#59: Season 1, Episode 5 - "All About Yvette"
We’ve finally made it out of the 60s to #59! I actually feel like I’m making some progress here, lol. This is the first Season 1 episode to make it into the countdown! Yay! But, it’s probably one of the most generic, cheesy episodes of the entire series. This one is ripe with Late 90s/early 2000s Disney Channel writing and production. It’s such a specific type of vibe. I can’t even explain it.
Ren has a placeholder best friend, Charlotte, for only two episodes at the start of the series. Here, the two of them are in charge of decorating the school’s 80s-themed dance. But, when Charlotte’s old BFF Yvette visits from Topeka, she starts monopolizing Charlotte’s time. Ren gets super jealous and feels like a third wheel. This is honestly pretty relatable, though. For the subplot, Louis and Tawny babysit Twitty’s 3-year-old brother.
They walk into the gym, only to discover it’s a gigantic space and their two little bags of decorations ain’t gonna cut it. This always confused me, because… It’s their school gym. I’m sure they’ve stepped foot in there before this moment. They should’ve known that a little banner, some streamers, and a few balloons in the corner wouldn’t suffice.
Ren says that they’ll have to work on decorating every night that week in order to pull it off. Charlotte agrees, saying “Totally! Every night! ……….Except tonight.” Punctuated with a record scratch sound effect and all. Charlotte reminds Ren that she’s having dinner with Yvette. An old friend who’s only in town for a couple of days. Ren is obviously let down (and less than pleased about having to work alone) so Charlotte asks “Do you, like… totally hate me?” She’s so extra peppy, it’s a little insufferable. Ren says she’s okay with it and they do a best friend handshake (also important!) and Charlotte runs off, leaving Ren with all the decorations and visibly upset.
The subplot is introduced by shots of a kitchen that seems to have been hit by Hurricane Gluttony, but nope. The only natural disaster here is Louis, who just made a giant sandwich. He’s with Twitty, who tells him to make sure he eats before he comes over to babysit his little brother the night of the school dance — establishing the plot out loud, which feels a little forced to me.
Eileen walks in, overhears Louis’ babysitting plans and asks “…Who’s going to watch you?” to which Louis responds “Hey! You in the mom suit, I’m the only funny one around here.” I like this line because it reminds me that this is sweet Season 1. Back when Louis was an aspiring comedian, always cracking smart jokes. Ah, the good old days. Eileen doesn’t think Louis is responsible enough to babysit, (don’t blame ya, Eileen!) so he tries to sway her by telling an ineffective story about how he bird-sat their neighbor’s canary one time and fed it its favorite food every day. It cuts to footage of Louis blissfully feeding a dead bird Fruit Loops. “THE BIRD HAD A DEATH WISH!” he insists. I am laughing. Eileen says she’ll only let him babysit if he can prove he’s responsible.
Notice he’s distracted because he’s reading! Not only that, he’s reading a book called “The Art of the Joke.” He took comedy so seriously. In other news, that poor fake “dead” bird being buried in a grave of Fruit Loops is killing me. RIP.
Ren and Charlotte are at school getting all their decorations in order and trying to come up with a slogan for the dance. After a bunch of lame ideas, Ren suggests “Awesome 80s” (Important!) but Charlotte shoots it down. It’s interesting to me because Ren says that ”Mad cool” and “tight” are slang for the time (2000). People still say that stuff 16 years later. Another thing that’s not totally dated in this show. Pretty cool.
Louis comes in and pays Ren $5 to sweet talk Eileen into believing he’s responsible. “When you see mom, I want you to start singing praises! Five dollars worth!!” I like this scene a lot.
Ren and Charlotte continue working and start talking about their amazingly great friendship again, calling themselves “The Dynamic Duo” when suddenly someone says “…Make that a trio!!” and lo and behold, it’s Yvette standing in the doorway. She offers to help decorate. Charlotte and Yvette immediately start sharing inside jokes about life back in Topeka, which obviously makes Ren feel like a trash can. This is so relatable, it actually hurts. And it gets worse… Suddenly the two of them tell each other “You go, girl!” “No! YOU go, girl!” before doing the SAME FRIENDSHIP HANDSHAKE Charlotte always does with Ren. Like, wow. That honestly feels like such a stab in the back. I know the feeling. It makes you feel so… not special. Like, the person you thought was your best friend actually does the same exact stuff with other people like it’s nothing. It sucks. Ren just watches them all sad. :(
To Ren’s dismay, Charlotte and Yvette come hang out at the Stevens’ that night to talk to State Senator Eileen Stevens, when Louis walks in. Not-so-subtly reminding Ren to prove his responsibleness to Eileen. Ren’s like “Louis brought me a sweater. He’s really responsible.” and Louis says “Stop it, Ren. Mom’s gonna think I paid you to say that” with a smile. Shia is perfect here. He assures Eileen that he’ll be babysitting with Tawny and that two 13-year-olds is really like a 26-year-old. Louis could swindle me out of a quick dollar with that flawed logic, honestly. Eileen gives him a “maybe.” Louis is elated.
Louis hasn’t actually asked Tawny to babysit with him, though.. so now he’s trying to persuade her last minute. He tells her that them babysitting is the only way Twitty will be able to go to the dance. Tawny says “I can’t believe he’s going. I should have another talk with him about conformity and peer pressure.“ - I was that friend, tbh. Scratch that. I still am that friend. Louis is on his knees begging her at this point. (He really wants dat babysitting cash.) The final bait he uses to make her say yes is that Twitty’s family have a big screen TV and a DVD player. Okay. THAT is a little dated, lol. She says she’ll only do it if he hops on one foot, rubs his stomach with one hand and pats his head with the other. I love this, haha. Louis and Tawny are a great pairing. They even each other out. Tawny is overly chill and apathetic, whereas Louis is overly hyper and optimistic here. It’s cute.
While Charlotte and Ren are working on a hand-painted banner, Yvette walks in with a professionally made, high quality banner with the slogan “AWESOME 80s” on it. Charlotte is like “omg that’s greaaaaat!!” as if Ren didn’t already suggest “Awesome 80s” and she told her it lacked a certain flair. Ouch.
Yvette is so proud and asks “Do you love me or do you love me?” Ren responds, “I don’t know, it’s just too close to call!“ - Christy’s delivery is great here. So sarcastic. I love it. Yvette says she wants to join the decorating committee.. because her dad got transferred to Sacramento and she’ll be attending LJH next semester!!! YAY! (not.) But, her dad’s job must not have worked out because we never see or hear of Yvette ever again, so. Oops.
That evening when they’re hanging up decorations, Yvette accidentally knocks Ren off of a ladder and sends her flying through a paper banner and into a pile of balloons. Ren is pisssssed and goes off on Charlotte. She tells her “You don’t need me. You have Yvette. And guess what?! I don’t need you.” Stone cold. Yo, Ren is scary and über dramatic when she’s mad.
Ren has a conversation with her mom where Eileen tells her “you’re allowed to have more than one best friend.” But Ren says “Having a best friend is like having a twin. It’s a special relationship between two people. Me and Charlotte… We had that. And, um. It’s over.” - This line was always so cringy to me. Like, were they dating or something?! I mean, honestly. It sounds like she’s explaining how marriage works to a class of kindergartners.
We finally get to see Louis and Tawny babysitting! All Louis really cares about is being able to chill and watch “The TV of his dreams,” and uh… let’s just say… The TV of his dreams shows how far technology has come:
Around here is where we get one of my favorite Louis quotes. He’s telling Tawny what snacks he brought for junk food and says “We got Doritos, Cheetos, Fritos… Basically, we’ve got the whole Itos family.” - I literally use this line all the time, you have no idea. I’ve used this at parties where said junk food is displayed, and I’ve actually gotten laughs. Thanks, Louis.
Twitty’s brother is named Milton but they call him Milty. Milty Twitty. Okay. Unfortunately, Louis and Tawny don’t even get to enjoy “digital heaven” because Milty is the devil’s child and wreaks havoc all night. His name should’ve been Damien. That’s basically how their plot ends.
It’s time for the 80s dance! Where everyone’s jamming to royalty-free, 80s rip-off music! Charlotte went as Tina Turner and honestly looks incredible. She’s dancing with Yvette, and Ren is standing there watching all jelly. So she leaves and goes to the bathroom, takes a tube of lipstick out of her bra (a little much for a middle schooler, no?) and melodramatically decides to not put it on. Mumbling to herself in the mirror “Why bother?” HONESTLY. Were she and Charlotte a thing?! This scene is also cringy because it makes it seem like she wanted to look ~good~ for Charlotte, but now that she has Yvette… “Why bother?” Idk. Maybe that’s just me.
Yvette comes into the bathroom and she and Ren have a heart to heart. She tells Ren that she’s been the one feeling like a third wheel all week. I really don’t know why she’d feel that way, though. She was the center of attention the whole time. The freaking episode is called “All About Yvette” for gods sake!! But anyway, Yvette says she feels like she lost her best friend. This makes Ren feel a little better, and she relays the advice from Eileen, “Hasn’t anyone ever told you? You’re allowed to have more than one best friend.” It’s a pretty cheesy moment. As they leave the bathroom, Ren says “Let’s go bop!” This is another thing people say today! Myself included! (i.e. “I’m boppin’” / “This song is a bop,” etc.) Just something else I found interesting.
Long story short — Ren, Charlotte, and Yvette all makeup! They call themselves “The Dynamic Trio” (also very cheesy), they all tell each other “You go, girl!” “No! YOU go, girl!”and dance the night away to a cheap Madonna sound-alike song. Yay!
Obviously the moral of this episode is that “you’re allowed to have more than one best friend.” But all this episode taught me is that “80s Ren” looks exactly like my mother circa 1984:
That’s the best picture I could find of my mom at the moment. If I find a better one, I’ll update this. But, trust me… They are twins. It freaks me out.
This is a pretty safe episode. But, it’s extremely early on in the series. They haven’t quite hit on what makes the show unique yet. This particular episode feels like you’re watching some generic 90s vibe TV show, as opposed to the awesomeness that is Even Stevens. I really like elements of the subplot though thanks to the Louis/Tawny dynamic and I wish we could’ve seen more of it! I really don’t want to sound like I hate Ren or anything, because I don’t. It’s just that sometimes her A-plots are not as strong for some reason. And without Shia on the screen, certain episodes sort of drag on for me a bit. It’s absolutely nothing personal! I was actually very tempted to rank this one a few spots higher, mainly for the subplot and the relatable aspects of Ren’s story. But, looking back.. the cheesiness outweighs everything else for me. There’s hardly any quotable dialogue or real laughs here. And the Louis/Tawny thing isn’t as strong as it could’ve been.
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