And I'm actually pretty excited, cause Meathead Joey's coming home! That dumb lug cracks me up. Blondie and Goody Sarah are also really excited to see him, and as soon as he's back in the hallowed temporary fencing surrounding the Real World house, they jump all over him. Meat's decked out like an extra from the Sopranos, by the way - tight, white wifebeater with a ton of man cleavage, and a colorful warmup suit. If only there were rehab for fashion. He's so happy to be back, and he reports that rehab was "exhilarating and uplifting". Yeah, the first time's always fun. Too bad it never sticks.
Sober people don't wear sideways caps over bandanas. You'll learn.
Dolt's "pumped for the J to the O to the E!" he tells us. Yay! Where are your pom poms? And to prove his pumped-ness, he follows Meathead into the bedroom to tell him how excited he is to do all the fun, non-alcoholic stuff they talked about...after he's done getting plastered and then scraping himself off the gutter outside the house, that is. That's right, Meat has very inconsiderately chosen to return from rehab on the same day that Dolt's pals are visiting from Ohio. Ugh, more than one Dolt is too much to bear.
Oh, no prob, Meat insists as he unpacks his bipolar meds. Oh my. A gift bag of meds and off you go to the Real World house. Well done, Dr. Drew. This should work out just fine. Dolt feels bad about being stuck in the middle, between his friends who need him to take him to all the cool tourist clubs, and his roomie in recovery.
That night, it's improv night, but Meat's too busy sulking around the kitchen to go. "Oh man...if I had known, I would have napped earlier," is his lame excuse. Blondie informs us that while they intend to curb their drinking around Meat, they don't plan to curb the partying in general.
Now it's Brianna The Stripper's turn to console Meathead. She realizes that it's going to be hard for him to adjust - he's been gone for thirty days, and that's a long time to be gone from the house. She's sympathetic, but only for a second, and then it's time for a wild night out improving. Prety Greg seems sympathetic too, but again, not enough to keep him in. And as for Dolt, his brilliant advice is to "hit the sauna, and sweat it out". Just sweat out the alcoholism. It's easy!
Get close enough to the sauna that it disintegrates that bandana. Good bond. Lata sucka!
"Bye, we love you!" yells Blondie as insincerely as humanly possible. Then Rick James runs by, "Goin' to improv!" he yells, as he passes Meat by. Was this staged? It's so sad. Complete with gloomy background music and all. Meat reunites with the punching bag, his only friend. He says he feels weird - it's good to be back, but it's overwhelming. Poor Meat. They could have at least had a welcome home potluck dinner.
Over at the improv theater, it's not all fun and games - seems like Stripper, Goody and Prety are feeling a little guilt. Prety points out that it must have been hard to leave the rehab, cause they were like a family...guess he missed the hundred times when Meathead called the Real Worlders his family. Stripper laments that she wished there was something more she could do. Well how about not abandoning him on his first night back and sober? Just a thought. Just a wild, out-there thought.
Back at the house, Meat's on the phone with Shannon, a friend from rehab. She asks how it is back in the house, and he says it kind of sucks. He's looking at things differently, and he's realizing that "this town" doesn't care about anybody. I'm guessing he means "this town" as a euphemism for his roommates. I feel for the guy even more, but the sad fact of life is that very few people ever really give a shit and the sooner you figure it out and stop expecting things from everyone, the better off you'll be.
Shannon tells him to give it a little time but Meat feels like he has no one to talk to him and comfort him. Rehab was the first time since he was sixteen that he was sober for twenty-eight days, and he feels like he found himself. Then he starts sobbing. He looks so small and helpless next to the enormous telephone receiver. Meat needs a hug.
Well, you could invite him to make out in the hot tub.
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Comments (17)
ChickBomb, once again I thought you gave up on this season, although I still think this is one of favorite seasons in a long time. I was even going to comment on those Improv clips you guys put up, but I didn't know what to say.
First, I get tired of the petty drunken fights too, but if that's all MTV wants to show us, then that's all their going to show us. Will even posted something saying that him and Greg were the only ones actually trying to do something with their careers, but MTV only shows a portion of this while focusing the majority of the show on drunken fights and everything else, so blame MTV for their poor editing job.
I'm glad Joey's back, but I said it before he should've just stayed in rehab instead of going back to that house, signing up to be on the Real World in Hollywood when you have problems with alcohol was not a smart thing to do on Joey's part. I feel sorry for him in a way, but he should've known better even if he was trying to be an actor.
Now onto Greg, I'm glad Greg is gone. I don't buy this whole Greg being mature thing, Greg is not mature, he just doesn't give a shit about anything and yet he's shocked when people don't give shit about him. The show might be a little less interesting without him, but Greg's personality, oh wait Greg doesn't have a personality, he's so lifeless. That's why I never understood why he was on this hsow, oh yeah for trying to break into the industry which was the whole point of this season, but MTV hardly shows that.
1 of 17 | Posted by bigjr6633 | Posted on June 9, 2008 6:21 PM
Chickbomb-
Fab recap as always! LOVE that you and Flippy went to the improve!
XO - SM
2 of 17 | Posted by sidmonster | Posted on June 9, 2008 7:37 PM
drinking beer out of the side of the can is called shottgunning..lol im a college kid, its my job to know this
and i know for a fact that they're bringing in a new roommate, someone from my hometown actually.
3 of 17 | Posted by stina | Posted on June 9, 2008 9:22 PM
Great recap Chick. I can't even bring myself to watch an entire episode. I applaude you for being able to rehash it all out for us. You are a good American! I'm with you though, the petty fighting, the drunk debauchery...it gets old. Makes me miss the days of cowboy John from RR LA or hot Neil from RR London or big gay Dan from RR Miami. Those where the glory days of RR. The last few seasons have been laughable.
4 of 17 | Posted by taters | Posted on June 10, 2008 6:53 AM
Sucks that Prety got sent home but he asked for it sadly. I understand that he was trying to start his career that would span longer than his time in the RW house but he should have been smart enough to handle his RW responsibilities first (in order to stay in the house) and work on his modeling on the side. Was he a t the RW awards? I don't remember. Anyways, as for Joey, I feel for the guy and I really think he should leave the RW if he really wants to stay sober although who knows what's waiting for him back home. Poor guy and the roomies are really being insensitive jackasses.
5 of 17 | Posted by MichyPR | Posted on June 10, 2008 8:19 AM
Agreed, taters. Cowboy Jon, crazy Irene from Seattle, David from New Orleans (come on be my baby tonight.....) those were the days.
But my fave season had to be Boston: Montana, Genesis, Jason, Kameelah, Syrus, and HOT Sean... oh, and Elka, that was a good one.
These clowns are hacks. But I'll keep watching, I grew up on this show. Thanks ChickBomb!
6 of 17 | Posted by MargotTenenbaum | Posted on June 10, 2008 8:39 AM
Wow now that Prety's gone I really don't want to watch the show anymore. Say what you want to say about him but he was damn sure entertaining.
The only light at the end of the tunnel..was that in the last season, the new roomate was worst than the old roomate. Especially since all the roomates try to get along and have this family atmosphere, they definately ain't gonna like some new blood comin in there.
Here's hopin for drama!
*Cheers*
7 of 17 | Posted by Silk City | Posted on June 10, 2008 8:42 AM
I'm interrupting the reading of my recap to provide you with the phraseology for the drinking beer out the side of the can that Dolt, et al were participating in:
It's called a shotgun.
What can I say? I went to college once. I was in a sorority. LOL!
Okay. Going to go read the rest of the recap now.
8 of 17 | Posted by jennm926 | Posted on June 10, 2008 11:38 AM
I really feel bad for Joey. I understand that it's unfair to ask them to stop partying and drinking, but they could at least put it on hold for a few days and especially not bring it back into the house right under Joey's nose.
I don't think I'll ever like Kim. CB, even though you met her and she seemed nice..I don't think she really is.
I don't know if anyone seen the RW Hollywood marathon they were playing a couple weekends ago. Svetlana and that one guy who usually hosts these things were playing the episodes and showing some clips they didn't show on air. There was one clip they showed, it was arond the time when Will was flirting with Sara. And Sara was talking to Kim about it like if it's right for her to be flirting with him. Kim starts asking Sara stuff like, is dating black guys okay to be doing in Arizona? Would her parents say anything if she were to date a black guy. And Sara seemed a little weired out by what Kim was asking and she was like, 'yeah it's fine....it's just that I have a boyfriend.' And Kim was saying, yeah i'll flirt with black guys but i don't think i'll ever date one.
I know Kim is ignorant but you still shouldn't be saying stuff like that especially when there are millions of people watching you. Then Svetlana and that other guy called Kim so she can explain herself. The only thing she explained was when she called Bri 'ghetto' She said she wasn't saying it like a racial thing...it's just what her and her friends say when someone is acting out.
oh please. I'm not quoting her word for word. But that was basically what she was saying. And Svetlana wasn't buying it. If you look on MTV's website they might have that clip.
9 of 17 | Posted by jozeyg | Posted on June 10, 2008 12:05 PM
Why is it unfair to ask them to stop partying and drinking? Would be unfair to ask a smoker not to smoke around someone dying of lung cancer? I understand the analogies aren't perfect, but addiction IS life threatening. Period. Joey bears responsibility for his past decisions and his decision to re-enter the Real World house. Still, not drinking around him or not letting him know when you will go out drinking or not being drunk around him is just basic human respect for another person's life threatening situation.
To continue drinking or any other drug use in this situation goes beyond selfish to the point of being a personality disorder. They're literally saying it's more important for them to drink than it is to keep Joey sober, even though they know that if Joey doesn't stay sober, it could result in his death. Of course, if these people were this selfish and egomaniacal in the first place, they wouldn't be cast on the Real World.
Notice I haven't even mentioned the fact that Joey is a diagnosed bipolar, which throws even more complications into the attempt to stay sober.
As human beings, the actions of the rest of the house are inexcusable. And don't even get me started about Stripper's claim that she needs to go out in order to "network", when she hasn't done a damn thing for her "career" since she got to L.A. Then again, neither has anybody else still on the show except for Will.
10 of 17 | Posted by Alafos | Posted on June 10, 2008 3:02 PM
I am all for Joey getting better, but this is not the place to do it. I thought that first night they needed to go to the Improv for work. Otherwise I am sure Goodie would not have come back. I will give him that one...I think it would have been nice if the roomies came back early. I think it is selfish of him to ask all of them to change their lifestyles. While I do feel horribly for him, it makes for really boring tv when I have to see him sulking around all day saying how unhappy he is. I really think he needs to go home.
11 of 17 | Posted by yankeesfan | Posted on June 10, 2008 3:35 PM
I'm shocked no one has commented on this yet, especially since Real World Boston was brought up. I don't know exactly when the rules changed, but I guess they have. Montona from Boston got fired for giving ALCOHOL to a kid. Greg gets fired for missing work. Now by all means, didn't like the guy, wished they would have evicted him, Puck style. But having to leave for missing a "class" rather than violating laws, including endangering a child... hmmm lil bit strange, no?
12 of 17 | Posted by bentley1101 | Posted on June 11, 2008 12:06 AM
Bentley1101:
the rules of being in the real world house include participating in the job... whether you like it or not. If you get fired from your job, you must leave the house (all the castmates know this-- it's not like a surprise)...
Greg didn't just "miss" a class. He missed a few, came to a few late or left early, and missed a performance. He showed little to no effort in attempting to participate and was warned plenty of times.
I'm personally glad the pompous asshole is gone. If he's enough of an idiot to fuck up on showing up to an easy job that's less than 20 hrs a week so that you can have all the other perks of being in the house, then he deserved it.
13 of 17 | Posted by hollagirl2 | Posted on June 11, 2008 9:52 AM
Also, back in the days of Montana getting the kiddos crunk, the rules of the house were less strict. There used to be no curfew or no cap on the amount of people allowed in the house. I think a lot of rules were placed when the chick that visited the San Diego house got rape-happy.
14 of 17 | Posted by sardini | Posted on June 11, 2008 1:07 PM
sardini: I'm glad that someone else knows about that SD rape thing. Everytime I bring it up my friends think I'm full of shit. I'm not full of shit, I just watch entirely too much TV.
Anyone else think Joey is headed home? I felt like the previews were hinting at it. I wanna know what kind of half-ass rehab let him out after 28 days. Anyone with that many problems should be in at least a 90 day program.
15 of 17 | Posted by HereKittyKitty | Posted on June 11, 2008 2:52 PM
I don't know if you watch the Real World dailies on Mtv.com, but they provide a little more insight on what's going on that we don't see because of editing.
Also, you can watch Kim's audition tape there. I've never been so repulsed. It was absolutely disgusting and she doesn't deserve an ounce of credibility. She was clearly picked for the sole reason that she is ignorant and offensive.
16 of 17 | Posted by missk | Posted on June 11, 2008 6:52 PM
I agree with those of you that said it would be nice if the roomies would have taken a couple of nights off of partying. But, Joey can't expect these people to give up this once in a lifetime opportunity that they were given, picked over thousands of people. Drinking and acting stupid has been a staple of RW for years and that's what most of the castmates are there for. When you are an addict, you can't expect all of the people around you to change, you have to change the people that you are around. Joey is not going to find sober people in that house.
17 of 17 | Posted by tammy | Posted on June 11, 2008 7:37 PM