Definitely
not one of my favorites, this episode suffers from a severe case of “Brought to
you by the letter ‘B’ for ‘breast milk.’”
Not that it’s bad of the show to have a storyline about nursing, but
we’re talking three significant story threads about nursing with a few smaller
points thrown in as well. When Jane’s
plot, the only part of the episode not
to revolve around breastfeeding, feels like a refreshing change of pace, you
know something’s off.
While out
with a pair of friends and their newborn, David and Bryan start to think about
breast milk. They can ask Goldie to pump
for the nutrients that will benefit their baby, but Bryan wants to find a male
equivalent for the bonding a mother experiences while breastfeeding her
child. Additionally, hearing that their
friend was kicked out of a restaurant for nursing her baby, Bryan takes it upon
himself to help her and a gaggle of other mothers stage an eye-catching protest
of the place. In the midst of all this
conversation, Shania finds out that Goldie didn’t breastfeed her and becomes
obsessed with the benefits she missed out on.
On a different note, Jane broaches the possibility of a relationship
with Bryce.
Holy
breastfeeding, Batman! I’ll start with
the easy target: the “Milk Man” product
Bryan discovers does look silly. While
it seems there are (a very few) similarly-themed items on the market, most of
them don’t look so much like a man strapping a pair of breasts to his
chest. I get that the visual is for
“comedy,” but you’d think that any product designed to encourage men to “nurse”
their child would be sensitive to the fact that a lot of men would be against
the idea just because of how the product looks.
As a result, the effect is dumb, not funny. (Side note:
not that there aren’t cisgender men who’d be comfortable wearing fake
breasts – I’m just thinking of the majority, and I’d imagine that a product
catering to men would mainly be thinking about the majority as well.)
And just
in general, I find it to be too much harping on the subject. I could’ve maybe gotten behind having both
the protest (which, for the most part, is fun, and it’s sweet that Bryan wants
to make the world a little more welcoming to nursing moms) and Bryan’s mission
to replicate that bonding/closeness if Shania and Goldie had a different plot,
but as it is, I’m on breast milk overload.
One bit I do enjoy however, is
the guys’ other friend (the husband) admitting to David how sick he is of
breasts and David’s wry response, “I’ve been telling you that for years.”
This is
another instance where Bryan is the one shouldering a lot of the episode’s
weaknesses (and again, it’s more the tripling- and quadrupling-down on the
subject than the subject itself.)
There’s just enough self-awareness, Bryan admitting that he knows it
sounds/looks silly but still pursuing it, that I think it’s probably salvaged
overall, though not by much. The
episode’s best moment for Andrew Rannells is a scene in which Bryan opens up to
David about his fears about bonding with their child, based on his past with
his mother. While, for my money, not as
memorable as his speech about his dad in “The XY Factor,” this is a pretty good
scene, too, and Rannells plays it for all it’s worth. Even when the show isn’t at its best, I’ll
appreciate it for recognizing that 1) Bryan can be both ridiculous and poignant
in the same episode and 2) given the opportunity to perform it, Rannells is
just as good as drama as he is at comedy.
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