Despite his bad year, Joe stubbornly goes to his college reunion, where everyone knows about his very public troubles. Since Mel also has a business dinner, Lennox and Ryder try to throw a party.
Former Student Body President, overachiever Joe is determined to keep his head held high when he goes to his college reunion. However, his former classmates can’t stop bringing up his misfortune since they read about it in the papers. This drives Joe to the open bar, and to leave a message on Mel’s cell phone begging her to save him from his misery. But then Joe makes a great connection with an old friend, but his chances of dating her are almost ruined when Mel bursts in, shouting to the whole room that she’s Joe’s girlfriend. Realizing what she’s done, Mel repairs the damage and gets the woman’s phone number.
While the adults are out of the house, Lennox persuades Ryder to use the money they were given for food to throw a party. However, their attempt at rebellion fails when no one except the pizza guy shows up. The mystery is solved after the kids realize that the tweet Lennox sent out had a critical typo – she forgot to include what time to arrive.
Oddly enough I don’t really have any strong positive or negative opinions on “Joe Versus the Reunion.” It’s just the typical reunion episode all sitcoms like this seemingly feel obligated to do. (The Nanny even had two of them, one with Fran’s ‘foot model reunion,’ and then the usual one for high school.) Joe’s old friend Isabel Ryan (Stephanie Lemelin) seems cool and I hope we see more of her. I also love seeing Lennox and Ryder work together, even though their story isn’t particularly exciting either. Lennox and Ryder are played by great actors and have fantastic brother-sister chemistry, so personally I’d prefer if they were given more screen time over Mel and Joe in the future. Unfortunately that most likely won’t happen given the show’s pretty straightforward title.
Though forgettable, “Joe Versus the Reunion” is another cute, quality episode. “Toledo’s Next Top Model” airs next week.
