The problem with a character like Xavier is that he has to be really carefully calibrated. He can be charmingly offbeat and committed to his eccentric worldview, but he still has to register as someone who can form a viable romantic relationship with Evie. Asking her to try cliff driving is fun and adventurous. Showing up at her workplace is thoughtless and arrogant.
It would be one thing if all he did in this episode was get a job at her company without consulting her, which is already showing a lack of awareness about how his actions affect her. But the concept that he’s there for one day and leads her colleagues into a strike is not really forgivable. He’s going to get her fired.
The episode’s plot thankfully doesn’t have Evie cave completely to his point of view in this case, as it seems like she might. And for the first time, she calls him out for being completely selfish. It’s possible this is the first step on the way to a more major falling out between them, which would make sense—eventually their conflicting ways of seeing the world are going to cause problems. The method in which they get there, however, is making it hard to root for them as a couple. It’s like he doesn’t recognize the concept of ambition just because Evie works for a mean boss. Moreover, he acts like he’s never worked before in his life, which we know isn’t true, and his behavior around the warehouse workers makes him seem deeply out of touch and entitled, making it even less likely that they’d follow him.
If he’d just brought in some wacky productivity updates, this plot might have worked better. He and Evie clearly have very different worldviews and philosophies about work. His constant disregard for how his actions affect her and unshakeable faith that he’s always right in this episode don’t make him a very good boyfriend, though. It’s easy to root for the guy who pushes her to broaden her horizons, but he’s approaching the point where if you were her friend, you would be telling her to break up with him. He’s a narcissist to the point where his redeeming qualities aren’t quite making up the deficit.
Hank and Deirdre, on the other hand, reach a breaking point. Sure, it’s unfair that Deirdre tries to make him spy on the workers. But Hank never even considers how what he’s doing is affecting his girlfriend. He just jumps right into the strike, which begins before anyone bothers to try to get Deirdre to reconsider the new quotas. By the end of the episode, it actually seems like Deirdre is better able to stand up for herself than Evie is. She’s at least aware that her boyfriend isn’t putting her needs first, or even trying to empathize with her position. It’s possibly a sign that the two of them should never have gotten involved while they worked together, but Deirdre’s speech out in the parking lot makes it clear that despite her quirks, she can be the most adult person on the show. Her job is hard, and making management decisions is hard. You don’t get to stop thinking about how the company is doing because your boyfriend wants extra days off for when he doesn’t feel like working.
Kareema, meanwhile, is making leaps and bounds in her personal life. It’s going to be really awkward to explain what happened to her brother, but she does something that’s radically at odds with her worldview because she’s ready to make a change in her life. Based on the little we know about her, in one episode, she took a bigger step than anyone else on the show has. If at first it seemed like she was resistant to change, she’s now showing that when it comes down to it, she’s willing to adapt to the concept that what she thought she wanted out of life isn’t true.
It’s a big move for her, and it doesn’t come about because someone else forced her into it. Maybe Evie will start to realize she doesn’t need Xavier to tell her when her life needs changing.
Stray observations
- No, seriously, that is a dumpable offense. She should dump Xavier for that nonsense.
- One more thing that didn’t totally hold water: Timothy just told Evie he doesn’t want to hang out with her anymore, but then as soon as Hank suggests a story at her office, he comes running without a second thought?
- “Does he know it’s me?” “No, I changed your contact name to a taco emoji.” “Oh, that’s good.” – Lessons in how to avoid network censors, courtesy of No Tomorrow.
- D.B. Cooper and Roswell are in fact stories that fell from the sky.
- “If the boy dog had been wearing pants, I think a lot of that trouble could have been avoided.”
- Yes, yes, we all laughed at your little CW in joke about iZombie. Missed opportunity to reference the fact that they’re both based in Seattle, though.
- I’m going to say my semester in college studying abroad in New Zealand (which it seems vital to mention here for reasons) does not make me an expert on this, but I’m not sure it’s OK for a group of random Americans to perform the haka. Deirdre starts to point out that it’s cultural appropriation, but is she wrong? It’s a Maori cultural event, not a labor chant. I don’t think it’s used in non-ceremonial purposes aside from the rugby team (which often has Maori members), but if there are any New Zealand experts in the crowd, feel free to weigh in.