In This Section
TV Guide Spotlight
Also on TVGuide.com
|
« Tell Me You Love Me
Episode 5 Recap: "Obstacles"
It was difficult deciding whom to discuss first this week, as each couple gets deeper into their stuff. So as Dr. May says, "let's talk about what nobody wants to talk about."
I'm always wondering what Carolyn will do next, and insemination day kept me guessing. In spite of the fact that her chances of conception aren't confirmed to be at least 50 percent positive, she smiles nonstop and takes high highs to new heights. Her online search for indications of pregnancy creates psychosomatic symptoms, like sensitive breasts, fatigue and increased appetite. Not only did she surprise the food cart lady by actually ordering lunch, but she also surprised me by choosing her as the first person to announce that she's pregnant, hoping that saying it will make it real. She gets a congratulatory cookie.
Low lows return at home when dozens of pregnancy tests come up negative.
Palek's expression said a thousand words while watching a dad juggle his crying son, a cup of coffee and a cell phone.
But Palek already has parental issues, and keeping his father at a distance won't break their strong connection. His mother must see it, too. She calls Carolyn crazy (!) for thinking Palek sounds like his father on the phone. And her ex-husband built the house she is selling but doesn't ask the advice of her son, who also constructs and flips houses. Turning Palek's old bedroom into a garage may be practical, but contrasted with his memories of dear old dad attending ball games and an art opening when he was younger, mom comes up short in the caring department.
The writing on this show blows me away. It's thoughtful, very specific and never arbitrary. When Katie prominently trips at Dr. May's doorway, it signals her loss of control and that therapy is a stumbling block or an obstacle for getting closer to David. They resist Dr. May's recommendation for a lock on the bedroom door to give them private time, but David brings one home anyway.
I hadn't anticipated David pulling a Greta Garbo, "vonting to be alone" and leaving Katie asleep on the sofa. The biggest obstacle for intimacy is his locking the door and literally shutting her out of their personal space. He then lies, saying the door was stuck. Katie forces a passionate interlude but finds no joy as David has already pleasured himself.
Happy time in their bed is when David is reading a story to Josh, who lies between his parents, creating another obstacle by physically separating the married couple.
Conflicted Jamie tells Mason she is quitting sex but is hot for Nick and latches on to him. When he flip-flops, is he merely being cautious or playing a game? Nick says he won't meet for a drink, then does. And later he begins to leave her apartment to rest up for his softball game, then stays. (I should have known she'd show up at the playing field.) As Nick says, they may not be over their exes yet, but would they make a better match?
Random thoughts:
It's interesting to note that when David arrives home from the store, he bought Katie a can opener (to help feed and nourish) and he uses the door lock.
David appears to love Katie, but because of his sexual avoidance of her, can we consider he might be gay?
When Carolyn tells Palek she can't "do this" anymore, is she referring to getting pregnant, to their marriage or both?
Can we assume that Palek's father cheated on his mother, and is there a chance his name would happen to be John?
At the bar, Mason tells Jamie that men look at sports differently than they do women. Do they? Does Nick?
Though Nick was responsible enough to say he didn't have a condom, Jamie was responsible enough to have one.
Mason calls Jamie "retro" for wanting a committed relationship. Are committed relationships becoming less conventional?
For more Tell Me You Love Me, check out our Online Video Guide.
|
TVGuide Links:
|
|
|
|
Oct 7, 2007 11:41 PM
|
|
It saddens me that more people don't watch this show as it truely is great. Also, in case you haven't heard (as it wasn't reported on tvguide.com) Tell Me You Love Me has been picked up for a second season by HBO (yay!).
|
|
Oct 8, 2007 4:58 AM
|
|
It saddens me too that more aren't watching this show. I think it is so smartly written and honest. I do feel as if I am watching this unfold right in front of me. I relate so much with Katie and David, it is scary. And it is so frustrating to see them holding back when you can tell that all they want is to be loved and understood. I just don't understand at all why he didn't wake her up and just went in and locked the door to pleasure himself. And that is naive enough to believe that the lock got stuck was frustrating. And Jamie is about to drive me nuts with her incapability to be alone, she needs to learn what she wants before she goes jumping into another relationship...but I also realize that she is a very true portrayal of many girls in this country. Great episode, as usual!
|
|
Oct 9, 2007 8:48 AM
|
I think we'll find out that Jamie has compulsive behavior due to her upbringing. I thought it was peculiar when she said her parents took her to therapy the day after they saw her having sex with someone. We don't know who that someone is. (It could have been a classmate, a relative, a teacher...) It might be who she had sex with instead the fact that she had sex that alarmed her parents so much.
Though 14 might be a young age to start having sex, perhaps she was and is still looking to make an emotional connection that she never got from her family while growing up. Giving herself up with sex could be the only way she knows how to get love back and feel loved. And that may be the reason why she's back in therapy. Sound reasonable?
|
|
Oct 9, 2007 4:00 PM
|
I know I'm late to the party but I hope I can still way in!
I've never had time to stop by this blog but I love this show and never miss it.
Mario I think your question as to whether David is gay is an intriguing one. It never really occured to me but maybe he is?
I find the scenes with David and Katie the saddest. They clearly love each other but have the most immense intimacy issues of any contemporary couple on tv. I mean even Al and Peg Bundy went upstairs together on occasion. 
And the numerous excuses they come up with. They both use the children as shields to keep the walls up between them. Maybe it's too simplistic, but I find myself constantly encouraging Katie to go to bed in something other than a tshirt and some pajama pants. I can appreciate that maybe racy lingeree isn't her speed, but it seems to me if I had a husband that I wanted to be turned on by me, I would give him something to whet his whistle.
I appreciate that the level of issues they have most likely won't be solved with satin and lace, but if I were her I would at least like to be able to say I tried everything.
I'm really glad he decided to join her in therapy and they both at least seem to be trying. That's something at least.
I kept wondering why Palek and Carolyn hadn't turned to IVF before. Clearly she's completely obsessed with getting pregnant and her marriage is suffering because of it. I honestly don't think their marriage can sustain itself if they keep on their current path. I didn't realize that Palek might not be ready to have kids yet until I saw him in that store.
Has it been established what the age difference is between them? Carolyn seems older to me.
Great show and I'm happy to hear they'll be a second season.
|
|
Oct 12, 2007 4:47 PM
|
Hey KAD, it's never too late to join the party!
I thought I had to pose the possibility of David being gay since he avoids every chance he has to be with Katie sexually. I don't think it matters if she's wearing a t-shirt or not, he's totally avoiding getting close to her to the point of barricading her out of their bedroom. That wasn't unintentional. I don't know if David is gay, and he may not know either, but he has every opportunity to be with his wife and he's passing on it, which is the main reason they're in therapy.
|
|
Oct 13, 2007 7:21 PM
|
I don't think David is gay. Katie is the one who couldn't bring herself to touch herself when she had some alone time. To me, Katie has more of a hang-up with sex than David.
I thought the same thing about Palek...the look on his face in the store said it all.
I watched several episodes in a row (Thanks, OnDemand!) so I'm not sure if it was this episode or an earlier one. But I think Palek is most at risk of having an affair. I think he's growing tired of Carolyn not viewing him as a sexual being. So when the sales clerk in the store was flirting with him, I think he felt like a man instead of a sperm machine.
This is a great show; it's so relate-able.
|
|
Oct 28, 2007 3:04 PM
|
|
|
