The new hour-long special of “Young Love” and “Mel and Joe’s Anniversary” introduces two new very likeable love interests. Lennox starts to like a boy she thought she hated, and Mel dates a man who could still be considered a boy. While the episodes are listed separately, they flowed very nicely as an hour special, so I’ll review them together.
When Mel holds a reception at the house for grant winners, she meets a surprising guest – George (Scott Michael Foster), a young, casual, goofy guy who doesn’t fit the “up and coming businessman” mold. She’s charmed by his interesting stories and laid-back attitude, then impulsively she lies and says she’s twenty-eight when she’s thirty-two. Joe tells her it’s not a good idea to date someone so young, and while his “advice” is supposed to seem like jealousy, I don’t see it at all as usual. But she does tell him the truth, and he is so crazy about her it doesn’t matter. However, she goes back and forth over the issue, then in the end she decides to just embrace the romance because she’s so happy.
Then, George throws a party at Mel’s house so all his buddies can meet his “girlfriend.” At the same time, Joe hits rock bottom after a business contact goes sour, and he finds out that his ex-wife Tiffany is using their anniversary restaurant reservation. During the party, Joe goes to see who the guy is, and Mel rushes from the party to stop him. They find that Tiffany is there with friends because she knew she would be sad that night, and was angry with Joe for not acknowledging their anniversary. This puts Mel in a rough spot since she was the one who was supposed to send her card. Tiffany rushes back after she reads Joe’s message in the card, and the episode ends with her and Joe passionately reuniting.
Meanwhile, Lennox wants to be chief editor of the school blog, and there’s only one obstacle in her way – Roman (Chris Brochu), a pretentious, arrogant candidate who drives her crazy. They constantly argue, and only have one day to each write an audition post for the supervisor, Mr. Shamtoub (Ronobir Lahiri). As it turns out, the teacher makes them co-editors to hopefully create ‘literary violence.’
Then, fury oh-so-predictably turns to passion when Lennox and Roman make out in the resource room. Mr. Shamtoub walks in, then demands one of them resign since he was counting on their animosity. Though Lennox and Roman are attracted to each other, they won’t give up being editor, so they resume their childish fighting for show…and continue their romance in secret.
Personally, I totally love both George and Roman. George and Mel have great chemistry, some cute banter, and they do seem good for one another. However, since Mel and Joe are “meant to be” (ugh), George will probably disappear at some point, maybe the season finale. Likewise, Roman and Lennox have fantastic chemistry because they’re so evenly matched. Hopefully he’ll be her “Harvey,” the guy who stays in her life throughout the series.
I’m starting to realize that I might not like Joe as a character. As I’ve said about a million times already, to me he and Mel have zero “romantic tension.” He seems like an older brother instead, someone who lives to tease her and tell her what to do at every opportunity. His personality isn’t even that interesting or complex. It’s hard to completely love a show when I don’t love one of the two main characters, but I’ll get over that – hopefully the actor just needs time to perfect the role.
Anyway, ABC Family seems to plan on airing two episodes at a time for a little while, so “Going the Distance?” and “All Politics Is Local” air next week, August 24th.
