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As much as I enjoyed “Raccoon” for bringing Paul Baker and Issa’s issues to a head, I felt mildly unsatisfied with the way their breakup went down. So I went into this next episode craving some moments of humanity, some acknowledgment of the difficult (but ultimately doable) transition that comes with a friend-group shake-up of this magnitude.
A room swap feels like the perfect opportunity. Not only is it a solid comedic setup to switch up the roommate pairings and see what chaos ensues, but it’s a smart way to process the fallout of a breakup. And “Room Swap” is a perfectly enjoyable episode that somewhat accomplishes those goals, especially when it comes to Issa’s emotional state — even if it mainly uses the new room arrangement for some standard sex comedy.
The swap is randomized, but there’s really no reason for it to be, because the new configuration makes sense: Samir with Paul Baker, Issa with Billie, and Anton alone with a room to himself. Of course, challenges immediately present themselves, the silliest of which belongs to Samir and Paul Baker. Both of these guys are in a period of their lives where they will be heavily relying on masturbation: Paul Baker because he’s single again, and Samir because his girlfriend is traveling all month. But Samir doesn’t want Paul Baker doing it in their bed, and the attic is full of spooky clanging pipes — and the bathroom is basically a 24/7 free-for-all, as shown by Anton bursting in during Samir’s shower for some Neosporin and a call with his aunt. How can these two poor men jack off in peace?
This is essentially Adults’ take on “The Contest,” that iconic episode of Seinfeld about the gang trying to go as long as possible without jerking it. But George Costanza wasn’t allowed to say phrases like “jerking it,” and I can’t recall Kramer ever uttering the words “jizz” or “loads,” both of which come up during Samir and Paul Baker’s visit to the sperm bank. The idea of using a sperm bank as one’s temporary personal masturbation space is pretty great, but it doesn’t work, and eventually Samir is just forced to do his business in the scary attic. Even that goes wrong when he knocks loose a pipe and almost gives the whole house carbon monoxide poisoning.
All of this is fine, but it’s not as character-specific or endearing as everything going on with Billie and Issa, who develop some tensions of their own after they start going out nightly to pick up dudes. Billie is a pro at this by now, which extends to wingman-ing, but Issa totally lost her skills after being out of the game so long. She can’t stop doing weird bits, some of them sexually forward (like when she approaches a guy about “slobbing on his knob”), but most of them are just bizarre and aggressive. Samir has an explanation for this: When Issa is uncomfortable, she turns into a “weird little guy.” We think of her now as extroverted and confident and openly horny — again, Ilana from Broad City comes to mind — but she wasn’t like that back in college.
That’s fair. Most of us have felt awkward during those first tentative steps back into dating. But most of us don’t cock-block our roommates with as much gusto as Issa does during these nights out, especially when it comes to a handsome ginger (SNL’s Ben Marshall) whom Issa calls “Ron Weasley” at the club. And he was Billie’s type to a tee! All she wanted was to hear about hostile architecture and Dimes Square, then get laid. Billie has her priorities straight.
This turns into a big argument about Issa being a weird little guy, and suddenly there are multiple potential roommate schisms in the house. Paul Baker offering to move out is a non-starter, so what happens next? Here’s where Anton comes in. He has a room to himself after 11 months without sex, but he’s not a huge one-night-stand person, knowing he catches feelings too easily. Samir sort of forces him to break out of self-imposed sexlessness, though, demanding that he “earn” his highly coveted solo room.
I feel for Anton here. Casual hook-ups just don’t come easily to him, and that’s okay. So I don’t blame him for choosing a not-ideal candidate for his mandated hook-up: Zack-Carlos, Issa’s ex-husband who was introduced in the first-season finale. Immediately, Zack-Carlos goes back to reasserting his presence in the house, eager to stay as long as possible and be his usual insufferable self. Thankfully, his reappearance in the show actually has a deeper purpose. When Billie asks for guidance about her friend, he helps her understand that Issa’s recent habit of reverting to a “weird little guy” isn’t all that destructive or bad after all. People react to breakups and change in strange ways, and we have to give them grace.
That’s where the real poignancy of this story comes from: the acknowledgment of what a tough thing Issa is going through, even if she seems surprisingly at peace with the breakup itself. So when Billie and Issa get an actual offer for drinks with two firefighters who come to the house, Billie puts on a goofy British accent à la Issa and turns them down, choosing a quiet night at home with her friend instead. Issa isn’t the one who needed to change here, to chill the fuck out or stop cock-blocking her friend; Billie is the one who needed an empathy check, and now she understands what her roommate really needs.
It’s a sweet ending for them, though I still think the episode doesn’t quite take full advantage of its premise. I’m glad we see that Issa is suffering a little, but how does Paul Baker feel about the breakup? His issues mainly get boiled down to desperately needing to masturbate. And the episode never takes the time to actually resolve most of the room-swap issues, really. I suppose this configuration will remain the new normal, but … again, how will our boys jack off? For that matter, will Billie be regularly sexiling Issa while they sleep in the same room?
When it comes down to it, “Room Swap” is another solid episode of Adults that doesn’t skimp on jokes and wackiness. I’m never someone who needs plot from my comedies, especially true laugh-driven ones like this. But I do find myself preferring this series when there are real, human motivations behind the storylines and the humor itself. I’m not looking for a tonal adjustment at all, and I certainly don’t need more plot. But sometimes it’s nice to know the show has more on its mind than just sperm banks.
• I have to think that of anyone, Anton could also afford to pay for a room to himself, right? Not that anyone is paying rent.
• Still watching Anton and Paul Baker closely, of course, but their flirtation is on pause for now.
• “I googled how to 3-D print a gun once.”
