15 TV episodes we’ll never get tired of watching
Happy Endings, “Mein Coming Out”
Happy Endings is a criminally underrated comedy that did not get the respect it deserved when it was on the air. In the era of reboots, hopefully ABC can see the love fans had for this show and will bring it back for another round. Until then, we can still enjoy one of the more ridiculous episodes that we will definitely never get tired of watching.
On this episode, Max’s parents are coming to town for the first time in years, and he freaks out when Penny can’t join them for dinner. He never actually came out of the closet to them, and Penny was his pretend girlfriend for years but had a date that night (and was sick of being his beard anyway). Whenever his parents would find hints of him being gay (like gay porn), he’d blame it on Dave, so now they think Dave is the gay one.
Meanwhile, Penny goes on a blind date, but ends up meeting another guy at the bar who piqued her interest even more than the actual date who keeps calling her name in the crowd. Doug seemed perfect, until Penny found out his full name: Doug Hitler. He claims he has absolutely no relation to that Hitler, and that it’s a problem that plagued his family for years but they were proud of their heritage and refused to change it.
His friends try to convince him to finally come out to his parents, but then Jane agrees to be his girlfriend, and wants him to come out in his own time. Jane, the self-proclaimed “parent heroin”, comes on a little too strong because, well, she’s Jane. Turns out, the parents don’t like her and lie about having to cancel plans.
Penny tries to accept the fact that she’s dating Doug Hitler, or “Mr. Reich” as Alex calls him. She even writes out his name over and over in a notebook to try and get used to it. When Doug finds the notebook, he gets a little freaked out and thinks Penny is obsessed with him, or one of those “Hitler freaks.” When he sees the next page in the book, with the word “Jewish” crossed out (for context, Alex did that when Max asked her to be his new fake girlfriend and told her not to be so Jewish), Penny has a harder time explaining that one.
If it all sounds completely ridiculous, that’s because it is, and that’s what was so charming about Happy Endings. This episode pretty much sums up how dysfunctional and crazy the show and characters were. So if you had to watch one of the episodes over and over, it has to be this one.