Quick Take: Jersey Shore, “The Great Depression”
“It’s good to cry dog, know what I mean?” – Coach Situation to Ron
Review: Jersey Shore, “The Great Depression”
(S0221) Looking back at the wreckage and carnage of the Ron and Sammi relationship – not just from this past episode, but from all we’ve seen of this “classic” train wreck of a couple brought into the harsh light of this modern reality television age – I’m astonished all over again that Ron can say without a hint of irony: “I’m still shocked that Sammi is actually leaving.” This, after he ripped her possessions and furniture to shreds in a rage after she had the audacity to dance with another “gorilla juicehead” at Aztek. Of course, her actions were surgically targeted to push Ron’s rockhead buttons and prompt the mini-NORAD in his brain to go to DEFCON 1, and they were successful beyond belief. Which is all to say it’s clear to everyone in the audience and in the Jersey Shore house that these two need to stay broken up for good this time. But Ron seems to be the last to get the memo on this score.
And ditto to my astonishment that Ron is completely unaware of the extent that his cavalcade of drama with Sammi affects everyone else around him. He ends up getting upset and resentful and mistrustful of the fact that the girls removed Sammi’s personal belongings from Ron’s room, hoping that this will help him get over the breakup. Of course – in exactly the same way that the infamous Letter was mishandled – they should have sat Ron down to explain exactly what they were doing and what they were hoping to accomplish. Instead, the subterfuge fails miserably and Ron projects his resentment and pain over the breakup onto the ladies of the house. The road to hell is paved with good intentions, or some such cliché, I guess.
To Ron’s credit, he does later actually show a decent-ish side later on in giving Deena a pep talk of sorts. Deena feels lonely and picked on after absorbing the “hazing” and abuse from the rest of the house for so long (The Situation refers to her as a “slopappotamus” during an interview, for example). Overall this was the first week where I was actively looking for distraction from the Ron-Sammi carnival. Even with Sam out of the house (but perhaps not for good?) this “storyline” if it can be called such feels a little bit old and repetitive at this point.
However, the distractions we did get – “prank wars” between Pauly D and the girls, The Situation pulling a “robbery” on Pauly’s ex-girlfriend at the club, Snooki’s latest “smooshing” mission – weren’t all that intriguing either.
I think what I’m saying is – gasp – that I’m suffering through Jersey Shore fatigue for the first time?
More thoughts on this edition of Jersey Shore:
Video: Jersey Shore, “The Great Depression”
Check out a deleted scene from the episode, from MTV:
