I don’t even know what to say about this one. Louis is my favorite character, so I’m usually not too crazy about certain Ren-centric plots. Sometimes, Louis’ subplot will be enough to save the episode… But, unfortunately, neither plot does enough for me here. This episode is just kinda… There. Not to mention, somewhat forgettable.
Ren organizes a one-time, “Mother/Daughter Bowl-O-Rama fundraiser” to raise money for the school. After participating in it with her mom, Ren becomes embarrassed because Eileen was slightly obnoxious and bowled straight gutter balls all night. But Eileen had a blast and thought they were a big hit, so she signs them up for a weekly Mother/Daughter bowling league. Ren’s not too happy. So.. What’s Louis’ subplot, you ask? He hires a butler named Chives for a week, with money he won from a stinky feet competition. Yeah.
“Master Stevens is present” Chives says in a posh British accent during roll call while he makes Louis a frappé and the fancy, rich sounding stock music the show always uses starts playing. I can’t.
Judging by the episode I picked for the very bottom of the heap, I just want to explain something. I’m not too big a fan of episodes that are kinda unrealistic. Now, granted.. the majority of the series has plenty ofepisodes that are a little outlandish. But, there’s just something about this one that sort of straddles the line. Ren’s plot is okay, but it’s a little bland. And Louis’ subplot brings out his ugly, arrogant, and lazy side.
The episode opens with Twitty dressed up in a rather unflattering bowling pin costume to “attract girls to sign up” for Ren’s fundraiser. Monique and Ruby stop by, and Ren encourages them to sign up. Monique complains that she hates doing things with her mother because she always embarrasses her by acting “too peppy.” MONIQUE……… You’re one to talk. They agree to sign up.
As soon as we see Louis with Chives the butler, you know right away that he’s going to be using him more like a complete and total slave as opposed to an extra pair of hands. And that’s why this Louis plot isn’t great. He bosses Chives around with no regard, and is completely self-centered the whole time until about 12 minutes in. It’s not cute.
At Ren’s fundraiser, we find out that Monique and Ruby are pretty much mini-me’s of their mothers, Tanya and Babs. Right down to their voices and personalities. (It actually reminds me of me and my own mother. Everyone calls us twins.)
Eileen wreaks havoc on the bowling alley and puts everyone in danger due to her terrible bowling skills. The night ends with her getting her arm caught in the ball return. Everyone’s laughing, but Ren’s absolutely mortified.
The next day, we see that Louis has brought Chives to school with him (really?!) and we get a montage of him making Chives speak for him, clean his locker, and even go to detention for him. Ok, Louis. But, yeah.. That’s pretty much it.
Ren is super relieved that the fundraiser was just a one-time thing and she’s never going to have to endure the immense embarrassment she felt bowling with her mother ever again. Until Eileen comes home with a gift for her: A customized bowling shirt with the name “Pinky” on it. (Why she chose “Pinky” for Ren, I’ll never know.) And Eileen got one for herself too with the name “Gutter Queen” on it. (Ayyy, title of the episode.. I see you.) Ren asks why she got bowling shirts. This is where Eileen tells her that she talked to Tanya and Babs about how much fun they all had and that they decided to join a Mother/Daughter bowling league so they can relive the fun they had EVERY SINGLE WEEK! :) You feel pretty bad because Eileen is sooo excited, but Ren is ready for death.
You can see her screaming for help behind the eyes.
Louis is in his room and Beans is just… there… as usual. And Louis is telling him to get out of his house… as usual. They’re talking about Chives and Beans is all “lol do you know butler has the word butt in it?” This makes me cringe slightly because my last name is Butler… And, I’m well aware that it has the word butt in it. Thanks, Beans!!! He also says “My mom said I can stay as long as I want!!” To which Louis responds “Well, Beans. Doesn’t that tell ya something?!” - I laughed.
Chives comes in with Louis’ laundry and Louis has him remove Beans from the premises, lol. Ren knocks on the door and asks Louis for help. She says that he’s the “king of getting out of things,” and she really needs him to help her get out of this Mother/Daughter bowling league. He acts like he’s listening to her, but then he breaks character and tells Chives to kick her out.
Chives is kinda disgusted by Louis right about now, as am I. So he asks to speak candidly and tells Louis: “In all my years of service, I’ve never seen such abominable behavior. Miss Ren is your sister, she came to you for help and you turned her away. A true gentleman would never do that.” - And now we see Remorseful Louis start shining through a bit.
Louis decides to help Ren by sneaking into the bowling alley the night of the league’s first meet-up. He replaces Eileen’s bowling ball with an identical magnetic one and matching magnetic bowling pin. How he got a magnetic bowling ball & pin so quickly is a mystery. But, Louis is the king of engineering and quick schemes so… I’m not even gonna ask.
Once they start playing, Eileen bowls a gutter ball (to no ones surprise) when suddenly.. it magically rolls out of the gutter onto the lane and she gets a strike (to everyone’s surprise). Wow, that’s not suspicious at all!!!! For some reason, no one questions why this happened lol. They’re all just like “How’d you do that?” as if there’s a way to move a 16-pound bowling ball out of the gutter with your mind. Eileen obviously has no idea, but just rolls with it and keeps magically bowling strikes all night. She and Ren are the winners!
They’re about to celebrate with Babs’ ~homemade noodleloaf,~ but when they “break out the forks” (as Babs says in an even thicker New York accent than Ruby) all of the forks go flying towards Eileen’s bowling ball. Babs goes over to check it out, and her necklace gets attracted to it as well. This is when Ren puts 2 + 2 together and realizes Louis must’ve had something to do with it.
We see Louis and Chives on the lanes, running away from staff. Clearly, they had something to do with it. Ren’s not too mad though because she understands they were just trying to help out.
Ren has a talk with her mom about how she’s been embarrassed by her, but Eileen tells her she didn’t care about winning and was just having fun spending time together. Ren feels bad. When the girls ask if they’ll be meeting up again next week, Eileen tries making up an excuse. But, then Ren’s like “No, mom! Let’s do it!!” and everything’s okay. They never mention the league again for the remainder of the series, though lol. So maybe everything did go to hell.
Louis and Chives get “banned from bowling”:
Louis and Chives find out they’re banned by noticing the flier while hiding from the alley’s staff. So, as far as we know.. they never posed for those mug shots. They’ve been running from the staff the whole time. Surely, if they had posed for those pictures – they would’ve been caught, detained, kicked out and well aware of the fact that they’ve been banned. But, nope. They’re genuinely surprised by the flier! Annoying.
Chives tells Louis that the check he used to pay him was bad. I’m assuming because he tried to pay him with the giant fake check you get when you win a contest?! haha, I’m not totally sure. Obviously, Louis won the $500. So where is it?!?! What else could he have spent it on?! COME ON, LOUIS.
Either way, Chives allows Louis to make it up to him by being his butler. Oh, how the tables have turned. Louis decides to speak in a British accent now that he’s someone’s butler, lol ok.
I don’t know why this review ended up being so long??? I didn’t even want to say much about this one! It’s so easy to get carried away with the summary aspect. ANYWAY, all in all this feels like another filler episode to me. Like I said before.. both plots don’t do enough for this one to pass as good filler. That’s all! Annnnd that’s why it’s at #64!
Please, feel free to chime in and comment below! :)
When a duchess named Lady Jane comes to visit Sacramento as a foreign exchange student, the Stevens take her in for the week. Ren promises to show her all that America has to offer! Which by Ren-standards, is code for a boring as all hell historical tour of the city. Meanwhile, our main plot follows Louis and Twitty. They’re on a mission to chow down a freaking giant burger called The King Sloppy. If you’re able to eat the entire thing in 30 minutes, you get it for free – and your picture on the restaurants’ wall of fame. So, they concoct a scheme which includes a character “Mike Hegeman” who they both dress up as, hoping to get away with taking sneaky turns eating the burger. Spoiler: They don’t.
Donnie is coaching The Dingoes – a pretty hopeless elementary school basketball team. Louis ends up becoming Donnie’s assistant coach after accidentally getting through to the kids in a way Donnie couldn’t. He lets it go to his head as usual and completely takes over. Elsewhere, Ren and Bobby become “official” and she starts wearing his letterman jacket. The only problem is that he’s too nervous to kiss, and awkwardly high fives her instead. The episode opens with Donnie coaching The Dingoes. By the end of the first sequence, you get the sense that these kids have no idea what they’re doing. One is eating a jelly donut while he plays. And another, Carlos, refuses to accept that they’re playing basketball and acts like they’re playing soccer (i.e. playing using his feet, knees, and head). I can’t. There’s no way in hell any of these children would make it onto a school basketball team by trying out… But, maybe elementary school is just extra PC like that. Ya know, letting anyone
Donnie makes a “celebrity” guest visit back to Lawrence Jr. High to be enshrined in the Wombat Hall of Fame. Louis starts to feel extra inadequate, so he rigs Donnie’s pommel horse with the motor from a mechanical bull. While demonstrating one of his winning gymnastic routines, Donnie goes flying off the pommel horse and gets a back injury that could cost him his college football scholarship. For this episode’s B-plot, Beans plays pranks on Ren.
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