stable relationships, I think I liked it better when at least one marriage on the show was relatively happy.
And really - going on tour for months on end with Natasha Bedingfield and your teenage-ish manager who's kind of in love with you, without asking your wife? Who does that? Though Maddie's reaction is pretty fantastic: "Oh my gosh, she opened for Justin Timberlake. Do I get to meet him?"
Anyway, Nico's forging ahead with her motherhood plan, enlisting Wendy to help teach her how to give herself injections ("if you'd feel more comfortable, there's a cat hospital down the block") and feeling kind of miserable as the hormones make her hot and shaky. I was initially surprised Nico was going the baby route so quickly, but this story makes sense to me. She doesn't know what she wants, so she's just trying to keep her options open.

Despite the fact that we've hardly seen her design clothing, Victory is apparently branching out into home furnishings and pitches an ad with a naked woman lounging in some sheets. Great - except the woman is supposed to be Victory. She freaks out a little, first taking the moral stance ("why would I objectify myself just to sell bed linens?") and then the "I just . . . don't like nudity" stance. I love her friends pointing out all her nudity hangups, including that she never showers at the gym and wears a bathing suit in the sauna.
Maybe my favorite scene is Roy walking in on Victory as she's tentatively disrobing in the store and immediately babbling "I didn't see anything! Honestly!" He's adorable.
But this whole experience makes Victory think she needs to be bolder, so she hires Kirby for the photo shoot, has a drink, fumbles around with a cigarette, and eventually discovers that nudity is liberating.
So liberating that she shows up at Joe's place dressed like Audrey Hepburn! And makes martinis! And tells him she would have married him! And totally sleeps with him on his sheets made of clouds!
Meanwhile, Nico passes out in the office and Griffin takes her home, where he's surprisingly, adorably sweet. For all his cutthroat nonsense, he can be a pretty understanding person, and he tells Nico not to make the mistakes he did and commit only to work.
And Wendy tells Shane she'd like to see a marriage counselor, and he's all "yeah, sure" and then tells Josie he'll do the tour. Whatever, jerkface.

Do you think Victory will really propose to Joe? Can anyone help me see Shane's side of all this? And are Nico and Griffin getting all flirty? What did you think?

Photos courtesy of NBC

Lipstick Jungle Rundown: Episode 10, "Bye, Bye Baby"

BuzzSugar — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 14:44:28 -0800

On this week's Lipstick Jungle, Nico is loving her taste of motherhood, but Kirby is less convinced that he wants to be in a permanent state of child-rearing. Meanwhile, Victory has some tender moments with Maddie, and Shane keeps pressuring Wendy to consider having another kid. To chat about it, just read more.

So Nico is really loving her taste of motherhood ("I've never felt so necessary") and starts looking into what it would take to adopt Charlie permanently. But there are a couple of road blocks in the way: first, Kirby's less-than-thrilled response to being a temporary daddy, and second, the fact that Megan or her parents are way above Nico on the list of people with rights to Charlie, even though he was - as Nico points out - conceived during her marriage.
Also: Nico had a miscarriage, around the same time Wendy was pregnant with Taylor. So sad - and maybe sadder that she convinced herself to feel relieved afterwards because she knew Charles didn't want a baby with her. I'm surprised that she never told Wendy or Victory, but she's right: They probably would have made a big deal out of it, and (as we saw earlier this season with her secret family drama), Nico's probably the most private of the three.
So did I totally miss the part where Maddie goes to work for Victory? Cause I swear, the first I heard of it is when Maddie's suddenly assisting in the shop and flirting with the delivery boy.
But about that: I do think it's very sweet that Victory wants to help Maddie with her self-esteem, especially because a) she's adorable, and b) she does have quite an intense and gorgeous mother to contend with. But I'm kind of on Wendy's side here: Does helping a 15-year-old to make out with a college student (even if he is a freshman) have to be the way to do it? Man, I feel so old right now!

What was going on with Nico's boobs in this outfit?
Wendy's non-Maddie-related subplot seems like kind of an odd tangent (why do they keep introducing new characters for Wendy to clash with at work?), but I did crack up at the Pepper Gleason/"Hannah Banana" references - and at the shoplifting setup.
Also, I don't remember the copy shop girl looking so much like Claire Danes before.
It's also a good chance for Shane to nudge Wendy more about having more children, pointing out that she could just take Steven's money, not work on the movie, and maybe raise another kid in the process. Wendy's not buying it so far, though, saying she doesn't want to be "a stay-at-home anything."
Actually, I thought Shane was kind of a jerk all through this episode. Anyone else?
I physically cringed when Kirby referred to Charlie as "a favor" - even though, you know, he is. I think that's when I knew Nico and Kirby were done.
So sad to watch Megan's parents take Charlie away, while he's screaming and crying the whole time.
I really liked the "secret room" reveal of Kirby's message to Nico: He's not happy anymore. They have a big talk right after, and that's when they decide to split. It's sad, but they're just at such different places in their lives. I'm not convinced they won't be back together before the series ends, though.
And finally, I love Wendy's advice to Maddie: "Sweetheart, I promise you - you don't want to be the kind of person who peaks in the ninth grade."

Do you think Kirby and Nico are really through? And are you more annoyed with Shane or with Wendy? What will happen now with just three episodes to go?

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Lipstick Jungle Rundown: Episode Nine, "Thanksgiving"

BuzzSugar — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 11:30:53 -0800

With Thanksgiving fast approaching, the ladies of Lipstick Jungle whipped up their own feast on Friday night. Of course, like all family gatherings on TV, it was something of a disaster, with dead dogs, sobbing babies, and a wedding dress interfering with the calm Thanksgiving Wendy had planned. Want to chat about it? Just read more.

Ha, of course Wendy would be the one hosting the big Thanksgiving dinner. And, in an effort to be "greener," it's a locavore meal, where all ingredients must come from within 100 miles of NYC. Nice nod to NBC's green efforts there, but it was mostly funny as an avenue for the other characters to make disparaging jokes about it.
The first person making things harder for Wendy is her mom, who's back to make nasty comments about everything. I know a lot of you weren't thrilled with Mary Tyler Moore's first appearance on the show, but I could definitely see how someone like Wendy could be formed from her parenting style.
Meanwhile, Nico's holiday takes an unexpected turn when Megan shows up asking her to take Charlie for the day, which leads to one of my very favorite moments of the entire episode: Kirby's baby-calming dance:
Victory's planning to boycott Thanksgiving, so she's actually pretty excited when a man comes to her door (via Dahlia) looking for Victory to design a wedding dress for his wife-to-be. The story goes a little off the rails when the woman isn't a size two. There's a little dancing around the fact that the woman is plus-size and a lot of weird self-esteem-y comments. The whole thing just made me feel uncomfortable.
I actually think I would have been happier had it been evil Dahlia setting Victory up to fail - but apparently evil Dahlia is no more, thanks to some anger management classes at City College.
Also: The plus-size wedding dress Victory ends up designing? Ug-ly. I don't care how hard they worked to get that woman to believe in her inner beauty; the dress was fug.

In another strange plotline, Josie calls Shane in tears because her dog is dying. I thought this was a setup to lure him over to her apartment - and that works, I guess - but there also really is a dead dog. So Shane's stuck calling animal control while Josie watches football and takes off her clothing.
Then Shane misses most of Wendy's Thanksgiving because they get caught burying the dog in the park. Yeeah.
But back to storylines that make sense: Megan doesn't come back for Charlie and tells Nico she can't possibly raise this child. It's a little late for that kind of decision, really, but Nico starts to see the bright side: She's starting to feel a real connection with the baby. Kirby, on the other hand, thinks it was fun playing mommy and daddy - but only because they were playing.
Also, Maddie dreamily throwing herself at Kirby throughout Thanksgiving is just awesome.
Eventually, the life-changing duo of Dahlia and Victory show up at Wendy's, where they pour out Dahlia's coquitos and Dahlia flirts with Sal.
And! In the final minutes, Shane tells Wendy he wants to have another kid, which leaves her shell-shocked.

So! Nico might have a baby. Wendy also might have a baby. We've got two weeks now to contemplate what's going to happen to the ladies, so tell me: Where do you want the story to go next?

Photos courtesy of NBC

Lipstick Jungle Rundown: Episode Eight, "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Prada"

BuzzSugar — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 11:32:30 -0800

The latest episode of Lipstick Jungle left me feeling even more bummed about the show's apparent cancellation (which, incidentally, is being denied by its stars). There's just so much left to resolve! In this episode, Wendy, Nico, and Victory discover there's life beyond New York City, heading to a country retreat for a few days of relaxation. But tension between the three threatens their weekend of calm. Ready to chat about it? Just read more.

First of all: The best time for three friends to go on a retreat to a cozy, "no cell phones allowed" country spa is definitely not when they're already on the verge of a nasty fight. But that's exactly what happens when Wendy, Victory, and Nico take off for their trip. Obviously, any secret they were once keeping (Wendy's job interview, Joe's near-proposal) would come spilling out the second they were in an austere, secluded environment with no booze or chocolate.
That said, the scenes of them planning and packing for the weekend have some of the episode's best moments, like Victory saying she'd make her 1 p.m. margarita with two shots instead of three and Wendy insisting it's OK that she'd packed nearly as much as Victory had because she's taller.
So each of the ladies has a major decision to make once they reach the spa: Victory's wondering what she would have said if Joe had proposed; Wendy's trying to decide whether to take another studio job or remain independent; and Nico's finding herself drawn to the charms of the country and wonders if she should step back from city life.
It comes out rather quickly (after one shared piece of nasty faux chocolate) that Wendy and Nico knew Joe wanted to propose. Victory flips out, of course, and wonders why they always treat her like a child, but after a quick apology down at the juice bar, they're all friends again.

The scene on the patio with the angry meditators reminded me of the episode of Brothers and Sisters where Nora and her daughters get kicked out of the spa. Of course these three can't keep quiet!
All talking is cut short, though, when Kirby shows up with beer and he and Nico head out to a field for some sweet country sex. But things aren't all rosy, because when Nico hints that she likes the rural life, Kirby kind of says she's crazy.
Meanwhile, Victory realizes - after an almost-kiss from her masseuse - that she would have said yes if Joe had proposed. ("What do you wish you'd known at 25 that you know now?" "Don't kiss your contractor if you want Joe Bennett to call you back.")
The three take off early for the city ("there's leaving, and then there's fleeing") and everything falls apart on the drive back: Nico confronts Wendy about the job offer, and then there's possible roadkill, and then the car won't start. While they wait for a Joe Bennett rescue, Nico tells Wendy she's hurt that Wendy broke their deal to run their company together. But hey, Joe's on the way, so at least that will end well, right?
But when Joe arrives, he gives Victory the paperwork for her business and tells her he's not comfortable as a business owner or as a friend. And then he leaves! I mean, if I were Victory, I probably would have just yelled "I love you, Joe Bennett!" - but Victory settles for sobbing.
At least the episode ends on a cheery note, with the three friends "retoxing" on liquor pilfered from Joe's limo.

So, Joe's out of the picture, Wendy's not getting back into the studio game, and Kirby and Nico seem to be drifting apart - while she and Griffin are getting closer. With only five episodes to go, is there hope for a happy ending?

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Lipstick Jungle Rundown: Episode 7, "Let the Games Begin"

BuzzSugar — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 12:30:02 -0800

On this week's Lipstick Jungle, Kirby's mom (played by Rosanna Arquette) stops by to make things very, very awkward in Nico's cradle-robbing life. Wendy gets concerned that Shane wants to do some cradle-robbing of his own, and Joe Bennett is nowhere to be seen for a while after his big embarrassment last week, but his presence is very, very much felt. Want to talk about it? Just read more.

So, Kirby's mom is basically Bizarro Nico. Nico's worried about wearing a tight dress; Tina shows up with some major cleavage. They've got similar tastes in shoes, and they even went to the same Annie Lennox concert back in the day. So, Nico starts to wonder: Does Kirby just want to date a woman who's exactly like his mom?
And you know, if I were Kirby, I probably would have been freaked out, but he seems to love it, even prompting Nico to tell his mom about their visit to that weird strip-and-switch-clothes club. Ew!
Meanwhile, Wendy's worried that Shane is stumbling into an age-inappropriate love affair of his own when he goes and gets a manager, who happens to be young and hot. She gets Shane a job scoring an Irish movie, and that brings out two sides of Wendy that apparently go hand-in-hand: the overly enthusiastic producer who wants Shane watching Irish movies at all hours, and the paranoid wife who, incidentally, happens to be the only one in that marriage who's dipped a toe into infidelity so far.
That incident rears its head when Dennis comes over with a bottle of wine, a peace offering after that awkward kiss. Shane, naturally, suspects nothing and even invites Dennis to dinner.

If there's one thing we know about Wendy, it's that she has to tell the truth eventually, so she admits the kiss to Shane (though she makes it seem like it was all Dennis's fault, which is maybe not entirely how it happened, but you know, close enough). And he's angry, not about the kiss but about the lying. Why, he wondered, did Wendy not tell him immediately so they could laugh about it?
Joe Bennett, meanwhile, has been avoiding Victory ever since her show, not even helping her learn about tennis so she can make a good pitch to a star athlete who wants to design a collection. (On that note: Hey, Vic? It's called Google.)
I get that Joe's hurt about the Rodrigo thing, but honestly, did anyone else think he was being way too much of a jerk? Especially when if he'd bothered to talk to Victory - or Nico, or anyone - he'd have known the Rodrigo thing was over. And setting Victory up to fail in front of the potential client made me want to punch him. Dude: You never asked her to marry you.
Which is basically what his assistant discovers when she shows up at Victory's and accidentally spills about the ring. Whoops.
Meanwhile, to one-up Tina, Nico asks Kirby to move in - but Kirby's not sure she means it and asks her if she would have gone back to him had Charles not died. I'm kind of with Nico that it's an unfair question, especially because Nico only discovered the extent of Charles's cheating after his death. But Kirby also wants to know that Nico chose him.

Are Nico and Kirby headed for some serious trouble? Are Wendy and Shane the most well-adjusted married couple ever? And is Joe actually going to try to get a refund on that Cartier ring?

Photos courtesy of NBC

Lipstick Jungle Rundown: Episode Six, "The Lyin', The B*tch, and The Wardrobe"

BuzzSugar — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 11:30:37 -0800

The latest episode of Lipstick Jungle (and first on Fridays, so here it is if you missed it) brings our friends together for the big opening of Victory's store - which, naturally, threatens to become a disaster. Meanwhile, Wendy starts figuring out her post-Parador plans and Nico gets babies on the brain. To talk about it, just read more.

Well, I think it's pretty clear who "the b*tch" of the episode title is. I never warmed up to Dahlia, and I won't miss her, but her deviousness is impressive. Loved her myriad attempts to ruin Victory's show: having only part of the set delivered, blackmailing the models, sending over press kits for Victory Fork.
On that note: I know I once said I'd recast Lindsay Price if I could, but I'm enjoying her work as Victory this season. It helps that the writing of her stories has improved, but I'm also getting into her ditzy-but-ruthless-when-it-counts style. I'm sorry, Lindsay.
So much good Victory and Joe stuff in this episode! Joe decides to help Victory by pitching a story about himself to Nico; Nico suggests maybe he try just dealing with Victory like a normal person; he heads to a ring store to buy a massive rock.
Too bad Victory has another knight in shining toolbelt: Rodrigo builds her a new set, and when he gets Victory's special thanks at the end of the show, Joe flees, ring box and all.
But things aren't destined to be with Rodrigo, either, because even while tipsy, Victory realizes that her socialite life will always be a problem for him. Wonder if Joe's surveillance cameras picked up that exchange?

What did you think of Victory's clothes? I liked that one purple number, but the wedding dress she so artfully saved with a glass of wine and a paintbrush was just a bit . . . much.
Meanwhile, Kirby embarrasses Nico by working at Victory's show. Not exactly the night she had in mind. Finally, he confesses that the photo he sold was to a tabloid and admits that since he's worked all his life, it's going to take a while to get used to having someone around to make his life easy.
The state of their relationship is extra-interesting at the moment because Nico's starting to think about having a baby. When she runs into little Charlie on the street, it's like looking at the kid she never had. Megan's suspicious of Nico's generous behavior, but I think Nico's intentions are pure. A box full of memorabilia from Charles is only going to remind Nico of how unfulfilling her marriage was, but in Megan's hands, it can show her son that "his father was an impressive man."
Speaking of babies (heh), I loved watching Wendy's reaction to the junior executive at Parador. It doesn't help that she gives exactly the same feedback on Wendy's pitch that her teenage daughter had or that she uses words like "ginormous." She's, in Wendy's words, "a fetus in Ferragamos."
But now Wendy has a new passion project: the screenplay by the copy shop girl. Of course Wendy is starting her own production company; I'm surprised she didn't do that the instant she got fired.
Fun fact: Wendy got engaged with a plastic ring from a Coney Island vending machine. ("Shut up, it was romantic!" "Yeah, just because the claw didn't pick up a troll doll.")

Loving all the scenes with the three friends lately? Ready to meet Kirby's mom? And what does one do with a 14-carat diamond ring if not proposing with it?

Photos courtesy of NBC

Lipstick Jungle Rundown: Episode Five, "Scary, Scary Night!"

BuzzSugar — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 11:38:21 -0700

Questionable decisions abound on this week's Lipstick Jungle. Wendy's still struggling with how to be a stay-at-home mom (and not dealing with her frustrations in the most appropriate ways), Kirby goes to great lengths to prove to Nico he can pay for some stuff, and Victory . . . well, she starts thinking about Joe Bennett again. Ready to talk about this episode? Just read more.

First of all: Wendy! What are you thinking? I said a while back that the writers didn't seem to know what to do with her because she's the only character in a stable marriage - but that was before they got her fired from her job, and anyway, it certainly doesn't mean I wanted her to go around kissing random guys!
That said, I wish we'd spent more time with Dennis earlier, to give the relationship a little more buildup than, "We're drunk, I'm bored, and my husband's away! Kissy!" I did think the two of them had chemistry - but Wendy has Shane! And she accidentally broke up Dennis's marriage even before the kissing!
Shane should have kissed her goodbye, though. Do you think Wendy will confess the kiss? If we've learned anything about her, it's that she's definitely an oversharer . . .

Meanwhile, Victory's dreams/hallucinations about Joe Bennett made me laugh, especially those shots of him repeatedly falling through the ice. And I love that those dreams became a little more urgent when she learns Joe really is planning to climb the Matterhorn. It actually leads to an interesting Joe moment: Since his father died at his age, and since Nico's husband died, Joe's starting to feel nervous about his own mortality and wants to do something big while he still can.
Um, remind me never to have Wendy and Nico analyze my dreams. Nico decided the Joe Bennett climbing dream was a metaphor for "the mountain of debt you owe him, the mountain of work you have to do, the mountain of pressure you're under," while Wendy just thought it was a sex dream.
Kirby, meanwhile, is starting to feel severely inferior to Nico since he can't afford their take-out, much less a trip to Aspen. Nico and Victory both tell him to let it go and let Nico pay, but he needs to save his masculinity, so he snaps a picture of a starlet drinking the dregs of the liquor at a ritzy Halloween party and sells it for paparazzi prices. Not exactly the artsy photographs he wants to be known for, I'm sure.
Also, if dude's so poor, why does he have an iPhone?
Back to Wendy for a second: She thought she had a way out of mommy hell, partnering up with Sal to start a production company together. But now, Sal's the new Wendy, and Wendy's still alone. I imagine this is going to be a long crawl back to professional satisfaction for her.
Speaking of professional satisfaction, Nico ends up getting drunk with the gross, sexist owner of a sports magazine Griffin's had his eyes on. Her bawdy language and copious shots eventually win him over, but Griffin backs away from the deal, saying that someone with those sorts of old-fashioned attitudes can't be good for business. You know, I actually kind of liked him there.

So, Wendy and Shane might be heading for trouble, Kirby's got a new career in the semi-illicit photo market, and Victory and Joe are going to try to make it as friends. Are any of these things good? Don't forget - the show moves to Fridays now, and you can find my recaps back here on Monday.

Photos courtesy of NBC

Lipstick Jungle Rundown: Episode Four, "The F-Word"

BuzzSugar — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 11:30:29 -0700

The particular "F-word" in the title of this Lipstick Jungle episode is "family." As in, the one you suddenly have an awful lot of free time to spend with after you're fired from your job. Or the one you might have to learn to love if you start dating one of its members. Or the one that can suddenly resurface and start wreaking havoc on your life. To talk about all the family matters on this week's episode, just read more.

So Wendy's fired, at home, and bored out of her mind. Oh, she's trying - making pancakes, setting up dentist appointments, watering plants. But inside, she's going nuts. It's not helping that Maddie is less than thrilled to have mom around ("Do me a favor and un-quit your job"). And it's also not helping that Wendy told her kids she quit, so every time she catches one of them (well, Maddie) in a lie, she feels like a hypocrite.
Oh yeah - and she also has to deal with Nico telling her that she's hurt all women: "You made an emotional decision at work that a man would never make." Ouch. Wendy still believes she did the compassionate thing (though she shouldn't have lied), but Nico thinks it gives executive women a bad name.

Not that Nico has a leg to stand on when it comes to emotional decisions, because our Nico Reilly is really Nico Pappademos from Queens, daughter of a former restaurant owner and sister of a small-time criminal. She's mostly left her family behind (her dad never seemed to love her; her brother stole from her), she ultimately comes through to bail her brother out of jail and set him up with a good lawyer. And she insists to Gordon that Bonfire not write a story about his crime (something-or-other about audiotapes of stockbrokers), because no way will she drag her family through that kind of mud.
Meanwhile, Victory does absolutely nothing to endear herself to Rodrigo's daughter, including showing up late for their first meeting and accidentally spoiling Charlotte's Web. Her efforts to impress later by inviting Rodrigo and Celia to a charity fundraiser are no better, because they get swept up in the crush of photographers (literally, in the case of poor Celia) while Victory has to go around being her fancy self. Rodrigo likes the Victory who cares about the world and likes sitting at home in sweats; he doesn't know what to do with the one in the glittery dresses who shows up in magazines. And he can't have just one of them.
Also, is Victory's publicist/"image consultant" just bad at her job? Why on earth would it be good for Victory to be the face of garbage in New York?
On a positive note, Nico and Kirby are publicly a couple, which so far seems not to be as awkward as either one of them had feared.
Wendy ultimately confesses her lie to her kids, and Maddie sweetly tells her mom she did the right thing letting Noah make his movie. Honestly, despite their ups and downs, the Healys must be the best-adjusted family in showbiz.

Are you surprised about Nico's background (and glad she's not just "making Greek babies and moussaka")? Is this the end for Victory and Rodrigo? Can I have the Healy family's guac recipe? Discuss. Also, if you loved the clothes, check them out on CelebStyle!

Photos courtesy of NBC