Throughout this time, Carol has been doing laundry. Phil enters and Carol thanks him for being quick. Phil admits that nothing happened and of course, Carol jumps to the conclusion that Phil has diarrhea. What the hell is with the constant conversation about bowel movements? Are the writers 12? Phil makes the announcement about Todd, who he describes as some fat dude. Let the fat shaming begin. Carol sees this as momentous because Todd's arrival means that Phil and Melissa won't have to have sex with each other. Phil gets wrong and strong and says that they cannot force Melissa to have sex with some stranger.
Carol decides that she has to meet Todd and since all of her clothes are wet, Carol puts on her wedding dress. The survivors sit around the campfire having a drink and it's clear that Melissa and Todd have a lot in common. Phil tries to play cock blocker to Todd and of course makes an ass of himself pretending to have seen Shawshank Redemption. When there is a lull in the conversation, Phil of course has to bring up Todd's weight. Todd talks about dealing with growing up as a fat kid and how terribly he was teased. Melissa is quick to point out that all of those people who were mean to Todd are dead now. Even Phil is moved enough to tell Todd that those people won't hurt him anymore.
Todd then excuses himself to get some sleep and of course, Phil then pretends that he had a weight problem in highschool to try and gain sympathy. When Melissa excuses herself, Carol points out that there were sparks between Melissa and Todd.
The next day, Carol reveals her plan to Phil, to set Melissa and Todd up on a date. Phil unsurprisingly is convinced that Melissa would never go for Todd because Melissa is beautiful, smart and kind and Todd is Todd (implication here FAT)
Phil knocks on Melissa's door to talk about Shawshank. Phil does the worst Morgan Freeman impersonation ever, quoting a line from the movie to prove that he has seen it. Phil then tries to pretend that he was only joking last night when he said that Tom Hanks was in the movie. Phil segues in a less than cool fashion into re-population, only to be told that now is not the time by Melissa.
Carol initiates her plan to set up Todd and Melissa. Carol actually fakes vomiting and tells Melissa and Todd to go ahead without her. Phil enters the room and Melissa and Carol suggest that he should stay behind.
Melissa and Todd go go-cart racing and Phil spends his time spying on them. As Todd and Melissa play golf, Phil rambles off to himself that Todd is in the "friend zone." Todd and Melissa continue to have a good time, as Phil plays creepy stalker dude in fear that Melissa is falling for Todd.
Later, Carol informs Phil that Melissa and Todd are going on another date tomorrow. Phil is not impressed with Carol pushing Todd and Melissa together but as it turns out, it was Melissa who asked Todd out on a second date. Phil then suggests a double date to support their relationship.
Later, the four set up to play tennis and of course Phil decides to suggest that they play shirts and skins in an effort embarrass Todd. Melissa notices a scar on Todd which of course Phil has to suggest comes from over eating. Todd however explains that he donated one of his kidneys to his foster brother. Todd starts to tell the story of how he came to donate his kidney, as Phil tries to distract everyone with tennis. Todd gets so emotional he has to excuse himself for a moment and is quickly followed by Melissa. Phil decides to follow Todd and Melissa and comes across the two of them kissing. Carol however believes that Phil did the shirts and skins routine to push Todd and Melissa together.
Later, Phil the creepy knocks on Melissa's door and snarks about Todd being a big ole' breathe of fresh air. Phil then goes on to say that in the old world, all his friends were I fucking kid you not "fats" Of course "fats" pump up there stats and lie, making it hard to trust "fats". Melissa rightfully shuts the door in Phil's face calling him an ass. Phil knocks on the door and apologises saying that because he was alone for so long, he has forgotten how to interact with people. Melissa opens the door and asks if Phil really talks to sports balls.
Phil takes Melissa to meet his sports ball friends. Melissa asks Phil what his favorite movie is and he finally admits that it's The Godfather. Melissa asks Phil to be honest with her. Phil tells Melissa that she was the one he was waiting for her and that she took his breathe away. Phil adds that he is falling in love with Melissa and asks her if there's any chance she could feel that way about him. Melissa says no, so Phil lies and says that he was going to say all of that stuff to Carol.
Okay, the manchild has actively become a character I hate now. Watching him stalk Todd and Melissa this episode just made him super creepy and gross. There there's the fat shaming that he engaged in for the entire episode. This is a new low for the writers but on par with what I expected the minute Todd got out of the car.
Part of what made the fat shaming so horrible is that it was meant to make me laugh. I didn't find any of it remotely funny and instead I found it to be outright cruel. I wonder how Mel Rodriguez felt when he reached the shirts and skins section of the script? Shirts and skins wasn't even necessary to the game and it could have been triggering for fat males who found themselves in the same or similar situations growing up.
Just like the other characters, Todd is a trope. Todd is the happy fat guy who smiles through his pain that we are all meant to feel sorry for. Todd is someone to be pitied.
It's worth noting that with the arrival of Todd, we also for the first time have a survivor who is not white. Given that they used up their quota of fat jokes this week, I wonder if they will move onto race jokes next week? Yes, I expect the writers of this God awful show to sink this low.
Why oh why did I trade off Salem with Sparky for this show. It may only be 30 minutes long but it's torture.
