The Being Erica BS Detector: Season 3, Episode 5 (badass edition)

This week’s episode was titled “Being Adam”—not a good sign, since we have yet to come around to Erica’s Irish love interest and the rest of the new time-travelling troupe. The first thing we noticed was a “viewer discretion” warning and wondered whether we were in for something a little saucier than usual. (“Usual” being a couple of after-work cocktails at Goblins.)

Turns out that episode five was a cornucopia of curse words, bar brawls, booze and frontal nudity. But while the cleavage quotient was high, the time travel (and thus opportunities for time copping) was minimal. So this week, we’re replacing our usual BS Detector with a Badass Detector. CBC, we didn’t think you had it in you!

• Is it just us, or did Adam’s Moss Park apartment feel a bit Angela’s Ashes? (Either way, it makes Erica’s Palmerston abode look like Pleasantville.) Half-painted walls, a microwave atop the fridge and a couch that looks like you could get an STD just by looking at it. (Badass points: 3)

• Like we said, this was the boobs episode. First there was Erica’s mom, who has adopted the flaunt-’em-while-you’ve-got-’em approach to dealing with her breast cancer diagnosis. There was also the totally tasteful joke told by one of the Irish gangsters at the wake: “If it’s got tits or wheels, eventually, it’ll give you trouble.” On behalf of women and cars, we object. And then, of course, there is the sex scene back at Adam’s apartment that looked like one of those soft-core porn movies you might come across late at night on Citytv. Not that we’d know. (Badass points: 6)

• The east end Irish gangsters head to Jilly’s after the wake, a highly appropriate choice that would definitely stand up to the BS Detector. For their sake, we’re relieved those rumours about Jeff Stober buying up one of the city’s most iconic strip clubs and turning it into the Drake of the east end turned out to be false. (Badass points: 1)

• The language was also quite risqué this week: we heard not one, but two uses of A-hole; at one point, Adam’s abusive dad uses a slur we won’t even type out in short form; and at the wake there is a long conversation about sloppy seconds.

Overall, this episode felt a lot darker than usual, and we worry about the long-term implications. Does this mean every week is going to explore the life of one of the new group members? We sure hope not. We miss Judith and Jenny, and high school scandals revolving around nerd tormenting and Nair pranks.