Remember coming home drunk only to find your parents both awake and watching Charlie Rose? That long, awkward, bee-line walk to the bedroom praying that your parents won't stop you to ask how the party was. Inevitably they would and you would have to keep your eyes from swimming, while simultaneously holding back the vomit, willing your body not to sweat, and standing perfectly still while you rambled on about the wholesome fun you had. If you think that's hard, try doing the exact opposite: be perfectly sober and attempt to believably act drunk as a skunk. That's what our performers have to do this week, which is arguably the greatest challenge of any actor. (that and kissing Jodie Foster). Who channeled their inner skunk, and who just stunk? Find out, after the jump.
If Yves is killed off I will F&^%ing kill myself.
Contrary to previous shows, the actors find their sides upon returning from a hard work out at the gym, instead of first thing in the morning. Confusion ensues as everyone tries to determine if they are supposed to perform the scene tonight, or tomorrow. Ashlee is sure that there is no way they are supposed to perform today, but to play it safe, they all pull trusty highlighters from their scabbards and get to studying. It's sheer madness as everyone is told to go on stage, only to be informed that they don't have to perform until the following day. A wise robot once said, "expect the unexpected" and these actors just got their first taste.
We see our brave band of thespians studying their scene the next day and dissecting the character like Dr Giggles with a bone saw. Each reads more into the scene entitled "Drunk As a Skunk." Quick sidenote: I always wondered where that phrase came from. Is it just because is rhymes? I've never actually seen a drunk skunk, all hunched over a bar, drinking a Bloody Mary. Nor have I seen a drunk skunk calling ex-girlfriends. "Hello mon petite cherie. I meeeeess you. I know you're just a cat that crawled under a fence, but I steel think we can make it work, my pet."
"You think you're better than me, mon cherie?"
Anyway, each actor determines that the character, ambiguously named Taylor, is drinking to numb the pain from a recent break-up, but I question their detective skills as that is written into the script. Justin digs a little deeper and infers that Taylor normally doesn't drink and is trying to prove that Taylor is fun. Taylor's a wild-man/woman. Taylor's a party boy/girl. Taylor will get wasted and hook up the football/cheerleading team/squad. That's how Taylor rolls. Jimena is scared since she had nightmares all night about being killed off the show, plus it doesn't help that she admits she doesn't know what the word "skunk" means.
The guest acting coach this episode is none other than that daytime-staple, soap-hopping, feather-boa-loving, once-upon-a-Lifetime-talk-show-hostess, supreme queen of sudsy guilty television, Linda Dano. Dano has won an Emmy (whatever, it's a daytime Emmy) for playing an alcoholic so she is there to lend them some valuable insight on portraying inebriated without making it cartoonish. While she's there, she should go ahead and give them the number of her plastic surgeon to prevent them from someday looking Janet Jackson cartoonish, because Dano looks flawless! She was no spring chicken when I used to watch her on Another World (don't judge me!) more than 20 years ago, and the woman actually looks younger than she did then. She's either maintaining her youth thanks to the best plastic surgeon in Hollywood, or she's bathing in the blood of the new ingénues on her show. Whatever it is, keep doing it, Linda. You work girl!
Too much plastic surgery makes you look constantly surprised. "Today's Thursday? Yesterday was just Wednesday! Amazing!"
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Comments (2)
This is a terrible thing to say but I told my husband, "They will probably accuse Ashlee of overacting in this scene but that is exactly how (my daughter) acts when she is drunk." I'm no actor (more of a drunk actually) so it seemed an obvious choice to have your hand hit those blinds on the door as you were reaching for the doorknob, but every actor had a nice smooth doorknob grab. Drunks don't.
Thanks for the recap, but I have to tell you it's "pray" not "prey."
1 of 2 | Posted by geewits | Posted on September 28, 2007 12:35 AM
Hey, thanks for the comment! I'm more of a drunk as well. And can you believe I actually had to Google "Pray" since I couldn't remember how to spell it? Seems as though all those years of Baptist bible camp were for nothing, except that's where I learned how to drink and french.
2 of 2 | Posted by fozziebare13 | Posted on September 28, 2007 8:10 AM