Real World Austin: Danny Goes Home

Last time on The Real World Austin, Danny's mom died, and Danny blamed himself (it wasn't actually his fault or anything - he's just sensitive like that). On this week's episode, Danny flies home for the funeral, and the rest of the castmates stay in Austin and think about what life, death, family and love mean to tham. So, in short, this is the most emo reality show episode ever.

Back in Texas, Wes and Nehemiah eat burittos and talk about parents.  Nehemiah mentions that he's never met his dad, and that his mom is a life-long drug addict, currently in rehab. Wes gives him this crazy look, as if to say, "Oh shit, I forgot - you're a minority" - Wes has obviously never actually met anyone with a past anywhere near as "unfortunate" as this. This scene is fantastic, because with all of Wes' intolerable frat boy bravado, just that shot of the look he gives Nehemiah is enough to jab at how spoiled and sheltered and afraid of the world the guy actually is. He is, essentially, street-smarts wise, The Token Country Virgin.


Back in Danny's sad, snowy suburb of Boston, the poor guy is sitting in the back of the family car, crying. "I was drunk the night before," he blubbers. "I was too hungover" to call his mom the day she died. He's not doing well, and yet he keeps voice-overing about how he thinks he needs to stay in Mass and take care of his sisters, who were closer to his mom than he was. I think he's just too shattered to go back to that petri dish in Austin. I mean, seriously, what an oppressively social environment. I can't believe we haven't yet had a shot of Wes saying, "Dude, Danny just needs to go out and get drunk."

Meanwhile, The Girls are out eating and drinking martinis. Melinda isn't doing so well without Danny. "I'm not alright," she says.

We dispense with Mel's grief pretty quickly to get to this episode's subplot: Lacey's boyfriend is coming. He's been in a wheelchair since high school, and he can't have sex. Lacey's never had sex. Does that make them perfect for one another, or the saddest story you've ever heard? They've been dating three months and she thinks he's the love of her life. "I have no doubt," she says. Damn it. It's nice that the girl finally gets her own subplot, but it's just awful that once they finally get her to talk about her life, it's so freakin' sad.

Melinda gets an email from Danny, in which he says he can't imagine that it would be a very good idea for him to come back to the house. This just wrecks her. She goes straight to confessional. "I'm trying not to be selfish, but ... all I can think of is being with him."

One thing The Real World does really well is to cast for conflict. That's why that scene with Nehemiah and Wes was so great, and it's the culture clash stuff that's always most interesting. But one thing it *doesn't* do so well is to take the bi-products of conflict seriously. This episode is a stunning example of MTV's uncanny ability to flatten tragedies like heartbreak and death and permanent paralysis, and put them on roughly the same level as a bad hangover. Danny's going through probably the most profound crisis of his life - his mom is dead, he's blaming himself, he wants to "be a man" and stay with his family, but he's also just fallen in love with the hottest girl he's ever seen in his life, and she's begging him to come back to her - this is great, complicated, interesting stuff. Too bad it's treated as just another tableau to sell Xbox and denim ads around.

Back to Lacey's afterschool special romance. "This is the happiest I've seen Lacey," Rachel says. "Ever." "I'm a bad hostess," Lacey tells the crippled boyfriend whilst serving him a microwave pizza. Yes, yes you are honey, but we'll let that slide because your life is SO SAD. Lacey's boyfriend is an adorable emo boy, and they do look really happy together. Still, seeing what we've seen of Lacey - her need to micromanage, her cloying morality, her general stick-up-the-ass-ness - one wonders if she's hiding out in this relationship because she's afraid of being challenged, of being put in a situation that would make her lose even a touch of contol. When you're dating a guy in a wheelchair, the issue of power balance is just sort of naturally solved.

I'm not really sure why Danny let the camera crew follow him back to Sad Snowy Hollow, but at least it seems like they weren't THAT intrusive at the funeral, and the one "confessional" style shot Danny does whilst there almost looks like he set up the camera himself.

He says that he doesn't know what's best for him - he's torn between staying and going back. He calls the house and Melinda runs all the way across the house. Cut to a can of Diet Pepsi sitting by the phone - awesome moment for product placement, guys. "In my heart I don't think you're coming back," she weeps into the phone. She tries to talk him into it anyway.

Melinda is curled up in a chair, and Nehemiah comes over, and explains his own mom situation to her, ostensibly as a way of beating it into her tiny little love-sick brain just what a big deal it is to lose a family member that you have unresolved issues with. "My whole life, drugs were number one for her, and I came second," he tells her "The whole time I've been on this earth, I've never seen my mother sober. Ever."

Lacey says goodbye to her boyfriend at the airport. It's hard for me to even imagine how people could plan a "forever" together without sex entering into it, but Lacey is just so convinced that this is right for her. The thing is, she'll never cheat on the guy. She just doesn't have a streak of sex in her.

At the end of the episode, everyone's crying - Lacey in a cab, Mel in bed, Danny at home. Ten years ago, MTV would have had nothing to score to this scene to - thank god for emo, huh?

But apparently, by next week, everyone'll be fine - judging from scenesfromthenextepisode, it's going to go back to Wes and his booze and his penis. And that's probably the way it should be.