We see how Mark’s “fix-it” attitude gets him in trouble in this episode.
Mark finds out a hobo girl in his counseling group is an old flame while Callie wants to see other men because she is just that evil of a demon. Only in Ugly Americans would something this dark and comedic be normal. Even though the title refers to Beauty and the Beast, the episode itself avoids the problem of having a gallon of pop culture references. For that reason, this episode turns out to be one of Ugly Americans’ best.
Ugly Americans always seems to perform better when the writers are less worried about referencing geek pop culture and more on developing character arcs. For example, the heart of this episode revolves around Callie and Mark making sense of their now “open” relationship. Correction, Mark isn’t fond of the idea, but Callie wants to screw whomever she wants because she is a demon. This episode contains very little shout outs or references to fantasy lore and the lack of them enhances their relationship. No gags means less clutter and less clutter means more breathing room for the story.
The main plot of the episode revolves around how Callie forces Mark into an open relationship after he finds out she has been sleeping with other men. Conveniently, Mark runs into the ultimate temptation: reigniting his passion with an old flame. Unfortunately for him, karma is a vengeful bitch. Literally. We find out Mark was quite the pretentious butthole when dating his egg-allergic beloved. So much so, that he drove her to become a hobo when attempting to cure her egg addiction. He also found out that finding a scientific cure to egg allergies can turn a girl into a she-hulk.
Unlike previous episodes where Mark’s “evil” moments were played up for laughs, this one actually produces a genuine character flaw that is organic for Mark. It is his job to “fix” people so it makes sense that it would put him in beast doo-doo on occasion. And thankfully, Frank Grimes is willing to lick that doo-doo to stop any unruly beast attempting to hurt Mark or New York. I never knew Frank was a mecha fan. Better yet, I never knew he had the intelligence to build a robot that could outsmart a titanic she-beast. The episode ends on a tender moment with Mark and Callie enjoying Uno. This one scene shows that despite their dysfunctions, these two characters really do care about each other and that Callie has standards for hooking up. Sorry fish-humanoid, Callie is not your type.
Some stats and info about Ugly Americans, “Lilly and the Beast”
TV SHOW – Ugly Americans
SEASON/EPISODE – Season 2, Episode 9
AIRED ON – August 25th, 2011
NETWORK/STREAMING SERVICE – Comedy Central
GENRE – Animated Shows, Comedy
CREATED BY – Devin Clark, David M. Stern
CAST – Matt Oberg, Natasha Leggero, Kurt Metzger, Randy Pearlstein, Julie Klausner, Michael-Leon Wooley, Larry Murphy, Devn Clark, Pete Holmes
This review originally appeared on TV Geek Army.