By Elaine B
Funny how you post a recipe (or write it on a wall) and women start commenting on it. Possibly, it’s in our genes. Men hunt. Women gather. Men bring home large hunks of meat. Women start up the fire. That didn’t even change after women realized they could “bring home the bacon, and fry it up in a pan and …” well, you know the rest of the line. Women, for the most part, are still the organizers of nearly all social events except their own surprise parties (and a smart hubby will consult his wife’s closest girlfriend to help organize the guest list), and if guys are lucky, their wives will let them in what they are doing during the upcoming weekend.
In last night’s episode of Swingtown, Roger tries to back out of Janet’s weekend plans to head up to Door County with Bruce and Susan. He’s trying to distance himself from them after hearing from Bruce about that night of passion with their new neighbors. Roger says he has the flu – which, of course, is actually heart sickness that his worshipped-from-afar Susan would crawl between the sheets with a sleaze like Tom – and Janet bought it.
Not wanting to spend the weekend alone, Susan and Bruce invite the Deckers to join them so that, as Susan says, “We can show them a good time.” Unfortunately, like a kid who has just been told he can stay home from school, Roger has a fabulous recovery as soon as the Millers leave, and Janet decides they need to head north.
Things are just getting interesting at the cabin (which is in either Austin or somewhere near L.A. but certainly not anywhere near the charming Door County) with the Deckers and Millers about to take a group shower, when Roger and Janet show up. It is an awkward moment as there are only two bedrooms, but Janet is not about to leave. Note that is it is a 4-hour drive from Chicago to Door County even at 1976 speed limits, and if the couple stays, they can have breakfast at The Cookery or brunch at the place where the goats graze on the roof (if they really were in Door County, that is), so they stay.
Roger and Susan head out to buy some whitefish (a local delicacy) while Tom proclaims to Janet, “wherever the party is, that’s where I’m at” as he shows off his charms and wood-splitting skills. He flirts and, without Roger nearby, Janet is almost smiling. She has also whipped up a batch of brownies, but just before they go into the oven, Trina adds about half an ounce of her own special ingredient – turning Janet’s fab recipe into Alice B. Toklas brownies.
(Note: Alice actually made a sort of uncooked fudge but, in the ’70s, most assumed the magic of cooking with pot came from heating it with something containing fat which was supposed to release the drug. I am not sure if this was correct but, like the notion that frozen yogurt would get you high, it was widely believed at the time. I am also not going to bother to re-create the recipe here as it is pretty easily tracked down on the web. The recipe looks like a knockout even without the magic ingredient – but then I used to love “stoned dates.”)
Dinner is a catfight waiting to happen until dessert. By then Roger has left the cabin and Susan goes out to talk to him. He confesses he knows what they did but will not tell Janet who could not take hearing the truth about a woman “she idolizes.” Inside things are going from bad to worse until Susan serves the dessert and things start to get really silly. To be fair, Trina confesses to spiking the recipe (besides, the cabin would have reeked of green stuff when the brownies were baking) and Janet decides to try one. Pretty soon, the four are skinny-dipping in a sorry-looking little pond that appears none too good for swimming (unlike Lake Michigan or Green Bay). Janet wakes up in the morning in bed with Trina and, it seems, not too sure how she got there (rest easy if you missed the episode, the girls and guys slept in different rooms).
The kids were all right in this episode, even though I am not sure who was supposed to be watching Ricky. Laurie bonds with Doug over an old movie (could they ever just bond via a real conversation?) and Samantha breaks into the Deckers’ house with B.J. and Ricky and hints that some really wild things go on there. B.J. says they are friends of his parents so they must be square. Sam gives him a knowing look and drops the subject. Ricky gets drunk. When he wakes in the morning, he is not sure where he is.
When his mom wakes at the cabin, she wonders where her clothes are. “You burned them,” Trina tells her. In the sober glare of daylight, Janet is not amused.
There were hints of where things are going. Trina will not be able to pleasure Tom in the cockpit (what a name, eh?) on the Miami run now that he is going to be on an overnight flight. She tells Janet and Susan that she is afraid she will be lonely. Janet tells her that her friends will be there for her – meaning they have bonded enough for Janet to use the f-word. But will Tom have any scruples when he finds another sexy stewardess and Trina isn’t around for a threesome? Will Roger ever confess how he feels about Susan? Will Janet develop a taste for Trina’s brownies? Will “Sex And The Suburbs” morph into “Desperate Housewives”? Can’t wait to see how this all plays out.