Samantha Who: The Car

Published: December 4, 2007 at 08:00 AM GMT
Last Updated: December 4, 2007 at 08:00 AM GMT

By Karen Woodward

Samantha pursues her right to freedom in this week’s episode of ABC’s Samantha Who. Unfortunately, her quest for independence leads to crashing her father’s car and pushing it into a lake. High jinks and moral lessons ensue.

This show has gotten pretty funny. At first, because all these actors approach comedy differently, the characters all appeared to be in different shows. But they’re beginning to mesh, and there were some moments in this episode that approached classic status. My favorite was the Starbuck’s wrong-name-on-the-cup scenario:

Barista: “Noreen!”

“It’s Dena.”

Barista: “Sajartha?”

“Samantha.”

Since ’bucks employees always think my name is Aaron, Ellen or David, I found this pretty validating. But a true classic was Andrea grilling Sam, trying to catch her in a lie. Close-ups back and forth, neither side missing a beat, finally ending with Andrea’s calling uncle with, “I’m getting a latte.” I laughed out loud, and Dena’s whimper perfectly punctuated the moment. These people are really growing on me.

So what actually happened in this episode? Sam convinces her dad to let her use his car, then drives like a maniac, swerves to avoid a pack of raccoons and crashes into a tree. She masterminds a plan to push the car into a lake and pretend that it was stolen. The plan works very well and Sam ends up with a new car. Sam can’t stand the guilt and comes clean with her mom, who then blackmails her to be in a home fashion show.

But the plot thickens when Andrea reminds Sam of The Night of the Sacrificial Shoe (Dena: “Is that a Nancy Drew book?”). Four years ago, Sam’s mom claimed her car was stolen, but the truth is that she got into an accident and was too afraid to tell her husband, so she–all together now!–pushed it into a lake. Sam comes clean with her Dad, expecting her mom to as well, although of course she doesn’t.

But that’s OK, because the whole experience provides Sam an opportunity to bond with her dad (he only cared that she was safe, of course) and her mom. Sam gets back at Regina by (miraculously) finding her mom’s old car and planting it in the driveway. Regina then reveals that Sam inherited her devilish streak from Regina and her side of the family. Or maybe we all have the Devil inside.

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