In the annals of television, few things are as reliably formulaic as the sitcom holiday episode. The wacky misunderstanding, the heartwarming resolution, the inevitable lesson about the true meaning of Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa — we’ve seen it all. So, color me surprised to see “Lopez vs Lopez” sidestepping the eggnog and mistletoe this week, instead opting for a slightly less festive theme: appliance homicide.
Yes, you read that correctly. In Friday’s “Lopez vs Dateline” episode, George’s new appliance goes kaput, and rather than accepting this as a minor domestic setback, he decides to treat it like a scene ripped from “Forensic Files.” Picture George, dusting for fingerprints on a broken toaster oven, interrogating Mayan about her whereabouts at the time of the “incident,” and perhaps even constructing a miniature crime scene diorama. Honestly, the possibilities are endless, and I’m genuinely curious to see how this plays out.
Meanwhile, Chance is wrestling with a dilemma of his own: telling the truth. Considering George’s DNA, this honesty experiment will undoubtedly backfire in spectacular, sitcom-worthy fashion. Will the Lopez household collapse under the weight of unvarnished honesty? Will George’s crime scene tape finally snap under pressure? Will anyone learn a valuable lesson about the importance of, I don’t know, proper appliance maintenance? The answer to at least one of these questions probably involves duct tape.
“Lopez vs Dateline,” the eighth episode of the third season of “Lopez vs Lopez,” airs Friday, December 13, at 8:30 p.m. on NBC.
