Ruth Sadelle Alderson

Good point about Maripier's relationship and her career. Brandon was with the Rangers when they met, but we've seen her do a lot of stuff on the show that's good for her career but also connected to the fact that he's on the Habs - the Rad Hourani shoot (the magazine the shoot ended up in refers to them as a "power couple"), the charity event, the blue carpet event. I wonder too if part of the reason she took him back after breaking up with him for the summer was because of career considerations. There's also an interview with her somewhere where she talks about how part of why she wanted to do the show is that it's hard to break into the English market, and she wants to have options if/when Brandon ends up playing somewhere else. I wish she would go to therapy/make new friends/read a lot of Captain Awkward and realize that relationships don't have to be like this!

I agree with everything you say about Tiffany. I do think she's more aware of a lot of the social realities, but she's so unpleasant about it that I don't want to agree with her about anything. I wonder not only how this ep affects Maripier and Tiffany's relationship but also if/how it affects either Brandon and Maripier's relationship or the way someone in their lives will see their relationship and talk to them about it. (Let's be real: more likely to be someone in Maripier's life than Brandon's.)

I wish there were more here about the effect of money on their social lives. I can't tell if it's actually a big part of things, or if Tiffany's just really hyper-conscious of it. (I'm interested in her background now. Did she grow up in a family where they had to worry about money? Where does this intense money consciousness come from?)

I think you're right that they were less relatable in this episode than in some of the others. And, yeah, I would not want to be in any relationship that looked like the ones on this show.