Penny and Aggie/Recap/The Popsicle War/Teams of Rivals

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

We don't have to agree, Penny. We just have to let go.

Penny and Aggie continue gathering allies to stop Karen's clique. As Penny and Katy-Ann reconcile, Duane asks Aggie whether it's wise to include Stan in their alliance. Aggie says that he seems genuinely regretful, and that they should give him a chance. Penny advises Michelle to be patient, as the counterplot against Karen will take a week.

Meanwhile, Karen observes that her co-conspirators, without Penny as a target to unite them, have taken to squabbling with each other more than ever. She decides what's needed is a "new villain," and a competition with each other (but not her) to defeat that villain. Recalling what Cyndi had told her about Duane, Karen tells the group that they must expose their class president as a secret Muslim, for the good of their community's reputation and their college applications. Meg dismisses the idea that Duane's religion would have any bearing on their futures, prompting Samantha to go into a rage over her "Nazi superiority complex." Meg laughs this off, and decides that it's time for her to go off on her own, the clique having outlived its usefulness to her.

After Meg leaves, Karen, acting as though she expected that, turns everyone's attention back to Duane. The remaining clique members react characteristically: Cyndi, though the first to show interest by giggling maliciously, pretends to be concerned about Duane getting hurt; Samantha, noting that some of her heroes of colour were Muslim, is conflicted; while Charlotte angrily urges that they "flush a Koran in front of him!" Karen suggests instead that one of them use her feminine wiles to invite them to one of their parties, ply him with alcohol, and get him to spill his secrets on cameraphone. She proposes further that Samantha, Charlotte and Cyndi compete with each other to be his seductress.

At day's end, Penny, eager to clear her conscience, shows Aggie the candid photo she'd taken of her and Marshall back in Dinner for Six, and offers to delete it. Aggie, still heartbroken over him, asks for a copy first. Penny regards her sympathetically and asks for Aggie's number, suggesting the two of them are moving from allies to friends.

Tropes

  • Angry Black Woman: Samantha.
  • Chekhov's Gun: Subverted. The candid photo Penny had taken of Aggie and Marshall in Dinner for Six resurfaces, but it turns out Penny has done nothing with it except show it to a couple of friends. When Aggie asks for a copy, the photo ends up not as an instrument of Revenge against her, as Penny had originally intended, but as a means for the two girls to draw closer together as friends.
  • Forgiveness: Penny and Katy-Ann.
  • For the Evulz: Cyndi's reaction to the suggestion that the clique expose Duane as a Muslim is neither anger nor apathy nor uncertainty, but mischievous glee.
  • The Fundamentalist: Charlotte.
  • Gambit Pileup: As Penny's and Aggie's team begins plotting their counteroffensive, Karen hatches a new scheme.
  • Opt Out / Know When to Fold'Em: Meg decides to quit while she's ahead.
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