Disclaimer: Although they called this episode of Clipped “Big Gay Wedding,” they’re not talking about Charmaine’s. I hope your big gay hopes weren’t shattered like mine were.
For many of us, there comes a time where inevitably you’ve got to put a ring on it. For Buzzy, that time is 42 years and a mother-in-law’s death later. He’s making an honest man out of his long-time boyfriend Tommy!
But despite his upcoming nuptials, Buzzy’s not so stoked. Charmaine, in her first pessimistic move of the episode, tells him if he’s already got cold feet, then he definitely shouldn’t be doing this. There’s some truth to that, but something tells me her advice isn’t all about her concern for Buzzy’s well-being.
Danni, however, is all for this wedding. She bugs Charmaine about what her deal is, only to have her try some BS line about weddings being a capitalist’s wet dream. Okay, that may be true to some extent, but there have to be underlying issues here folks!
When Char and Buzzy are alone, she tries (very briefly and very unconvincingly) to be supportive, only to have him call her out. So naturally she calls him out: he’s been using Tommy’s mom as an excuse not to get married this whole time.
She asks why he, not Tommy, wants to get married. When he can’t really come up with a reason, Charmaine lets him know that, “People like you and me don’t do things just because we’re supposed to.” I believe it, and I like to think she’s talking about their queer connection.
She goes on to tell him that bad things happen when people get married for the wrong reasons. Boy, she’s really harping on this! Baggage…
When Buzzy decides to call off the wedding because of their little talk, Danni demands that Charmaine fix this. She insists she already has and that she knows Buzzy better than the rest of them: “We’re family. We get each other. We’re both outsiders.”
Again, I like to think she sees him as family, if you know what I mean. But it could also be about her being a person of color.
On a lighter note, a stripper shows up to do his thing. Ben’s already paid for his services in full, so Charmaine decides to take some bills from the cash register and enjoy the show. I could’ve done without all the pelvic thrusting, but somehow the fact that he’s gay makes it better.
It’s obviously the perfect time for a serious conversation. After Danni presses her, Charmaine finally opens up about what’s really been eating away at her: She explains that before her adoption, her biological dad married her biological mom just because he got her pregnant. He married her because he was “supposed to” and once he eventually left her, she fell apart and Char never saw her again. As a result, Charmaine ended up in the foster care system for 10 years. There you have it—to this day, marriage has meant the reason why she largely grew up without parents.
Danni feels for her, but reminds her that nothing she just said was about Buzzy. Something clicks for her then, because the next time she talks to Buzzy and he assures her that he plans on staying with Tommy forever, she gives him her blessing.
Uh, Charmaine? Newsflash: Not everything’s about you! Buzzy had already decided to go through with the wedding, AND to make Charmaine his best man.
Now finally we get our big gay wedding, complete with a big gay dance number (you gotta wonder if Ashley Tisdale had flashbacks of her High School Musical days while shooting this) and Charmaine in a suit. And a cute bowtie. Clearly the gay gods were smiling upon this union, and us.
That’s it for this week’s episode. Look out for our next Clipped recap, where hopefully we find out that Charmaine hooked up with one of the hotties in the wedding party.
