TV Review: Real World: Austin - 10/4/05

Tuesday, October 04, 2005

This week's episode of the Real World: Austin brings us the South by Southwest festival. At least part of it. At the beginning of this season of the Real World, the house mates were given a job. They were to create a documentary during this festival. Over the week's that followed, they were taught the process behind what it takes to film a documentary, and now all their preparation has led them here. Before their boss Paul sends them out, he gives them a few basic rules. One of them being that while working during the festival they aren't allowed to drink. He also tells them finishing a rough cut of their footage is necessary in order for them to go on their vacation in a few weeks.

Now we all know how much this cast of seven strangers like to party. Each and every week since the season began we have seen them out at one bar or another partying it up. Can they hold back from their favorite activity for a few days so they can get their job done. The answer to that is a big fat no! They can't even get to their jobs on time - some of them anyway. When their first band, Enon arrives for filming, Danny and Melinda are out at dinner. They ignore Lacey's page, and arrive way late to the site of the filming. Melinda is also quite drunk when she arrives, and the two of them don't do much that day.

Later on that night once filming with Enon is done, another band the group is covering for the documentary arrives a few days early. Danny and Wes ask them if they want to party, and with a resounding yes they are off to one of the bars. There is a close call when their boss shows up out of nowhere, but he soon leaves. This angers the other roommates, but mostly Nehemiah. He is taking this position quite seriously, and he is also worried about losing their vacation by messing up on the documentary. When Nehemiah sees both Wes and Danny drinking, he discusses it with Lacey and Johanna. Rachel also sees Melinda drinking with the band.

The next day Nehemiah confronts Wes and Danny, but it doesn't go all that well. Wes' attitude is the most of the negative of the two. He even goes so far as to state to the cameras that he cares more about partying than making "some stupid documentary." Definitely not the way to look at things when it comes to this project. Half of the roommates don't even appear to be taking this job seriously at all. In past season's, we've seen this happen, so this is no surprise. I had thought up to this point the roommates were all into this documentary. Now we see here that isn't the case.

A good part of this episode dealt with the never ending relationship problems with Melinda and Danny. The episode starts happily with Melinda reporting that Danny has asked her to officially be his girlfriend during a long and intimate talk about both their past relationships. All seems well with these two until the second band shows up. When Danny and Wes go to hang out with the band, Melinda goes along with them. According to Danny, Melinda is all over the band members and flirting. One of the guys in the band even hits on her. This angers him, and there is already trouble in paradise.

The next day Melinda tries to talk to him, but he is still jealous and angry. Definitely not willing to listen to her yet. She turns to a friend that doesn't live in the house, and she suggests to Melinda to let Danny think he is right even if he is wrong in this case. Melinda takes the advice, and it seems to smooths things over with Danny. However, we're not sure of this because this where this episode fades to black.

I enjoyed this episode of the Real World. The cast is finally getting down to work. At least some of them are. The whole season has led up to this point. There were some tense moments that made for an overall good episode. The continual focus on Danny and Melinda is getting very boring however. It looks like Danny is just looking for things to cause problems. I didn't see Melinda doing anything wrong. She was doing the same thing he was doing - partying with the band. If one of the band mates hits on her that isn't her fault.

What did you think of this episode of the Real World: Austin? Did the tension heat up the screen or did it leave you yawning? Let me know what you think.