It's Like a Fucking Episode of the OC in Here

Clearly Michelle and Tony can't be our star-crossed lovers. So is it Tony and Abigail (I'm sure she'll also be pissed when she finds out about what Tony did with those pictures, yah?), Michelle and Josh, Sid and Cassie, Cassie and her new boyfriend (though they have so much in common, depression, self-loathing), Malcolm and Michelle's mother? Boy, that's a lot of romantic conflict and potential.

While this was Michelle's episode, it was hard to feel much sympathy for her. Even she has proclaimed herself as a sexual object, so to see her actually emotionally distraught by Tony's actions really seemed like payback for her ability to take him back all the time. Thankfully, and surprisingly she did not take him back this time. "I think I might love you" just didn't cut it. Again, Michelle's weaknesses seem to be directly in correlation with her mother, who also allows herself to be treated as a sexual object (enough about her ass, gross; "I really loved having sex with him"), and has been married and divorced several times. Malcolm may not be as bad as Tony, but he doesn't exactly seem a great fit for Michelle's mother. Nonetheless, she is quick to want to take him back.
Hopefully this is the episode (and I imagine it is with only 2 episodes left in the season) that there are actual repercussions for Tony's actions, and everything doesn't just return to the status quo. It would be kind of hard to believe Sid going back after finally having the gaul to punch Tony in the face. And Michelle finally realizing that he is "lying, sneering, taunting, and manipulative."
Usually, the injection of new characters for the convenience of conflict is bothersome, but it worked for me here. Even if we never knew about Abigail's brother Josh before, he served as a nice counterpoint to Tony ("You're very upfront. Is there any other way to be.") Their relationship seemed sweet, and it's too bad that Tony was so conniving and manipulative to ruin it. I can't imagine that this is the end of it though. The truth will have to come out somehow. It's kind of hard to believe that Michelle thought that Josh's psychological problems would really come out with nude pictures of is sister, but I'll go with it.

I also loved the music in this episode with the use of Magnetic Fields and that short cue from Bright Eyes "First Day of My Life." That use of music alone could have sold me on Josh and Michelle by reminding me of this:

Lastly, I really want a Bongo Dongo Dog.