FX's Married - Episode 1.03 "The Getaway"
Russ and Lina go on a romantic getaway. Jess gets in trouble for sexting her neighbor.
FX sent out four episodes of Married before the series premiered earlier this month. Although "The Getaway" is airing third, it was suspiciously not one of the episodes immediately made available for pre-air coverage. That tells me a couple things. The network clearly believed in those four episodes to inform us of what Married is trying to do. But it also gives the hint that "The Getaway" simply isn't a good episode. Of course, it could have been delayed due to production issues but the former idea seems a bit more apparent."The Getaway" isn't as rough as the pilot but it still has plenty issues. That first scene in particular was pretty bad. Lina and Russ are in the doctor's office discussing his upcoming vasectomy. She is just cracking jokes about him not being to able to start a new family and just cutting his genitalia off. That leaves such a bad taste in my mouth and really set the stage for this episode poorly. Based on that, I was expecting another episode of Lina being the wet blanket to all of Russ' goofball sexual antics.
Fortunately, the rest of the episode did get better. Russ and Lina head to a romantic getaway before the big procedure and they actually seemed like a couple that somewhat enjoys being with the other. And yet, it's really telling that they only bring one condom with them. They figure they'll have each energy and desire for one big final act. They try doing that right away. Both of them are trying which is more than what previous episodes have done. It doesn't work out. And then, they spend time interacting with a younger couple - played by James Pumphrey and Krysta Rodriguez - in the room next to theirs. They get to bond over how naive those two are. They have their lives in front of them and are having wild and loud sex. But most importantly it leads to a scene where Lina understands the shortcomings Russ has caused and fights for him. She's not mad. She has come to expect stunts like convincing the guy to buy a vintage car instead of going to chef school. They've been through all of this before and seeing the young counterparts fighting allows them to have the wild and loud sex they came here for. Plus, they had enough energy and desire to go more than once.
Elsewhere, Jess gets her own little subplot with Shep, her older husband played by Paul Reiser, and her next door neighbor. It's very much another story about people who are married knowing what type of person they are married to. So many jokes have already been made about Shep's age and it turns out he's not as old as we all were expecting. He's only like 25 years her senior! But Jess is a wild card who's always getting into crazy situations. It's a horrible thing that she's sexting with her neighbor. It's an awesome but awkward sequence as the three are trying to sext with the missing husband. But more importantly, this story is showing that there is an honest connection between Jess and Shep. They both knew what they were getting into when they got married. So that means crazy situations like this will always be popping up. But both are fine with that - which is very pleasant to see right now.
Some more thoughts:
- "The Getaway" was written by Kevin Napier and directed by Jesse Peretz.
- Russ and Lina's kids are a big deal when they plan this getaway. They get sent to Jess' house where they are just completely forgotten about as they deal with other stuff. The kids don't even appear at all.
- But then came that end scene where Lina was right back to mocking Russ and how he could never follow that no masturbation for 48 hours rule. Ugh.
