So, we're coming to the end of season one of The New Normal. And I'm going to freely admit that if it doesn't get a second season, my heart will break. Is it the best show ever to hit TV? No. Is it a really strong first season of a show? Given that only 2 episodes have actually been bad, I'm going to say yes.
Last night's episode was wonderful. Not the best of the series, but if they can just lock onto that tone as their target, I think they can win over the audience.
We start with David and Bryan and Goldie at the doctor's office, doing another check-up on the baby. Bryan couldn't be less interested in the details. He doesn't even crack up when the doctor makes a funny about the baby saying "hail Satan!"
Bryan is trusting all the messy stuff to David—after all, vaginas are involved and that's just not right. David reminds them that this is a partnership and so he will no longer be doing the heavy lifting in the medical department.
Well, this inspires Bryan into looking into this whole birth process, which leads him down the primrose path of "alternative birthing methods." David dismisses that whole idea out of hand, but when Bryan pushes back, David gives in.
This is the problem with Bryan getting "involved." He can't get involved without taking over.
Now that her womb is about to be vacated, Goldie is ready to start looking to her future. She needs to find retail space for her growing clothes business. To that end, she goes to Bryce to get help because she feels Nana will just talk her out of it. Goldie has come such a long way this season.
I will say, I have no opinion on alternative birthing procedures in general, but I had a small problem with the idea that Bryan seemed ready and able to sign Goldie up for these procedures without talking to her. It's their baby, but it's her body. But there's only so much one can do in seventeen minutes.
Bryan faints dead way at the sight of a vagina. Granted, a baby was coming out of it. The poor dear was simply not prepared for that sight. But then, who is?
Speaking of not prepared, it's looking like Rocky wasn't really prepared for the whole working-mother gig. She's completely overwhelmed and has to be rescued by Shania. That sets off her insecurities, which take the form of her parents (also played by Nene Leakes). How awesome is it that Rocky and her adoption storyline haven't been forgotten?
It looks like Bryan is going to have to stay out of the delivery room for fear of distracting the doctors with his fainting. That is until he talks to Bryce, who bucks him up and tells him to not miss it.
This leads to one of the greatest moment of the episode—maybe of the series to date. When David ends up having to deliver the baby of one of the alternative-birthing methods group, he needs a hand. Bryan leaps in, without hesitation. He is, as user Ulysses calls him, a nelly queen. He's prissy and very Hollywood, but there is a strength in him that I wish so badly more people would see.
Rocky's insecurities are laid to rest by Shania, who tells her that no matter how much Nicky may like Shania, at the end of the day Rocky is her mom.
The episode wraps up with Bryce showing Goldie her new retail space. It's beautiful seeing that even as Bryan and David's dream is about to become real, so too will hers.
