It’s been two years since my last one of these.

Is it time to do more Strangers With Candy bits? Yeah, I think so.

Episode 9 of Season 1 of Strangers With Candy is titled Jerri Is Only Skin Deep. Continuing with the “a little too serious” presentation of the first season, the episode deals with what else but self-image and bullying at Flatpoint High. The big homecoming event is coming up and as usual the school only cares about one thing; Yasmine’s ass. I mean, they care about vanity. And also Yasmine’s ass, because she’s got a nice ass.

Occasionally I like to look up what people have been doing since Strangers With Candy, and unsurprisingly there’s a lot of secondary characters who never did anything before or after their one appearance in this show. And then there’s people you don’t quite expect to recognize the names of. The girl who played Becky Anne (Rebecca Rich) has zero credits between this 1999 episode and 2018 where she appeared in a short film, and nothing after. Sabine Singh (Yasmine) went on for another ten years with her big role being in 158 episodes of All My Children over the course of two years. Jesus Christ.

We never actually see any of Yasmine’s ass throughout the episode, now that I’m re-watching it, but from outside of her cheerleader outfit I gotta say; it doesn’t seem to be much to talk about. On the other hand, Jerri has presumably seen her in the show so what do I know. Singh has since quit acting to work full time for PURE which spreads awareness and intercepts and rescues child sex-trafficking victims in India and South-east Asia. Way to make me feel bad about talking about her character’s ass.

Once again they nailed the main characters in this episode. Chuck Noblet reads out loud Jerri’s note talking about her itchy vagina and is less offended by her calling him a homo than he is at the idea that she thinks she can be homecoming queen. Following their after-class talk where he points out that Jerri is missing a few key traits to become homecoming queen like looks and…yeah, that’s a big one, he goes back to his desk and pulls of a fantastic move. Colbert does a great job checking his dentures and rug in a very convincing way despite his teeth and hair being very real, and then does his iconic breakdown into a sob.

The complete lack of context for Noblet crying is what makes Strangers what it is. We of course see that Jellineck gets no respect from the jocks and routinely bullied by them. Jerri’s stepmother naturally was homecoming queen of her time and in an Al Bundy-ish fashion has made this memory and accomplishment a big part of her personality. And it makes complete sense that Principal Blackman would make himself homecoming king every year. I’m going to assume that Blackman was the homecoming king in high school, killed the principal, assumed his place, and has been doing this ever since. It really wouldn’t be a surprise in this world if I was right.

Jerri drops more quotes from The Trip Back, the inspiration for her character and the show. Jerri is also incredibly racist this episode. We do see what happens when Jerri tries to be kind and when other characters encourage her to do a good deed. She traumatizes a child in a wheelchair by making him watch a weasel behead a chicken. The chicken can only be in this episode to continue the season 1 gag of some exotic animal getting killed.

What surprises me most about this episode is that Jerri “wins” in a sense, but actually loses. The big speech (which again just wholesale pulls quotes from The Trip Back) actually convinces the panel of three judges including Derek to choose Jerri over Becky, even though Principal Blackman throws it out and picks Yasmine anyway.

Because Yasmine has a nice ass. Again, that’s just the show saying that.

Jerri’s popularity is whatever the show needs it to be, I hope you’ve realized this by now. See you in 2027 for our talk about the season finale.

Quotes:

  • Noblet: “I know you want to be homecoming queen, we all want to be homecoming queen.”
  • Jerri: “Who else can I Shanghai?”
    Orlando: “I’m not Chinese, I’m Filipino.”
    Jerri: “Whatever helps you sleep at night.”
  • Jerri: “If a tree is nice in the forest and nobody’s around to hear, does it become homecoming queen?”
  • Jerri: “Being beautiful on the inside may be its own reward, but it’ll never beat an ass like Yasmine. Damn she’s got a nice ass.”