Going Dutch Season 2 Episode 5 Recap: Maggie’s Career on the Line
- Barbara
- 13 hours ago
- 6 min read
Rating: ★★★★☆
What is Happening Here
Corporal Papadakis is dressed like Shrek, to the point of being green, sitting in Colonel Quinn’s office. Major Shah looks sternly on as Colonel Quinn questions Papadakis about why he’s dressed this way. Papadakis doesn’t understand, and says he got his costume from a Halloween store. He says he’s an angry green swamp ogre. Side Note: Isn’t that what Shrek is? Major Shah tells the Colonel that the troops chose to watch Shrek for the 17th movie night in a row. Papadakis says Shrek is a generational cultural touchstone. Colonel Quinn tells Major Shah that Shrek is officially banned. All Shrek movies are banned. Papadakis is shocked and upset. What an odd first meeting of the day for Colonel Quinn. His next meeting is with Specialist Gideon dressed as a giant donkey. Could it get any worse.
Later that day, Captain Maggie is dressed in her military dress uniform, as she and her Dad await the arrival of the Canadian NATO general, General Martin. Her Dad is more annoyed than impressed. Captain Maggie invited the general to Stroopsdorf. Three of the general’s past mentees are now Lieutenant Generals now. She hopes to be the fourth. Captain Maggie brought her “love me” folder filled with all her pertinent bio information dating all the way back to middle school. She asks her Dad to be on his best behavior. He does get some Canadian jokes in before the general arrives.
Charmed by A General
The general’s car arrives. Captain Maggie and Colonel Quinn come to attention and salute General Martin. The colonel is impressed, and puts on his best smile. Colonel Patrick Quinn has met his match, hard to believe even for him. Captain Maggie welcomes General Martin to their base, and is surprised at how her Dad quickly took over. General Martin shakes their hands and gets right to work, requesting a tour of USAG Stroopsdorf. They take her to the Urban Training Site. Colonel Quinn tells the general it was his idea to turn the useless bowling alley into this new urban training facility. The general is oddly enough impressed, and gives Colonel Quinn an interesting look.
Captain Maggie interrupts them and asks the general if she’d like to see their advanced laundry system. The general points out to the colonel that they use his training methods on NATO troops. He’s honored. Captain Maggie would like to hear more about that, and also their NATO Professional Development Program. The general says she’d like to have a training facility like theirs at the NATO SHAPE base. She says it would give their troops hands-on training. Colonel Quinn and General Martin seem to be flirting. Captain Maggie interrupts them and wants to continue showing the general around. General Martin wants to host both Captain Maggie and Colonel Quinn at her base. Quinn and Martin start flirting again.
At the headquarters, Sergeant Conway stops Major Shah in the hall to ask if they really banned Shrek movies. She says those movies mean a lot to the younger soldiers, because he’s a down-to-earth outsider. Shah tells her the order still stands, Shrek is banned. Everything about this situation is ridiculous, but seems to add another layer of funny antics.
Colonel Quinn and Captain Maggie are at home, and the colonel is dressed in civilian clothes, looking very nice. Maggie asks where he’s going. He’s about to stop by and see General Martin, to ensure she knows where the dining facility/DFAC is. Maggie begs her Dad not to sleep with the general. She doesn’t want it to get messy. He has a pattern with women, to sleep with them, then dump them. Maggie begs her Dad to not mess things up for her, at least not until she becomes General Martin’s next mentee. He agrees to wait.
General Martin surprises Colonel Quinn by coming to his place. He tries to ignore the natural attraction they have. The general notices and asks him what is going on. She points out they have a perfect connection, and neither of them is in their chain-of-command. They aren’t even in the same army. He relaxes and tells General Martin about Maggie not wanting him to get messy with the general. General Martin orders him to get messy with her.
Shrek Strike
Sergeant Conway tells the troops in the library that Shrek is banned and they won’t be seeing it anymore. Major Shah says they have a substitution that could replace Shrek. It is a VHS tape of his favorite childhood movie, “The NeverEnding Story”. Nobody wants to see it, and the troops walk out.
Nighttime Maneuvers
Colonel Quinn and General Martin sleep together. They later start showing each other wounds they sustained during battles. They have a lot of fun, and get messy again.
Change of Plans
Captain Maggie and Colonel Quinn meet in the Stroopsdorf Biergarten. He is extra perky and happy, and Maggie notices his attitude change. She suddenly realizes her Dad slept with General Martin. He never says “Good Morning, Mags.” She freaks out because she thinks he destroyed her chances of getting a NATO Professional Development Program slot. Colonel Quinn tells his daughter that he and General Martin are a lot alike. She’s more like a female version of him. Captain Maggie tells her Dad, hopefully the general doesn’t hate him, yet. She asks him to give General Martin her “love me” folder, build her up, and help her get the mentorship.
Colonel Quinn goes to see General Martin at the NATO SHAPE base. They make out on the war table in her office. The general has to get to a meeting. Colonel Quinn quickly tries to put in a good word for his daughter, and invites her over for a family-style gathering. The general says she doesn’t do family-style. He tries to give her Captain Maggie’s folder, but the general rushes away telling him to call her office.
Back at the Stroopsdorf base, the Shrek Strike continues. Major Shah asks why the soldiers are eating raw onions. He’s told because it’s Shrek’s favorite food. Major Shah is following orders and refuses to cancel the Shrek ban.
War Games
Captain Maggie and Colonel Quinn go to see General Martin at her base, but an aide tells them General Martin is unavailable. She can’t give them a tour of the base. Captain Maggie asks her Dad why the general is blowing him off if she is so into him. He says she’s not blowing him off. He goes to General Martin’s office and she’s there re-wrapping her hockey stick. She apologizes and says she’s breaking up with him, using the direct Canadian Breakup method. Captain Maggie tries to calm them down. Colonel Quinn challenges General Martin to a war game competition. She agrees and names the country he will use to crush NATO.
The general chooses Bhutan. Captain Maggie tells him that the country is composed of a million buddhists. He angrily makes a bet with the general, that if Bhutan wins, his daughter gets to join the NATO professional mentorship program. General Martin accepts. He still thinks the general is pretty hot, and Captain Maggie has to rush him out of the general’s office. Let the War Games begin. Captain Maggie shows her true military prowess skills.Colonel Quinn and Captain Maggie win. General Martin gives Captain Maggie the mentorship.
Peace Talks and Time
Back at Stroopsdorf, Major Shah and the troops go to war over Shrek. They trash the base in protest. Major Shah meets with Corporal Papadakis and asks him to call off the Shrek War. Major Shah calls Colonel Quinn to get the okay to override his Shrek ban, and get the okay to show a Shrek movie. General Martin wants to see it, too. She loves Shrek.They all watch the movie on the Stroopsdorf base. Cannot believe how into Colonel Quinn General Martin is. His love language is telling her how much she reminds him of himself. He always wanted to date someone who is a version of him. They negotiate their terms and version of a relationship. They are just alike. Scary.
This episode was very funny. It’s surprising how the addition of Kristen Johnson as a NATO General changed the whole show. It seemed to add more comedy, and campy unexpected laughs. The pseudo strike of the Stroopsdorf troops over a Shrek ban is so ridiculous, and it too was funny. It gave the crew plenty of chances for bizarre situations and laughter with a military background. This show is unusual, and has added more surprising laughter to its repertoire. There are some things that still need change to improve the show, but it does seem to be working on it.
I give this episode 4.5 Stars out of 5.
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