Trading Spouses
Hammond / Howard Families Part 2
The War over War, Dirt and Messy Fun Finale!
Recap By Unicornchaser
January 27, 2005
Hammond Family (TN): Angela, Bob, Candy (16), Kyle (7), Grandma Sue
Howard Family (MN): Mia, Tim, Bria (9), Caleb (7)
"Happiness is that state of consciousness which proceeds from the achievement of one's values."
- Ayn Rand
"It's hard to be funny when you have to be clean."
- Mae West
From the previews, we know that the highlights of this week's episode will be Mia's argument over the war and Angie having a REALLY messy party. In both places, Mia's inflexible, nearly sterile, environmental standards will be the prevailing guideposts, wanted / needed or not.
CLEANING DUTY AT THE HOWARD'S:
"Reporting for duty!" Bob laughs the next morning as Mia takes over the household. She has rammed her rules in effect because "they are filthy people". Fox seems enamored of the chip on the washer or dryer because it is shown, complete with a fly next to it, almost every time they go into the dirt shots. Bob comments on the tension on the first morning under the newly imposed total Mia neat freak regime.
Bob doesn't feel a need to live in a museum or to straighten every second. Again, what can be seen past the dirt shots is a home that is comfortable, a bit cluttered but not nearly as bad as has been seen before on TV or in real life. Anyone seen some of those REALLY filthy houses on some other shows? They make you want to wear a hazmat suit just watching it on the tube, which this one doesn't. There does seem to be a problem with flies and ants though.
"It's OK to clean up once in a while and not always be dirty". Mia isn't shown to be happy about taking over as the dirt savior and the family stoically cleans, cleans, and cleans per her instructions. This does result in making Mia feel "a little more relaxed, now that my home is clean". The fact that this is NOT her home, just her current environment, still slips past her radar.
But not Grandma, who flatly states that Mia is not in her world right now, she is in theirs. This doesn't matter to Mia and the rest of the family is going along with it pretty much. Probably because they are too polite to rebel too harshly against a guest in their home and/or because they know it is for such a limited time anyway.
At any rate, the Howard's are extremely unhappy that Mia feels they are such filthy people. Still, not anywhere close to the point of telling her to stop cleaning the house. No doubt Mia would have just packed and left. It is doubtful her cleaning compulsion would have able to
be put on hold for even that short a time.
As Fox loves to show crap as much as possible, we see again the dog as it poops on the carpet, right behind Grandma who is on her knees dusting. "Oh, my goodness gracious!" Mia says right after, in a voiceover, but whether or not it's over this is unknown.
IT'S PARTY TIME AT THE HAMMONDS!
Angie is ready to party. Not just party, but most importantly... party with MESSY stuff and a lot of it. So a "happy party" is high on her agenda which Tim approves wholeheartedly. This gets Angie as up as much as it depresses poor Bria, who doesn't want to have anything to do with it. Tim is definitely a whole lot more pleased about the party idea than the kids.
Bria is concerned that her mom's rules are being broken. This she knows will make Mia angry. Caleb is shown saying more but still seems extremely quiet, which is very unusual for a boy his age (especially compared to speak his mind ZZ!).
On their way to the party store, Angie tries to get the kids enthused with the party idea. Bria admits she doesn't smile much. Angie tries to teach the kids the "don't worry, be happy song" unsuccessfully. "What's missing from this family is joy! There's no joy here. There's no real happiness. It's time for a change. I want to see happy faces, smiles, just chill out."
Fun stuff is bought like streamers, helium balloon and even silly string! Bria gets even more stressed out when Angie says she has a surprise game planned. "Angie keeping a secret from us, I'm not too big about that. I really ... don't ... like that ... idea" Bria tells us with her solemn little face. Letting Angie pull off a surprise in Mia's house is guaranteed to be trouble, Bria knows.
Angie is having fun decorating but can't get Bria to help put streamers up. "That looks ugly!" Bria goes on to explain "Angie was taping the streamers on the wall and it could have ripped the paint off. I didn't want to help with that because I didn't want to get the blame." Angie notes "Bria is so worried about everything being perfect and that's a lot of pressure for a kid."
To music that similar to the Psycho theme, Angie makes a sign for the front door. "Please feel free to leave your shoes on! Relax and have a Good Time, Put on a happy Face!!!!!
Mia for the millionth time is shown saying that no one is allowed to wear shoes in her home, period. Bria, shocked at sign, says she doesn't "want to be part of the party. It's going to be a MESS!"
The guests arrive to find Angie in the kitchen finishing up the food. Shoes and litter stuff on the floor are repeatedly shown. Bria is extremely unhappy that shoes have been allowed because "My mom doesn't like the rules broken and neither do I." We will hear Mia's voice reminding us of her rules often as they are broken during this segment.
Angie notices that the visitors take a bit of time to adjust to the new rules. "At first I think the guests seemed apprehensive, seemed very uptight, worried about making a mess." She says the guests seem "shocked" at the new environment. Angie admits to a guest, the silly string was her idea, the guest laughs and shakes his head at all these new changes. We see a homemade happy face cake on the table.
Next, silly string flies all over the house, to poor Bria's dismay. Bria is not adjusting well in the shift to fun and happy. She is shown mostly sitting in a tense, sad little pile on the couch as chaos laughingly takes over the house. "When the boys pulled out the silly string I was nervous because I wasn't really sure... they supposed to be doing that?"
Her face cringes as she clings to the couch because silly string is covering everyone and everything in sight pretty quick. We are again shown the clip of Mia vacuuming, saying "If your floor is dirty and filthy, that says a whole lot about who you are as a person!"
Bria is shown ferociously struggling with herself, silly string can in hand. Everyone else is happily having a blast around her blasting everyone and everything with the stuff. A few tentative shakes of the can are as far as Bria is going with it. Finally, Angie's sense of joy, happiness and excitement proves contagious to all, even Bria. She is finally shown enjoying herself as a child her age should be doing, instead of her usual worrying. "I kinda got caught up in the action cuz everyone else was doing silly string so I kinda wanted to do it."
Mia's mom says she had "never seen the kids like this. They were excited and had fun. They would never have done that if their mother was here, no way. I can hardly wait until she sees it!" she laughs.
Maybe Mia is "having the same type of fun in TN", Tim tells Bria, "maybe they're doing the same things!" Great wishful thinking Tim! Yep, right after the aliens took over her body, Mia started zapping all in sight with silly string, without hesitating a second because of the mess. Sorry Tim, not this time. Instead, Mia is solemnly swatting flies left and right. The little dog is shown in its bed, apparently trying to stay out of her way...
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