This week One Big Happy introduced Lizzy’s long time crush Kate, played by the very crushables Erinn Hayes. After three months of working up the nerve to talk to her, Lizzy discovers that Kate is even more awkward than her. Both of these actresses are adorable and there’s plenty of potential here, but of course One Big Happy is way more focused on terrible sitcom shtick than any fun character-based stuff.
The first annoying set piece comes with everyone trying to figure out if Kate is even gay. Luke announces “let’s play everybody’s favorite game: gay or nay” and then they proceed to drag out tired cliches. Even by “tired cliches” standards, they’re really stretching here. They declare her “not gay” because of her princess sleeves and then “gay” because she’s wearing flannel. Those are both very common types of shirts. And a lot of people play soccer in high school. “Do you drive a Subaru Outback?” is a line of dialogue in this scene. This is embarrassing.
Later, there’s a scene stacked with bad physical comedy when Lizzy discovers that Kate is the nurse at her OGYN’s. Does she spill pee all over her? You bet. I have a feeling the words “does anyone have a funnier idea?” are not said a lot in the writers’ room for this show.
The episode also has casual bi erasure, with Kate assuring everyone she’s “totally gay” and Luke telling her that, despite Lizzy’s pregnancy, she’s definitely a “no wiener zone” (which is also cissexist).
The upside of this episode is that it left the relationship open-ended, which means there’s potential for a really fun relationship. Erinn Hayes and Elisha Cuthbert have nice chemistry and I think it could even be a good idea to make Kate a main character. But, potential aside, this episode itself was yet another flop.
