By Stacey Harrison
It almost seemed odd this being the season finale of Hung. Didn’t really feel like it had been building up to much. Not like True Blood or anything. But it does get down to some serious business in this last half-hour, starting off with Tanya absorbed in a copy of The Power of Positive Thinking. Her mellow is harshed by an infestation of flies in her home, an infestation she makes into a literary metaphor for her life turning in to dead meat. She’s so upset that she rushes out in the middle of the night to Ray’s tent and tells him she’s deathly afraid of being alone. Her boyfriend (Pierce — remember him?) is somewhere in Cuba and everyone in her life seems to be abandoning her. Thank God she has Ray. Tanya may not be the best pimp, but she’s an expert at laying on the guilt.
Ray assures her he’s not leaving her, but the next day he’s having a power lunch with Lenore, who points out all the rich, horny ladies sitting in the restaurant — women Lenore could set him up with to make a mint. Problem is, Lenore’s proposition is absolute: It’s either her or Tanya.
Ray is able to fend her off, but that all changes when he finds out he’s on the list — along with 70% off the other teachers in the district — to get the boot. Well, he’ll be able to reapply for his old job next year, at the same salary but with no benefits. Well, at least he’ll have that mysterious supply of honey he found in his walls at home. He starts rethinking things while out with the twins and their significant others (nice to see you again, Hammer) at a horror movie. Damon asks him if he’s getting fired, but Ray assures him everything will be OK. The conversation emboldens him to step out and call Lenore, putting his foot down and demanding that Tanya be part of their new arrangement. Damon also seems to be running his own game, stringing along the gay Goth kid who is fed up with their lack of intimacy. The guy storms off, and Damon gives dutiful chase but really only seems to be waiting for Darby to come and comfort him. He even pathetically asks her for a hug, and I do not wish to share what this scene feels like and where it might be heading, but you can probably guess. Yuck.
Lenore wastes no time trying to get Ray clients, talking up Jessica while their both getting some very intimate massages. She convinces her that she needs a professional to take care of her sex life so she doesn’t lose another marriage. If she only knew. Ronnie is getting up-close and personal with a new client who is apparently an old high-school chum. They hit it off, despite both of them being married, and are tickled that they’re both doctors (she’s a podiatrist). It’s just that she has this mole, and it’s in kind of a weird place. Like, right next to her underwear line. One of my favorite moments of the season is while Ronnie is down there checking it out, she asks him if he’s on Facebook.
Lenore and Tanya meet to discuss the new arrangement, which is another way of saying that Lenore blindsides T-Brain with the news that she’s joining the Happiness Consultant team. And that she doesn’t like the name. Tanya predictably freaks out, and Lenore lays it all on the line, telling her she either shares Ray or loses him altogether. So for the second time in one episode (but countless times during the show’s run) she storms off to Ray’s place, this time finding him in flagrante delicto with Mrs. Koontz, who very subtly had asked Ray to fill her honey jar. Ray eventually tells Tanya that he’s getting laid off and that while he loves Tanya’s soul, he needed a professional. Tanya seems to make peace with it enough to keep it together, but we’ll see how that works out next season. The show does end with Tanya back at her apartment, having upgraded with a copy of Women Who Run With the Wolves, which apparently has emboldened her enough to not run away from all those flies, but to smash them dead.
Before all that, though, was the season’s dramatic high point. Ray is at a bar meeting his first Lenore-sourced client, who is — of course — Jessica. Lenore described her as having a miserable life, incidentally. So while we’re all waiting for a hilarious moment when the ex-spouses meet and realize they are part of a transaction in the flash trade, the show goes somewhere drastically different. Ray spots Jessica in the lobby before he goes to the appointment and figures out she is his appointment. He calls her on the cell, but doesn’t really have much to say. What he comes up with is that he thinks she’s a good mom, and that he’s a good dad, and that they’ve come a long way since their divorce. It’s a nice moment, and afterward Ray cannot bring himself to knock on the door and let her know he is the man she’s supposed to meet.
How will this change their relationship? Will Ray save this bit of information for when the next time Jessica makes him feel like an infantile failure, or have they truly turned a corner? Then again, would her knowing about Happiness Consultant be more damaging to him or her?
You were gone too soon, Hung. Thank goodness we have next season to look forward to.
BTW, Pardon me if any of this entry seems disjointed or wandering. I’m writing it while watching the series finale of King of the Hill. We’ll miss you, Hank.