TV Ate My Wardrobe

Felicity, Episodes 2.6 & 2.7
“The Love Bug” & “Getting Lucky”
Original Air Dates: Nov. 7 & 14, 1999

Julie: These were a horny couple of episodes. In the first one, everyone in Felicity’s dorm was coming (pun intended) down with mono, AKA “the kissing disease.” (Or so they thought.) And in the second episode, Felicity is trying to psych herself up to bang David.

First of all, Felicity (with her new haircut) and David look so right together as a couple (even if they’re that boring couple you always “forget” to invite to your dinner parties). They almost kind of look alike. But they’re also so serious. I guess we don’t know that much about David as a person at this point, or about how is temperament is, but he seems very bookish and bland, just like Felicity. I think she needs to be with someone a little more fun-loving. Of course, it really doesn’t matter all that much how David is since he’s just a B-list guy, and she’ll probably be done with him in time for November sweeps.

(I also want to point out before I forget how weird it is that Noel thinks he now has one up on David because he (Noel) hasn’t slept with Felicity. I mean, I get what he’s saying about preserving the pre-sex mystery between him and Felicity, but David just got to have actual sex with her. In what world is that a win for Noel?)

So, yeah. These two episodes were all about trying to become more physically intimate with someone. In the first episode, Felicity is desperate for David to kiss her; and in the second, David is desperate to bone. In “The Love Bug,” Felicity and David’s lips are kept apart due to germs and David’s stand-offishness and Felicity’s heretofore undisclosed ex-relationship with Noel. In “Getting Lucky,” it’s a dog and Felicity’s lack of experience that keep her and David from sealing the deal.

There’s also more more more sex in the form of Ruby getting a diaphragm and Meghan hooking up with that dorky resident and Sean seeing Julie in a bra and Ben getting busy with Teri Polo.

What did you think about how DTF everyone on Felicity is all of a sudden?

Emma: Felicity is with David and Noel is seeing Ruby, but it’s still very much about Felicity and Noel. They’re very much friends again and yet there’s this whole other part as they’ve got undeniable chemistry and a connection. They clearly enjoying spending time with each other and yet they’re also both drawn to these other people. It’s clear to both David and Ruby that this is more than friendship, especially after the eyelash moment – it’s such a traditional move, but there is something so intimate about this gesture, or at least on TV there is.

Noel fucks up by saying Felicity’s name when he’s kissing Ruby; Ruby is of course embarrassed that she’s told Felicity things (including the birth control question and I love how dedicated this show is to mentioning safe sex in a not too stiff fashion, boom boom) and that Felicity has also divulged this info with Elena (and therefore Noel). This seems like a bad RA move. David’s feeling fragile about this whole thing and has trust issues, so this Noel clanger is a red flag. All it takes is a super germy kiss – it’s the flu, not mono – to convince him to give it another go. Ruby also gives Noel another chance, which ugh, because she is still super grating. It’s ok as she’s shooting a movie with Tom Cruise (what was this subplot?!) so she’ll be gone for a few episodes.

Noel’s whole reasoning about mystery and why he’s glad he never slept with Felicity induced a whole lot of eye rolling from me, because pretty much what?! It wreaks of putting Felicity up on a pedestal/trying to find something unique when really he should realise their uniqueness isn’t that they didn’t have sex, but how close they are. It’s shit like this that makes me edge towards Ben even if he’s off on his own storyline with older, married women.

I also agree with you about David as he’s sweet enough and that’s about it. There doesn’t seem to be much fire there, nor is there a crazy amount of chemistry. It might be Standards and Practices, but their several attempts at hooking up feature awkward kissing and lying on top of each other, which doesn’t look that great. At least Ben got to be part of a cliche counter sweep – also what is Teri Polo’s tattoo other than a very ’90s mistake? – and there was an element of passion.

I’m not sure how I feel about Elena’s psych 101’ing Felicity when it comes to sex and it kind of felt a bit like Julie shaming her last season. Yes Felicity is inexperienced, but her friends don’t have to talk to her like she’s completely naive. I’m glad Elena acknowledged that this was pretty shitty of her later on and I get why she thought she was being helpful, but good intentions don’t always end in good results. What did you think of Elena’s advice?

When it comes to the sudden horniness I wonder if it was a network note as the first 5 episodes are very much about fixing relationships and talking. This is part of why Felicity is so endearing, but it’s a college show so sex is expected.

Julie: The eyelash thing is funny. The husband and I were recently at a party and someone was OBVIOUSLY hitting on someone else there. Other people said, no way. Nothing was going on. But it SO WAS. It was obvious to most of us sitting there watching it play out. I’m sure Noel and Felicity thought they weren’t being flirty or inappropriate, but it was just that they couldn’t contain their secret lust for each other. When there’s an attraction, there’s an attraction, and shines like a spotlight on the people involved. Or maybe I’m just too busy paying attention to other people’s business and need to get my own self a life.

Noel saying Felicity’s name is a huge gaff. As much as I am on Team Felicity in all of this, I understand Ruby’s annoyance with all of it. Noel and Felicity have been carrying on this secret little relationship without Ruby knowing about it. They never told her the truth about their past, and now Noel is moaning Felicity’s name during their intimate moments. Ruby’s got beef.

Ah, the ’90s and their subtle safe sex messages. I liked Ruby asking for a diaphragm. That was unexpected. Keepin’ it fresh, Felicity.

The Ruby/Tom Cruise movie subplot is RIDICULOUS. Your question of “What is this subplot?” is dead on. What is it? Why is it? Maybe if we were able to see some of the shooting ourselves, or if the shoot itself became a subplot, it might be palatable, but right now it’s just so random. There had to have been a more logical way to get rid of Ruby for a few episodes. Death, for example.

Teri Polo’s tattoo only made me think of Ted Mosby, so I’m grateful for that. Ben gets to have all the good hooking up on this show. He’s had counter sex and a friend’s girlfriend showed up at his house naked and he’s been randomly kissed in a bar by said friend’s girlfriend. Felicity gets boring horizontal smooching with her lame boyfriend while a dog watches them. And Noel gets Ruby, who probably doesn’t even know what sex is, she’s so dim. And then there’s Sean and Elena, who get NOTHING.

As far as Elena goes, I wasn’t a big fan of her prude-shaming Felicity. The girl had never even had a boyfriend by the time she got to college. She had one night of art-fueled passion with that MTV veejay. Give the girl a break. Maybe she was avoiding sex with David because she really wasn’t ready (or because David is lame; either way, good excuses).

You know who else is not a good friend? Julie, for walking around in front of Sean in that bra.

This show is starting to get a little gimmicky. What did you think about the illness plot and the dreaded stray dog who touches all our lives?

Emma: When it comes to safe sex, this show is very keen to place the responsibility on both parties and this including checking dates on condoms (and Noel is super awkward doing this, because of course) and mentioning stats and the like. It’s a tad PSA-y, but it’s better to be like this than cavalier or focusing on just the pregnancy issue. I guess in a way it also reflects the period the writers grew up in when the HIV/AIDS was incredibly prevalent and so using condoms became way more than a way to stop pregnancy.

I had this discussion the other day off the back of a Normal Heart promo about how most of the early AIDS awareness stuff happened when we were too young to really understand, but the death of Freddie Mercury was our entry point into what this disease was capable of. This is a digression, but basically yay Felicity for not being afraid to talk about safe sex. And so far there’s been no pregnancy scares yet. As soon as I see someone throwing up randomly I’m gonna get mad.

Julie is so painfully oblivious to Sean’s feelings, but the dog really did her a favor by destroying yet another hideous pink shirt in her already extensive pink shirt collection. Sean is so distracted by Julie he can’t even offer Ben some very dumb advice which he normally jumps at. Julie keeps saying “I’m gonna have sex, Jack” and it’s practically killing Sean. It’s killing Julie too, but that’s because she can’t remember what movie it is from. This is why I’m thankful we have the internet in our pocket, even if it is ruining our memory retention skills. It is very satisfying when you finally do remember, minus the imdb crutch.

I have to agree with you about Lucky the dog and as a moving on device it came across as far too contrived. Felicity says Lucky had a profound effect on her and I think she’s giving the dog far too much credit as a this symbolic thing. Yes, Lucky is very cute and yes it’s a bummer when Felicity has to make the choice to put him down and this is never something I want to see. I can’t help but get frustrated at Felicity as he really is a distraction mechanism more than anything else. It’s also fortunate that Felicity has switched majors as she’s got more time for shenanigans, pre-med would not allow for hijinks like this.

In both of these episode Felicity turns into a bit of a nomad, first because Meghan’s mono (which is called glandular fever over here and I’m so glad I never had it) and then because of the dog. This puts her in close proximity to both Noel and David, upping the tension. Though there’s only really chemistry with Noel. Meanwhile Ben is very much out on a story island on his own and I hope he started to circle the orbit of the other guys relatively soon. Do you think Ben’s going to ditch Teri Polo and their work top sex now that he’s had an encounter with her husband?

Oh and don’t be judgy about things being high school Teri Polo, when you’re acting the most high school out of anyone.

How did you feel about the mono and dog of it all?

Julie: Of course Noel the ex-RA knows all about safe sex. He’s really the perfect character to deliver all this information, because he’s funny and awkward and would of course have all of the information at his fingertips. He’s also the kind of guy who I’d bet worries like crazy about pregnancy scares. He has too much to live for! Ben, on the other hand, he’s having sex on counters, so he’s definitely concerned about zero things.

Both of us grew up in the post-Gen X generation (the Catalano Generation). We were too young for all the awesomeness of the ’90s, but we’re not carefree Millenials, either. I know I grew up with a deep fear of dying from sex (also getting pregnant). I wonder how many kids of our generation have horrible sex issues as adults because of the incessant PSAs. Someone should make a show about that. Have they? I don’t know.

Speaking of issues, Teri Polo…I’m not sure what her angle is, but it’s a bad one. I suppose it’s the old “who knows what’s going on in anyone else’s relationship” thing, but her husband seems very sweet, remembering their anniversary and wanting to immortalize her horrible tramp stamp in frosting. Or maybe he really is a jerk. No one wants their tattoo mistake all spelled out in cake. Or maybe that’s the best, and most delicious, way to deal with one’s tattoo mistake. Now that Ben has met the guy, I’m sure (hoping) it will be harder (pun intended) for him to carry on with Teri Polo, but who knows. Sex is a hell of a drug.

I’m with you in wanting Ben to just get this over with and get back with the group, though, really, where is Ben’s place in the group now, which includes two ex-girlfriends and the guy his ex-girlfriend dumped for Ben? Not exactly a comfortable situation. But this is TV, and on TV any relationship can be mended. So I’m sure we’ll be seeing Ben and Felicity hooking up again, at least friendship wise.

As far as the dog thing goes, it just felt so lazy. Though it did provide concrete proof of Felicity’s sex issues. (Yes, Elena was mean in pointing them out, but she wasn’t wrong.) Felicity was definitely using the dog as an excuse to avoid boning David, which tells me she really didn’t want to bone him in the first place. Evidently that changed by the end of the episode, or she just talked herself into doing it. Who knows. Either way, I don’t see a lot of hope for her future with her art teacher’s son.

I’m a big fan of Julie and the random movie quote that has invaded her vernacular. I have a ton of those, so many that sometimes I don’t even realize they’re quotes anymore. Some of them even come from this short film I wrote and my friends filmed about ten years ago. That’s when you’ve reached a new low — quoting your own movie (Actually, I shoehorned one of these quotes into my YA novel manuscript. An Easter egg for all six people who saw, an love, Bloodnog).

What did we miss? Javier’s cat?

Emma: They should definitely make that show, as being caught between generations means we don’t get awful a Time think pieces, but we also miss out on self indulgence/narcissism and sometimes I want that; the Catalano generation should be a thing and I think to some extent it is. I was terrified of sex for both pregnancy and STD related reasons and here comes my first Mean Girls reference for Felicity (!) as it reminds me of the sex ed class stating that sex equals death.

Ben and Teri Polo is exactly what we’ve been talking about when it comes to this character as he’s always changing who he is and he’s doing it all over again. I’d like to see him grown a spine and dump her. I love that she has a Filofax as I remember thinking that having one of these meant you were a real adult. It’s just occurred to me that Filofax might not be a US thing, is this a day planner to you guys?

Yeah you’re right about the movie quote thing and sometimes they stick for random reasons – it’s because of Donnie Darko that “go suck a fuck” is my go to joke insult and I guess it sounds weird when you haven’t seen the movie – I also like that certain quotes aren’t restricted to one time or one group of friends. Julie has now passed this one on and it now means something in her past and present.

The tone has been a whole lot less angsty and even though there are arguments and the like it hasn’t felt all that heavy (dog putting down aside). Javier continues to be hilarious and I love how impartial he is and of course his cat looks like that and is called Mummy (it was Mummy, right?). Meghan continues to be hilarious both when she is sick and using Felicity’s Mac without asking first.

They’re leaning a lot towards the female friendships which I’m all for and it’s hilarious when Noel is excluded from the girl chat, but I do wonder if Noel has any kind of dude friends. If only he didn’t have such an issue with Ben and then that would solve Ben’s problem of being isolated in his married lady story. Bonus.

I really liked the scene when Felicity was trying to pick an outfit that was a 3 and Elena kinda lied about her super hot strapless top, but Noel’s slack jaw reaction revealed Elena’s white lie. On this occasion this is a perfectly acceptable use of Elena’s meddling. Of course Felicity changes into her pink sweater which I’m sure she was wearing in the previous episode.

How long do we give David? I’m going two more episodes tops.

Julie: That Mean Girls reference is dead on. Kids, gather ’round. Back in the ’90s all of us were told that you would die if you had sex. That’s actually what happened. Mean Girls doesn’t lie.

We do have a Filofax here, but I think it’s something different from a day planner. Like, a Filofax would sit on your desk; you wouldn’t carry it around with you. Wait. Nope. I just looked up what Filofax is and it’s totally a day planner. I was thinking of a Rolodex. This paragraph is useless.

But, yes, Ben should grow a spine and dump stupid Teri Polo and her Filofax. She is the worst and she made me just go off on a tangent about what a Filofax is.

One of my favorite quotes, a TV quote and not a movie one, is “There’s no Anderson” from Friends. You use it when you’re running your mouth off on a topic you know nothing about.

I think Javier’s cat was either “Mami” or “Mommy.” Probably “Mami,” since he’s Spanish.

David has been in how many so far? Three? If he signed on for a four-episode arc, his days are very numbered.

Anything else to add?

Emma: Teri Polo is good for something now that I know what a day planner really is. And I think you could be right about David.

One final quick thing and that’s Elena calling the dog the ‘r’ word and it was so weird to hear her using this term. It definitely dated the episode and now I’m wondering when this word stopped being something that was casually thrown around like this.

Julie: Oh my yes! I completely forgot about the ‘r’ word. That was jarring, and I’m surprised it was still “OK” to call someone (or something) that back in 1999.

Julie Hammerle is, according to Klout, an expert in the areas of both Morgan Freeman and glasses. Her writing can be found at chicagonow.com/hammervision and you can holler at her on Twitter as well.

Tags: 90s, Felicity, Felicity Porter, Keri Russell, Mean Girls, Teen TV, The Catalano Generation