The Book of Rannells: The New Normal: Season 1, Episode 3 – “Baby Clothes” (2012)

I love this episode.  It’s the first that really made me sit up and realize how great this show could be.  Though it’s not perfect, the A-plot really fires on all cylinders, and the actors do a great job with their character work (a few spoilers.)

Bryan is struggling to follow David’s edict not to buy any baby clothes until they’re “out of the woods” with initial tests on genetic disorders/abnormalities.  While David worries about their baby’s physical well-being, however, an encounter with a homophobe at an outlet store leaves Bryan shaken up, thinking about their child’s emotional well-being.  Meanwhile, Jane flips out when she catches 9-year-old Shania smooching with a classmate.

Once again, the main characters’ actions and reactions within the episode fit very well with who they’re established to be.  It totally makes sense that David’s anxieties about the baby’s health would keep him from settling in and feeling the joy of impending fatherhood, just like it’s definitely within Bryan’s wheelhouse to have no impulse control when it comes to seeing adorable baby clothes.  I don’t like the storyline with Jane and Shania as well, but they’re admittedly in character too; Jane’s over-the-top reaction is in keeping with her man-the-battle-stations personality.  (Although, while she has a point about kids needing to learn about sex early on, the episode features some annoying turn-arounds that sort of paper over her objectively-unacceptable reaction to the situation.)

What I love most of all is the scene at the outlet store and what follows from that.  You might initially think it would make more sense for the more masculine David to confront the guy who asks them “not to do that” (show affection) in “a family store,” but I love that it’s Bryan who doesn’t back down about it.  First, it shows that Bryan can be both feminine and strong, and second, I’m sure that Bryan has been encountering assholes like this for most of his life, while David might be more likely to get by unnoticed (when he’s not with Bryan, that is) and thus have less experience with handling it.

The fallout is excellent, too.  While David encourages Bryan to shrug it off, reminding him that there will always be bigots and assholes, Bryan points out that that’s precisely the problem:  they’re used to encountering intolerance, and he doesn’t want to ignore it or simply put up with it when he has a child who’s going to be on the receiving end of it due to who their parents are.  At times, it gets too close for comfort to the idea that LGBTQ folks should be blamed for not speaking up more (the blame is always on those who spew hate,) but it’s more about the complicated feelings of receiving this kind of abuse than anything, and it also gets into straight allies who slip back into a bystander role.

Side note:  I like that the guys consistently use “he or she” when referring to their babies.  It’s a nice bit of progressive language that the show takes care to use but doesn’t draw attention to.