On set, Reed has to make sure that Bree knows he doesn’t have feelings for her–despite what he said when he called her last night. She tells him not to worry; she had fun last night, and with someone else. This someone else, Reed later learns, was Timberly. Reed immediately tells Clay, who thinks that Timberly is trying to stir up the same drama she used to on the reality show, “Fuck Buddy Mountain.” Gordon overhears their conversation, and the gossip travels to the writers’ room. All the talk about sex makes Hannah realize: She’s in her thirties, and she’s never come out to her father as gay. Meanwhile, Zack and Elaine have a lunch meeting to talk business. Zack, of course, quickly turns it into an opportunity to have fun. He talks the workaholic into touring the set with him. They try on costumes, steal bikes, and ride around while stirring up trouble. But running into Elaine’s boss stops them in their tracks. Elaine quickly apologizes for her actions, but it turns out that he’s glad to see her having fun. He says she works so much that she had the entire team worried about her. “See, it’s TV,” Zack says after they leave. “Things always work out.” Later, Zack tells her she’s fun to be with. Elaine says no one has ever told her that before. During a rehearsal, Reed and Clay notice that Bree freely decides to give Timberly one of her lines. Clay thinks this is typical Timberly–or rather, “Sin-berly,” as she was known on her reality show. Clay and Reed bring up Timberly’s reputation to Bree, who now wonders if Timberly has been manipulating her the whole time. She confronts Timberly, but this backfires when she shows Bree that the entire reality show was scripted. Bree is now angry with Reed and Clay for making her look like an idiot. She tells Reed that he needs to realize that they’re not a couple any longer. He can’t act like her protector. After much deliberation, Hannah finally comes out to Gordon. Not for his approval, she insists. It’s just that she thinks he should know. Surprisingly to Hannah, Gordon has always known. And anyway, she calls herself a “queer filmmaker” in her interviews. Hannah is just impressed that Gordon cared about her enough to follow her career.
The Episode Review
“Girlfriends” gives us a lot of sweet moments, perhaps promising some new beginnings between characters. We mostly see Hannah and Gordon in the midst of conflict–but this episode ending shows the potential for them to bond. And Zack and Elaine too might have more in common than they–or anybody–realized. Reboot often goes overboard on jokes about generational differences (they tend to be cheap shots). However, Bree’s misunderstandings about sexuality and labels invited just enough light roasting to be funny and not overplayed. But there was ripe conflict for Bree and Reed this episode that writers simply chose not to dig into. Reed is obviously still carrying feelings for Bree, and his intrusive actions should have resulted in more friction between the former couple. As it is, Reed only received gentle reprobation. There’s a lot more history to dig into between Judy Greer’s and Keegan-Michael Key’s characters. Here’s hoping Reboot won’t shy away from further tension.
