Samantha Who? Review:
"The Park" and "The Family Vacation" (Episodes 208 & 211)

photos courtesy of ABC

Last night, ABC served up two back-to-back episodes of Samantha Who? Weirdly (or perhaps normally, in the case of 30-minute sitcoms) the two episodes didn't really tie together, though that didn't stop them from moving the Owen-Sam relationship along to its final resting place. Thank the heavens.

In "The Park," Sam volunteers to help her boyfriend Owen build a park for charity. Along for the ride is Owen's ex-girlfriend, Willow, making the project only slightly awkward for the threesome. The most unsettling part of the process is how obvious it has become that Sam and Owen are a couple existing in two separate worlds. No matter how hard Sam works to fit into her environmentally-conscious boyfriend's standards for living, it's clear that the whole taking-care-of-the-earth thing just isn't really her cup of tea. Both her friends and her live-in ex, Todd, point this out to her in the first minutes of the episode, but she firmly stands her ground (under enviro-friendy lightbulbs, of course).

Day two of the charity park building involves spreading manure, and Sam decides to fake a stomach flu in order to go shopping with Dena instead. While out on the town, the girls run into Willow and Sam is forced (read: predictably chooses) to lie and say that all the bags she is holding contain clothes for the poor. Since Owen doesn't believe in "throwing money at issues" and since his ex is probably not an idiot, Sam has plenty of reasons to be nervous. Those nerves get to her when Owen comes over to bring her soup (turns out, Willow is stupid...or just nice) and she ends up spilling the beans, telling him she can't continue to live his lifestyle. Lucky for her, he doesn't expect her to and asks her to just be herself.

After a fancy but guilt-ridden date, Sam heads home to get the advice of her mom. "Owen is everything that I've ever wanted in someone except for this one, tiny detail...and that's that when I'm with him I feel like crap," she explains. Though her mom looooves Owen, she agrees that its important that the person you're with makes you feel good about yourself and encourages her to break it off. Feeling inspired, Sam heads over to Owen's place to break the news, but before she can get it out, he announces that he is naming the park they worked on together after her. She hesitates for a moment, but ultimately goes through with the break-up. He understands and lets her go. While it's sad to see Owen go (he's the every-woman's-dream type), it makes sense for Samantha and it's nice to see her recognize that trying to be a better person doesn't need to include dating someone she has nothing in common with.

The first few moments of "The Family Vacation" take us through a windfall of recent dates Sam has been on since breaking up with "the perfect guy." Cut to her apartment, where she is bawling over the fact that she falls too quickly for every man she meets and decides to take some time off from dating. The decision is evenly timed with her parents' annual mountain trip and Sam and Dena decide to tag along.

Although Sam is a little disappointed with the lodge, she escapes boredom before long when she runs into an old friend. Of course, she doesn't remember the man, but her parents swiftly fill her in with news that the cute guy behind the desk was in fact her first love. They met as kids vacationing with their parents and while Sam's visits eventually stopped, Brad has been running the place ever since. Also in town? Andrea (Sam's mean but standby BFF), who shows up after finding out that she was deliberately not invited (Sam's mom forbid it).

Miffed at first, Sam eventually warms up to Andrea's presence after realizing she can pawn off Brad's advances on her. The trick doesn't work, as Brad clearly only has eyes for Sam and Sam doesn't really want Andrea hooking up with Brad, even if she can't decide whether or not she wants him herself. Her family encourages her to go for it, and she spends the car ride home crying over leaving him behind. The lesson learned here? "The heart wants what it wants, and my heart wants to be bruised," Sam says in a voiceover. Time will only tell how long it takes her to realize that what her heart really wants is the guy that's right in front of her back home.