Last week’s episode featured the clever parenting trick of using code words to deceive your children. This week, we see yet another childhood staple—kids plotting with one parent to deceive the other. It’s not as evil as it sounds—I’m talking about surprise birthday presents here, not anything with malicious intent.
Shane conspires with Paige’s son Jared to throw her a surprise birthday party. Shane does the planning; Jared uses the “let’s go to the Planet for french fries” ruse with Paige. (And no, Shane isn’t really Jared’s parent, but she’s dating his mom, so we’ll consider her in loco parentis for birthday purposes.) It’s sweet, though Paige’s naivité is a little unbelievable. Maybe it was just my family, but we used to do this sort of thing to each other all the time when I was growing up, and our plots had to get increasingly complex each year as suspicions grew. (Other than that, we were an honest, trusting family.)
I also have to comment on Paige’s easy acceptance of Jared’s request for french fries, after last week’s episode showed her allowing ice cream for breakfast. It was a special occasion then, too—but I’m hoping Jared’s eating lots of green and leafy vegetables at other times.
This coming Sunday is the season finale. I’m waiting to see if it shows Bette or Tina actually having to reschedule something in their lives because it’s the nanny’s night off.
Scribegrrrl at AfterEllen has the full recap.