You might call episode 7 of Love Bites (“Boys to Men”) the penultimate episode, as it finally had Becki Newton’s character of Annie giving birth and this presumably means that we’ll actually start seeing that character. And that seems like a good idea when she’s kind of supposed to have been the star of the show. (The original premise of the show also revolved around Newton, as well.) Let’s dive into the “bites” of love this episode gave us. There were cute stuffed animals, a nugget of sexist truth, and debatable points about friendly vs flirty.

Ben & Marissa

I’m not sure why other episodes have had cute little mini titles, but this episode used just two names. Maybe the writer’s got lazy. This vignette was about a young, clingy guy who’d just been dumped and an older, divorcee who wasn’t used to romance. While the two didn’t fall in love, they did fall into bed and teach each other some valuable lessons along the way. I’d say it was a totally predictable piece with no redeeming value, except I thought it was riddled with quoteable lines and so I actually enjoyed watching it.

Steffi & Tommy

Okay, so in this piece we had a one night stand that morphed into more when Tommy has to drive Steffi to the hospital to see her Dad in the ER. I wasn’t very keen on it, but there was one of those Sex and the City bits of wisdom (thank you, Cindy Chupack) that I think was very noteable. Steffi tells Tommy that it’s the girl who decides if they’ll have sex (that’s the women’s power) but it’s the guy who decides if there will be a relationship (if he bothers to ask for her phone number, and wants more.) Its’ a totally sexist idea, but it also resonates with a very real thud.

Dale & Audrey

Here, we have a young, cool guy on the cusp of becoming a Dad who gets too friendly with the French secretary. It was a mirage of starting to feel trapped in his life, his friendly nature, and the irresistible appeal of a French woman. I think this highlighed a very real problem that happens when someone’s personality is so friendly and charming that it can read as being flirty. Even though I didn’t feel that Dale was trying to cheat on his wife, I still thought he was betraying her in some way. (But how, by being himself? At first it wasn’t anything very bad, although there was a slippery slope.)The idea that Dale would stay late at work to make a mix CD for a male doesn’t seem so bad. There, I can only imagine that he is (as we learned) passionate about music and maybe a perfectionist. But when it’s a secretary that everyone is oogling, the act seems a little more sleazy. Despite the fact that Dale never pursued Audrey, I still don’t trust him entirely because no one can be that naive. Or at least I’d hope not.

Luckily, at the moment where things might have gone behind the point of no return, Dale is stopped by seeing a toy he’d wanted to get his baby. The toy, btw, was a Dapper Giraffe (also utilized in the former story with Steffi & Tommy.) At the end of this story we learn that Dale’s wife is the sister to Annie, who is actually giving birth to the baby. Huzzah. We’ve come full circle.

Conclusion

Overall, the first story was the best for me. I loved the use of funny stuffed animals (the giraffe, but also the hippo with a bowler hat) and thought there was some fun weaving of the stories together.

I adore Becki Newton, and I think Annie is a fun character. But after so many episodes where we hardly saw Annie, will people be willing to let her have the focus of the show? I will. However, if that doesn’t even happen, I might reconsider watching this show. As fun as the token guest stars might be, the stories lack the bite they need to get this girl to love the show.

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