Jersey Shore CliffNotes 2.5: Chekov’s Grenades

Last night’s chapter of Jersey Shore was a departure from the character growth we’ve seen thus far this season: The Situation regressed back into his rakish ways with women, navigating a Dangerous Liasons scheme to get three women into the beds of him and his friends, while at the same time putting a “grenade” in Ronnie’s room. Now, Chekov’s Gun rule states that you can’t put a gun on a mantle-piece in the first act without it going off in the third. Yet this grenade is never mentioned again, nor does Ronnie or Sammi seem to notice her presence, wherever they may be for that brief, merciful ten minutes that they seem to not have the cameras on them this week.

Of course, the Chekov’s Gun rule does apply to the letter that JWOWW and Snooki have written on a computer!, detailing Ronnie’s escapades at the clubs over the course of the season. The letter is indeed found by Sammi in her underwear drawer, and she immediately starts a game of Clue to figure out who wrote it. Being true friends, JWOWW and Snooki lie about having written it. Also, they could not have written it, as several characters point out, because the letter uses the word “wisely,” and it is taken as fact that Snooki would never use that word, nor know what it means. The men in the house are obviously out of the question, because bros don’t tell on bros. That leaves Angelina, who astute viewers can assume will be blamed for JWOWW and Snooki’s actions. This game of Mean Girls is a regression as well on the part of JWOWW, whose bitchy tendencies have been thus-far suppressed. Last season she was all about confrontation; now she will stop talking as soon as Sammi comes into the bathroom (where JWOWW and Snooki hold court, fully clothed, in the shower), only to continue up again the moment she passes by.

In another strange callback to last season, The Situation almost doesn’t let Angelina eat the dinner he’s prepared (without burning down the house or making any tragic mistakes!) because she hasn’t done her turn at the dishes. But then he lets her eat, because he claims he would never deny someone their meal. Yet last season he threatened to do the same to Sammi when she refused to clean up after he made the house lobster. Are we, as the audience, supposed to remember for him? Or shall we forget too, ever marching forward with characters who seemed doomed to repeat history as often as Ronnie and Sammi repeat their last fight?