The characters around here

Bryan and Elisa, mid-30s, Deb's hubby's best friend and wife.  Which makes them couple friends.

While Bryan and Elisa are the best thing to have come from the same small town suburban purgatory which Deb now finds herself in, the ironic thing is that Bryan and Elisa escaped months after Deb and Hubby's initial move-in, and now live in Toronto.  In this sitcom, they're the perfect secondary characters, because they truly do "give explanations of the hero, the hero's world, and have scenes where the hero is allowed to express thoughts, desires, goals, plans and values."

Bryan has been Hubby's best friend since age 11, and married  Elisa several years ago.  Deb and Hubby remember when Bryan was single, and think that Elisa is a perfect match for him. Bryan sometimes provides history, context, and background for Deb, which is immensely helpful in figuring out the World of Hubby.


Of all the characters on the show, Deb and Hubby prefer to travel with Bryan and Elisa the most, which makes for great episodes* since Deb is so admittedly weird.  B and E are well-traveled, adventurous, food and wine lovers, university-educated professionals, and good conversationalists, but most of all, easygoing, which is a stark contrast to Deb's uptightness and creative type/professional writer-explained OCD tendencies.  Deb appreciates that B and E (E especially) are really supportive of her career and never make her feel bad for her quirks (like frequent visits to the bathroom and late night crankiness).  They also act as culinary guinea pigs, and Deb is occasionally unsure if they're just being super polite about ugly food.


* in the case where these characters are used in a sitcom
__________________



In this past weekend's episode: 

Deb and Hubby met up with B and E at Bryan's parents' cottage which has been in the family for a number of years.  This is Hubby's favourite northern location, and looks forward to visiting whenever invited.  This is probably his twelfth time, and Deb's second.  Hubby is so excited about visiting the cottage, that last year, he (and Deb) drove 3 hours to the cottage, back 3 hours to attend an inflexible appointment, and 3 hours to drive back to the cottage.  (Then 3 hours back home.)

It's a beautiful location, backed by the lake, with two bunkhouses, gorgeous deck and an outdoor hot tub.  If push came to shove, the cottage could accommodate 11 with an RV parked in front.


This episode (Season 2, episode 16) is lighthearted with a playful tone.  Deb is on a quest to replace a missing earring from a set bought from a beachfront jewelry shop.  Hubby debates whether a dog is in their future while he plays with Bryan's family's dogs.  Deb reveals a little more detail as to why she hates her 10-minutes-from-farm-land purgatory, and figures out why she loves, not hates, cottage country, since cottage country is quite similar to her town which she despises.  Hubby inadvertently gloats about getting one bug bite, while Deb deals with her fear of bug bites (because on her, they flatten out and form shapes like Germany).  Deb enjoys the time with B and E, Bryan's parents, uncle and aunt, and tries to figure out the factors which make Bryan's family dynamics an ideal in-law situation.