The Big Door Prize – Season 2 Episode 8 Recap & Review

Our Town

Episode 8 of The Big Door Prize begins with Father Reuben showing up at the bar and inviting Hana to the school play. He points out he knows a good deal about wrestling and this ties in with his dad. His dad used to wrestle with him and that feeling of pure fun is something the Morpho machine brought up through an animation of the wrestling.

Here though, he invites Hana to go see this weird interpretative play and Reuben agrees to save her a seat.

Meanwhile, Dusty finds that he needs to leave Giorgo’s place by 3pm that afternoon. His pa has even showed up. Dusty shows at school and asks Alice about his living arrangement. She encourages him to come stay and despite really embarrassing himself (honestly, it’s toe-curlingly cringe) she smiles and is okay for him to be crashing on the sofa for now.

Through all of this, Giorgio shows up to see Father Reuben. He’s also been a superstar but he’s feeling a bit humbled and lost. His Morpho vision is him doing his best to serve others, and that explains the gondola and the pizzas. he’s taking on so much and he’s now experiencing this for the first time.

As for Father Reuben, he has stuff to let go of and, specifically, how he feels about his late wife. He feels guilty for having fun but Giorgio does well to turn him around so he can date Hana. Giorgio senses the chemistry between them from the other side of the crowd, right during the performance of Our Town, and he decides that Reuben needs to make his move sooner rather than later.

During an intermission, Cass speaks to Dusty in the hallway of the school. She comments on his glasses and the changes he’s making in his life. She questions why it took him so long to do this given he never made that sort of effort for her. In fact, she gaslights him into thinking that he’s either leading Alice or Cass on (despite the separation being her decision). She eventually walks away, leaving Dusty on his own to stew over his words.

After the play, Giorgio decides to put on a show. He steps in the ring, playing the heel, as Father Reuben steps into the squared circle and prepares to fight. Turns out he’s been wearing spandex this whole time! After their earlier chat about Wrestlemania III, the pair trade moves, including Cena’s “You Can’t See Me” trademark. Eventually the fight ends with Giorgo knocked out and Father Reuben getting up to the top rope and dropping the elbow.

This is synonymous with Reuben’s vision from the Morpho machine, where he needs to take a leap of faith and go for it. It’s a wonderfully hearwarming moment, and it ends with Reuben kissing Hana when she steps up to the ring.

As the episode closes out, Trina and Jacob say ‘I love you’ together but Dusty decides to tag along with Cass. He’s awkward on the way out of school, wondering whether he should go back to Alice, but he decides to press on with his path regardless.

The Episode Review

This episode does a great job of wrapping up a few long-running threads in the season. It seems like Trina and Jacob are ready to move onto the next phase in their life, now that they’ve overcome the hurdle of saying I love you.

Then you have the situation involving Cass and Dusty’s self-ploration. We haven’t seen too much of Cass though and it’s largely been Dusty who has ventured out. However, it is bang out of order for Cass to gaslight him like that given it was her idea for this self-ploration initially. She’s not happy that he’s seeing Alice and has backed him into a corner when she could very easily decide not to flirt or converse and move on with her own life.

Thankfully, we get more joy with the Reuben/Hana side of things. This has been brewing for a while and it’s good to see them finally embrace their true feelings and start to open up a bit. With 2 episodes left, we’ll have to wait and see what’s in store for us next!