A Glimpse At The Good Life

Sugar Rush Episode 1x09 - "Coming Of Age, Part I"

Episode Grade: A+


Previously: Nathan choked Stella with pudding and broke her rib, and Tom is reportedly still stalking Kim. No mention of the fact that she slept with him, though, oddly. You'd think that would count as a reasonably significant event.

KimVo's starting off in a good mood, which is usually a sure sign that things are going to turn to shit later. She's happy because she's apparently got Sugar out of her life, and she's "a 15 year old with no spots and a passable pair of tits." Kim dances in front of a mirror with no shirt on to demonstrate this last point. I kind of love this show, you know. From outside, we can hear Stella whinily yelling "Nathan! Nathan!". Kim exasperatedly shouts at her to shut up, to no avail.

In her room, Stella's lying in bed with a pained look, attempting to reach a glass of wine on the bedside table just out of her reach. How exactly did it get there? It certainly looks like Nathan deliberately set it up that way to torture her, but he comes running at her call and gives her the glass, though he's worried it's a bad idea for her to drink while she's on medication. Stella tells him she needs something to numb the pain, and, when he suggests calling the doctor, clarifies that she means "allegorical" pain from "being married to Cathy Bates". I'm fairly sure that would actually make it metaphorical pain, but whatever. Nathan stares, unbridled rage building in his eyes, as she continues to insult him, and after a while, he reaches boiling point and storms out, throwing his apron to the ground. Well, not to worry. Nathan's version of going Incredible Hulk will at the most result in some flies with a few minor injuries.

Kim's still dancing around shirtlessly when Nathan barges into her room. She quickly grabs a sweater to cover herself, and yells at him. Nathan apologises and tells her he needs her to look after Matt. Kim asks why Stella can't, and says she's going out. Nathan replies "Yeah, well, so am I." So, why can't Stella do it? Well, obviously, I know it's because she's a useless sack of shit. My point is, you didn't actually answer the question, Nathan. Anyway, something in the tone of his voice worries Kim, and she gives a slightly cracked-voiced "Dad?". Nathan tells her he can't go on, and apologises a few more times. I think apologies might be beating "spend time together as a family" in the "For Fuck's Sake Find Something Else To Say, Nathan" contest, but I haven't been keeping score. Nathan hugs Kim, says he'll see her soon and leaves her with the kicked puppy look that she does so well.

There's a few rather excellent shots of the beach from afar, with a tiny silhouette Kim (Well, I assume it's her. She's tiny, and silhouetted, so it's not exactly easy to tell.) She's sitting, facing away from solid ground, completely dwarfed by huge structures in the sea. And then we go to non-tiny, non-silhouetted Kim, crying alone in a seaside café. I think this is the same place Matt and Nathan were at in the second episode. Kim continues to cry, and it's heartbreaking, but then the camera pans over to show Hot Scot sitting at a near by table, so things are starting to look up (and not just because she's really hot.) She comes over to Kim, of course, and asks if she's alright. In spite of overwhelming evidence to the contrary, Kim claims to be fine. Hot Scot remembers Kim's name, introduces herself as Beth, and reminds Kim that they met last week at the GiD meeting. I really doubt that Kim needs prompting to remember that, Beth. I mean, seriously, look at yourself. She tells Kim she saw her come in looking upset. Kim again claims to be fine, even though she still hasn't actually stopped crying. Beth, who's been surreptitiously dragging out the chair opposite Kim throughout this conversation, now asks if she can sit down. Kim gives an affirmative and says "I'm really sorry". Beth's like, "You were crying when I came over here, obviously I don't have a problem with it." But, you know, in a much warmer, friendlier way. Slowly, Kim starts explaining her whole wretched family story (though we get a heavily edited version by use of quick flashbacks and such, so we don't have to hear her explain things we already know.) Kim concludes with "I'm a homophobic gay virgin desperate to fuck a girl who'll never fancy me." What with the no mention of it in the previouslies and now this, it seems Kim is pretending the Tom sex didn't actually happen, but also I think she probably says "gay virgin" as kind of a reflex by now. Or maybe she's just saying she's a gay virgin, not a gay virgin, if you follow. Beth asks what this girl's name is. Kim tells her, both "Sugar" and "Maria Sweet", which I had indeed forgotten was her real name, as I said I would, and adds "She's a total goddess. And a total bitch." Beth gives a "know the type" smile and nod. Kim gets a slight nerve attack and says "I can't believe I'm telling you all this." In response, Beth offers a cigarette. Kim jokes that she didn't think Christians did things like smoking, Beth replies "They're menthol", but holds off on the actual reason, because Kim's not quite primed for that yet. She's totally itching to say it though. Kim asks if she's ever "spent intimate time" with someone who didn't really know her, so it appears that perhaps she's not so in denial about the Tom thing now. "Torture," Beth replies. And Kim's back to divulging details of her sordid story, saying she tried everything; honesty, date rape ("But it's OK, I failed." Attempted murder, now honestly, what is that? Do they give a Nobel Prize for attempted chemistry?), shagging a bloke, "but my mum beat me to it." Well, first attempt, yes. She doesn't mention the other two. How strange. And, finally, the GiD meeting in attempt to cure herself, which obviously Beth knew about already. And Beth decides that now is the time to strike with the actual reason I mentioned earlier: She's not really religious, "unless you count getting off with my R.E. teacher, Sister Angela. I guess I just went along to the group to see who I could pull." Wham. Kim's eyes light up rather, and there's an awesome church choir "Hallelujah!" Hee! Beth asks if Kim wants coffee. She does, but for some reason the waitress totally ignores Beth, so Kim suggests going somewhere where waitresses actually do their job.

KimVo, who's been a lot quieter than usual so far, due to Kim actually talking to someone other than herself today, finds an opportunity to get a word in edgeways, informing us that since she met Beth in church, she'd assumed she must be uptight and religious. Kim and Beth are walking along the beach, all smiles, when there's a shouted "Kim!" from behind, and Tom comes running. Kim exasperatedly tells Beth to wait up while she deals with him, and apparently the "Thank you" and other clear suggestions that he totally knew it was a one time thing have been forgotten. It annoyed me at first that they seemed to be backtracking on his character development from last week, but... first thought on Kim's mind the morning after she kissed Sugar for the first time; "she had to feel the same". And it's been a whole week, apparently, and Tom's deluding himself a lot less than she was, considering the circumstances of that kiss. You can't go from butt-monkey to awesome instantaneously. And when you're this inexperienced, you can get incredibly stupid and egotistical about these things. Fucking teenagers, eh? So, Tom's all "I've been leaving thousands of messages!" and putting his arms around her and shit, while Beth looks on, rather uncomfortably, figuring out the parts that Kim neglected to mention. KimVo admits to herself that screwing your stalker kind of sends mixed messages. But Beth's given her a whole heaping bowl of self-belief, so no more of that. "I'm gay," she says simply. Tom's like "Say what?" and "Are you quite sure?" which is a little amusing. Kim says "I'm sorry," KimVo immediately denounces this, because "For the first time, I'm not sorry." Beth gives her a proud smile, and they walk away together, hand in hand, leaving Tom standing in devastation.

Kim sits on the beach, and Beth brings ice cream. Kim has a different topping to what she ordered, since the stall was out and Beth tells her "It's good to branch out occasionally." Yeah, I don't think she's really taking about the ice cream there, but, that's really subtle and awesome. Beth goes on that "Treacle, Candyfloss, whatever her name is" is really not worth all the torment Kim puts herself through, which Kim figured out for herself a couple of episodes ago, but as KimVo points out, it's good to get an outsider's perspective. Beth continues with the riffing on Sugar's nickname; "A short term fix. Sends your heart rate rocketing, then rots your teeth." There's a little ice cream flirting, and Beth says she can't believe Kim's been in Brighton for three months and only met one girl to be interested in. For some reason, Kim does not say something like "Two, actually" and then kiss her. Come on, Kim. Don't make me come over there. Beth continues that she neds to make the most of what Brighton is famous for, and then says "I bet you haven't even been for a swim yet." Kim's like "Are you serious?", so Beth takes her hand and says "I'll race you," and together, they run into the sea. That's not much of a race. There's some splashing water at each other and much laughter, and Beth starts calling "Save me! Save me!", but she's totally cracking up, so she makes a pretty unconvincing drowning victim. Kim grabs hold of her anyway, and there's the expected laughter dying down and staring into each other's eyes stuff, but still no kiss. Well, now you're just deliberately tormenting me.

In a public toilet somewhere, they've both shedded some outer layers, and are attempting to dry their hair under the hand driers, and finally, with no words, Beth walks over, brushes Kim's hair out of her face and kisses her. MAN did that take forever. And, hey, no camera spinning! My arbitrarily assigned significance is still holding up! I, for one, am surprised.

And now, in spite of all the Kim and Beth stuff being completely wonderful, here's my favourite scene of the episode. It totally makes up for all the first seven episodes of butt-monkey nonsense which, honestly, is a pretty impressive feat. Tom's lying in bed, because obviously, he's not feeling too great about what's happened, and, as well the pain of rejection, he's going to be thinking the ridiculous "I turned her gay" crap, no matter how stupid it is. One of the interchangable gay Daves comes in to tell him to come down for tea, sees that he's clearly upset about something and, because Tom can actually rely on his family, talks to him about it. "They're not still calling you names, are they? I can't bear the thought of you sufferring because of me and David." Tom quickly dismisses this; "I don't care about the names." Aww, man. Proud smile from Dave. And, as it turns out, Tom is actuallyy less of a fuck-up than Kim, so he just comes straight out and tells him; "I slept with Kim, and she's now got a girlfriend." Dave gives no reaction beyond a couple of "right"s and some slight eyebrow raising, and Tom continues that he thought he really liked her, that he loved her. Dave pulls him in for a hug, and says "Do you know how proud we are of you?" and Tom's a little embarrassed, but Dave continues telling him he's the bravest, fairest, most open-minded person he knows, and there are plenty of straight girls out there waiting for him, the problem is finding one good enough. It is, admittedly, veering into cliché a little here, but they sell it so damn well. It's beautiful. "in the mean time," Dave continues, "I wouldn't worry about having slept with a lesbian. Most striaght guys would consider that something of an achievement." And more hugging, and Tom tells him he loves him, and it's just wonderful. Why couldn't they have given him this kind of stuff earlier? Wait, remember the Darth Vader moment. It's probably for the best that they waited until he developed at least some passable acting skills.

And now we're back with Kim and Beth, walking along the pier, with creepy carnival music playing in the background. Seriously, is there anything creepier than carnival music? I don't think so. Why the hell do they attach that stuff to something for kids? Anyway, it's now Beth's turn to tell sordid life details; Her first relationship with a woman was a mess. "Older woman. Well, two years older." Which would have been a pretty significant amount at the time, though I've got no particular clue how old Beth is now. I'd hazard a guess at maybe a year or two older than Kim though. I can't really summarise Beth's story any better than her, so I'll just quote: "Totally gorgeous, but mad as a brush. Didn't know where I was with her. Mucked up school for me and everything. It was like my life just stopped. And, you know what? I didn't care." Kim's says "It's not right, liking someone who makes you feel miserable." Beth agrees, but points out that it's probably why they met at the GiD meeting. They both tell each other that they were just there to take their minds off their respective woman troubles. I thought you were just there to pick up chicks, Beth? Beth goes on that she had all the more need to go after her mother caught her in bed with another woman. And that was the day I learned that there's no way you can remove your head from another girl's crotch in a nonchalant manner. OK, so Beth doesn't have any lines as awesome as that. She continues the story; she and her mother didn't talk for a while, then they did and cried some, and her mother gave her the usual "what about the grandchildren?" spiel, "then things calmed down. And that Christmas I got a turkey baster in my stocking." Bwah! OK, I take it back. Beth asks how Kim's parents are about it, Kim tells her they have their own shit to worry about and don't really pay attention to her, which suits her fine. She goes on that it's really nice to just talk about things, which she never does with Sugar, and then, because Kim is an IDIOT, "Why can't I meet someone that I get on with, and who, like, likes me?" Can't see the forest for the trees. But seriously, I wouldn't want to advocate prolonging it even further than they did, but that would have tracked way better if it came before the kiss. Shan't complain too much though, since it prompts another one.

Now sitting down, eating candy floss, Beth's asking why Stella came back, if she cares so little. Kim tells her she needed a place to stay, and Dale would've kicked her out. Beth asks "Are you sure about that? Purely selfish reasons?" I'll let her off since she hasn't actually met Stella. Also because "I think you should talk to Stella, tell her to sort it out. What's the worst that could happen?" Damn right. It's not like Stella could become even more useless.

And so, back to the house, Kim does exactly that. She takes a while to figure out where to start, so Stella's all "If you want dinner, order a chinese, because I AM COMPLETELY USELESS" and shit. Kim grabs the magazine Stella's reading and closes it, so she actually pays some attention to her. "Are you alright?" "No, not really." Full attention now. Kim tells Stella to talk to Nathan, Stella tells her she can't do that since he's disappeared. Kim points out that he has a phone. Stella huffily says "He walked out" and turns on the TV to drown out the irritating buzz of other people's feelings. Kim turns it off and angrily tells her "You shagged around!" and then, awesomely "I'm sorry. I promised myself I wouldn't shout, and that I'd be grown up." She's never been more beautiful. For her part, Stella continues to avoid "grown up" like the plague, but Kim keeps pushing. "This isn't going to work. Us, the way we are. It's not fair on me." Stella gets all uppity at this, like, "How dare you tell me to actually put some importance on my daughter's well-being?" She gets out a cigarette. Kim is a Duracell bunny. "It's not fair on Matt. I know we've always been a screwed up family, but this is a fucking mess." Stella reflexively admonishes the language, then immediately burns herself light the cigarette and goes "Shit fucking bollocks!" I cannot believe they actually used that. That is a placeholder for a real joke. "Just look at you." Kim shakes her head sadly, "You're crap." Seriously. "You don't do maternal, and you never have." Stella looks hurt, and whinily asks "Are you saying I'm a bad mother?" YES. FUCKING YES. "You're Stella." That's a yes. "And you've never wanted to be more than that." Well, OK, that was very tactfully said, Kim. I'd still have gone with "YES. FUCKING YES." though. Anyway, finally, finally, Kim's getting through to Stella. As she leaves, Kim pauses for a moment and turns back, smiling, to tell Stella "We still want you. But with dad." And Stella's now left to think about what a terrible person she is. Hurrah!

In her room, Kim's getting all dressed up for a date with Beth. KimVo tell us she feels like an adult for the first time in her life, and is just generally feeling great, she's got her parents back together, and she's going on an actual date. Kim goes downstairs, walks past Stella, who's tidying up, and runs into Nathan at the door. They smile at each other. Kim gets a call from Beth, who wants to know how it went. Kim says she'll tell her later. Everything is right in the world right now. Kim waves to Tom on the other side of the street. Tom's with a bunch of grungy looking kids, leaning against a wall, smoking and just generally trying his hardest to look cool. He gives her a falsely disinterested "Hi" and then tells the gang "Had her. And her girlfriend." He chokes on the cigarette and throws it away, but does a good job of keeping his new image up in spite of this. He walks away, and his new cronies follow, with one of them carrying his trombone for him. I love that. "Everything seemed to be turning out right", KimVo says. Well, nice work, KimVo. Now we know something's going to go wrong. And there's only a couple of minutes left, so... brace for impact.

Stella offers Nathan a drink, which he turns down. Pause for a few seconds, then she gets started. "I've been talking to Kim... Well, Kim's been talking to me." Stella just said something that makes me like her. Woah. "She made me realise that I owe you an apology. For being a terrible mother, and a terrible wife." So far, so good. She carries on that she's just not good at that stuff, "and it would be stupid to pretend I'm just going to suddenly change." Nathan agrees. He doesn't want to go on like this. It's his fault too, apparently. Marriage been failing for years, trying to salvage it has just made it worse, so on and so forth. Nathan continues that he has become pathetic, pitiful. "If I woke up to this each morning, I'd start screwing odd-job men for kicks." Stella eventually puts a halt to the self-pitying by telling him "I still love you." Nathan says the same, "But I don't want to go on like this. I think it's right that you should leave." And now they have nothing to do but cry.

Well, I think we dodged a bullet there. Kim won't be happy to find out they've not worked things out the way she was expecting, but she'll cope. As far as "Everything seemed to be turning out right" backlash goes, it could have been much worse. Like, say they fucked with Kim and Beth's relationship? Wouldn't that be horrible? So, anyone getting this strange feeling that there's been something, or someone missing from this episode? This episode of Sugar Rush? Eh, it's probably nothing.

So, Kim aproaches Beth, who's waiting on the pier, just a few feet away. Almost there. Just a few more seconds. Kim's phone starts to ring. Just ignore it, it can't be that important, right? Fine. Ignore me. Check caller ID! Make sure it's not someone you don't want to talk to! Awww, crap. Kim answers the phone. It's Sugar. She's crying. "Kizz, I need you! I'm in deep shit!" She's pretty hysterical. Also, covered in blood. Beth turns, sees Kim and smiles. Then she sees the look of horror on Kim's face, and stops. Kim stands, frozen. Beth's starting to mirror her look of horror now. Kim looks at her, sorry in her eyes, then turns and runs. Aww, Beth! I'll miss you! And not just because you're really hot!

Man. So, that's where they leave us, going into the finale. Kim turned to the church and, in a rather fantastic way, found salvation. But sometimes, the thing you really want is the scariest thing of all, you know? Because, what if it's not enough? Kim's just not ready to face that fear yet. You can't go from miserable loner to perfect love instantaneously. Sugar's been pretty absent since she shattered Kim's heart into tiny pieces, but clearly, next week will make up for that in abundance. See you there.