“Check/Mate”

Coupling season 1, episode 4
Original air date: October 23, 2003

In the first (and perhaps only) American-only episode of the season, Steve and Susan encounter a speed bump on their road to love: they disagree with their friends over the value of who picks up the check at dinner. When Susan picks up the check once, while Steve's in the bathroom, Steve performs amazingly in bed, leading Sally and Jane to chastise her for having emasculated him. But, really, Steve was thrilled that Susan picked up the check; he gave her exactly what she wanted in bed because he wanted to show his gratitude.

Steve picks up the check the next time, and Susan returns Steve's previous sexual favor, causing Sally, Jane, Patrick and Jeff to believe that Susan and Steve's relationship is a mostly economic one, with a little sex thrown in. Kind of like a very-slightly evolved prostitutional relationship. Adding to the mess is the fact that they're lying to each other about loving things that they actually hate: Steve confesses his secret love for Kansas (the band) to Susan, and she pretends to also love them; Susan mentions having watched Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, and Steve gushes about what a great movie it is (although Susan didn't really like it all that much, Steve just jumped to a conclusion). Confused, Steve and Susan turn to each other's friends for help.

Jeff and Patrick advise Susan to rough things up a little. Patrick suggests leather, spanking, and really dirty talk, and Jeff concurs, saying that if anyone knows Steve's sexual appetites, it ought to be him, since they've been best friends forever. Jane and Sally encourage Steve to go overboard with sweet talk and romantic candles.

Meanwhile, Jane's got a geeky stalker, who isn't at all subtle about following her around to bars. Of course, she likes the attention, since it proves that she's a real celebrity: she's the traffic girl for the number 3 morning show in Chicago! On the other hand, she wishes he'd be a little more aggressive, since she actually had to follow him at one point, just so they'd be at the same restaurant. Her stalker proves handy, though, when the four friends decide to peek in on Steve and Susan's date, post-advice.

The stalker's the only one with a car large enough to hold all of them. Patrick's been car-hopping ever since receiving a photo of himself in his convertible from a police traffic camera. He asked Steve and Jeff why no one told him that he looks ridiculous in his convertible and then asked for their input on new cars. Jeff decided to mess with him, making up criticisms for all the cars Patrick was looking at. Desperate, Patrick settled for a Hummer, which Steve and Jeff ridicule as a "small-penis car." Disturbed, Patrick sells that, but is therefore carless when the group wants to take a field-trip to Susan and Steve's date.

Jane's stalker provides wheels for them, and joins them as they troop over to Steve's apartment. Unfortunately (or fortunately), Steve and Susan already got the disastrous part of the evening over with and revealed their dislikes for everything: Kansas, DSOTYYS, spanking, and candles. By the time the others get there, they're cuddling on the floor and agreeing to be totoally honest with each other about everything from here on out. Of course, the others — and the stalker — give themselves a pat on the back for their perfect advice.

Differences:
Well, since this episode was completely original, the main difference would be that it's never aired in Britain. Frankly, this was more solid ground for the show in America, in my opinion, since they didn't have anything to prove with this episode. The characters all felt so much more natural, as did the humor. And since I wasn't constantly comparing it (disfavorably) with a (much better) original British episode, I really enjoyed it. Of course, since NBC has taken it off the schedule indefinitely, I may never see another original episode of Coupling produced in the U.S.