'Swingtown' Lies and the lying liars

This week, Swingtown started off on the wrong foot, with the blond that gave Tom the eye last week telling him not to offend "the orientals". While it's nice that she was considering the feelings of the floor throws, she seemed less concerned about Trina's feelings. At least, that's how it seemed when Trina called and the perky Bobbi answered in place of her husband, who had "stepped out".

I thought Trina and Tom weren't supposed to get jealous, but as Trina hangs up and frowns wistfully at a photo, this whole swinger lifestyle seems too complicated and fraught with half-truths. And while we are speaking out half-truths, Bruce has apparently been coaching Melinda because she's "tough and smart". Susan adds "pretty" to the mix, but Bruce shrugs her off on the matter. They all complain about a heat wave, but despite that and not having a working AC Unit, Susan has decided to hang her new wall paper herself. A fool's errand!

While dropping off Bruce at the train station, they run into Janet and Roger. Janet invites Susan to go shopping with her to get Roger new shirts to celebrate his promotion. It seems nearly a week has gone by, and Roger still hasn't told his wife he was fired. So, no matter what your sexual stylings, it seems that House is right: Everybody lies.

In fact, there's so much lying and with-holding going on that it's enough to make one's head spin. After all, I thought this show was supposed to be light, summer fare. I thought Tom & Trina were supposed to have rules they each followed to avoid jealousy. I thought Susan & Bruce were supposed to be working out their communication and exploring their boundaries. I thought Janet & Roger were supposed to be tight-lipped and disapproving. Instead, up is down, and everyone is all angsty. Summer should have less angst!

With Trina & Tom, she's mad that he slept with Bobbi while in Tokyo. He argues that Bobbi was "on the list", whatever that means. He tells Trina she can't possibly be jealous of the blond stewardess and she tells him that he doesn't get to tell her how to feel. Score one point for Trina! However, Tom has invited the flight crews back to the house for a pool party without asking Trina if she was OK with it first. And Bobbi is there in a bikini. Score one for Tom!  As the episode progresses they lob subtle grenades at each other as Tom flirts with Bobbi and Trina hangs all over Rex.

They confront each other a few times, before going back to their flirting partners and none of it makes much sense to me. Largely because we still don't know what their rules are. Or what "the list" is. At one point, Trina mentions bringing Rex into the bedroom and Tom refuses, saying that he works with Rex. Trina asks why he is allowed to sleep with his coworkers and she isn't. I wonder that myself. He brings up Luke from last week and she tells him he could have stopped that at any time and it seems they are at an impasse of resentment.

Meanwhile, Bruce spends most of the episode hanging out with Miranda. They meet before the opening bell so he can give her pointers and then they meet again after closing, for a few drinks. Which is when the power goes out and the trains stop running. Though Susan offers to pick him up, he opts to wait it out, playing poker with Miranda and the guys. They end up closing the bar down, with Miranda propositioning him. He says "I have a wife" and she responds "I have an apartment".

Back at the homestead, Susan and Roger are spending the day together. First, he fixes the faulty AC unit, revealing that he was a pre-engineering student at UIC. When the power goes out, they run across the street to Tom & Trina's pool party. While cooling off, Roger tells Susan that he understands why she and Bruce stayed over July 4th and they talk about love and why he should tell Janet he lost his job. His hand lingers a bit long on her shoulder when he notices she's gotten a sunburn, but soon enough he's decided to go home and face the music.

Unfortunately, Janet's already heard the song. The department store called when she bounced a check. So she called the bank and found out the account couldn't cover her purchase. She then went to Roger's office, and found out he was fired from a secretary. She confronts him when he gets home and he apologizes. And then comes the moment that CBS played up to seem like Roger wanted to join in all the swinging - he tells Janet he wants more...needs more. Unfortunately, he's not talking about Susan. He's talking about not wanting to be an insurance salesman anymore. I call shenanigans!

In the end, neither Tom nor Trina sleep with Rex or Bobbi, though Rex and Bobbi sleep with everyone else in the basement. Trina asks Tom to go exclusive with her for awhile, and so the swingers in Swingtown decide to take a break. Bruce comes home and immediately jumps in the shower before going to bed - where he sleeps alone, while Susan sits in front of the AC Unit Roger fixed, a hand pressed to the shoulder where he touched her sunburn. Roger and Janet eat steaks cooked on the grill and when the lights come on, Janet turns them back off. Which is probably wise. Save on the electric bill and all.

Thankfully B.J., Rick and Sam remain at Summer camp. Laurie remains annoying and superior, while her relationship with her former teacher continues to mature in inappropriate ways. It seems that he wasn't completely honest with her, as he was offered a full position at the school. But despite it being his "dream job", he hasn't taken it yet. Perhaps because it would make him her teacher again?

The episode ends with Trina looking at some of the photos she snapped during the pool party and coming across one of Susan and Roger. She examines how they are looking at each other and then smirks. So, how long do you think they will drag it out until Roger and Susan do the deed? Will Janet explode? Will Tom & Trina loosen back up? What will happen when Susan finds out about Miranda?

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