Dirty Sexy Money: The Wedding

Hands in the air: Who missed Dirty Sexy Money last week? I know I did. So it was all the better to come back to an episode chock-a-block with Karen that also took us a little further into the mystery of just who Simon Elder is and what exactly he's up to. It was also an interesting portrait of marriages -- those that endure, those that remain for reasons other than love and devotion, and those that never get off the ground.

First, Karen. Loved opening with Karen and Freddy cuddling in bed on the morning of their wedding. Pan down to Brian sitting on the edge of the bed, chastising these two knuckleheads for not taking the ceremony and the idea of marriage seriously enough. I'm going to take a minute away from my Karen-is-fabulous rant for an I-love-Brian rant. His storyline has developed in such an interesting way, and his evolution from cartoon to -- well, let's face it, crazy person, but crazy person with a heart who is amusing and touching -- has been incredibly fun to watch. And the thought of waking up to him sitting on the edge of the bed is more than a little bit scary.

Karen goes to her mother to talk about her cold feet, and Tish can barely conceal her panic at the thought of Karen not going through with the marriage and repeating her mistakes because she can't let go of Nick. "You're a romantic," Tish tells her. "But what's really romantic is to wake up every morning and say 'I choose you again today' -- no matter what." Tish acknowledges her past and regret -- she seems to accept it, yet not wallow in it -- and is working hard to avoid Karen crashing and burning, to the point where she orders Nick to make sure her daughter walks down the aisle.

Tripp summons Nick to make sure that photographers are bidding adequately for Karen's wedding photos -- with the proceeds going to charity, of course. Rocking yet another velvet smoking jacket, Tripp introduces Nick to a tradition that Karen's first father-in-law taught him: on the wedding day, open the bottle of tequila first thing in the morning, and it's got to be bone dry by the time you go to bed. So at 9:30 a.m., Tripp is well into it. But hey, at least it's Patron.

Nick goes to make sure Karen gets married, and again she confesses her ambivalence about the wedding, though she denies the notion that her hesitancy is about Nick. As she's ready to walk down the aisle, Karen shares a nice moment with three-sheets-to-the-wind Tripp, who, encouraging her, remarks, "This time I believe it's going to last." Beat. "For quite some time." Gee, thanks Dad.

Until Freddy tells Karen just before the reception that he's fallen in love with her, it seems as though our fair heroine might stick with it. Then, of course, she says to Nick, "I want a divorce -- now." In the receiving line. Half an hour later, she and Nick are breaking the news to Freddy that it's annulment time. "I still get the check, right?" Freddy asks. "Of course, baby -- I made a vow," Karen replies. It's no surprise that soon thereafter Karen kisses Nick and tells him that she knows they belong together. What is surprising is that Tish later tells Karen that she'll help her try to get Nick.

On to Brian and Brian Jr., whose mother is back from her two-month stint in Brazil to reclaim her son. Of course you could see from a mile away that sparks would fly between the two of them, and of course Brian, with his wife and kids out of town, would turn out to become passionate in the heat of an argument. It's also genuinely sad to watch Brian and his son say goodbye to one another -- and I for one hope she doesn't end up taking the kid to Brazil, because he's been just a fantastic and endearing piece of comedy.

Finally, there's the ongoing fight between Patrick and Tripp. In his capacity as attorney general of the state of New York, Patrick's pursuing indictments of contractors that do business with Tripp -- who practically turns purple when lecturing Patrick about it. Patrick's wife, Eileen, confronts him about his affair, which he denies, then accuses his father of dropping the dime on him. The key is Simon Elder's involvement here -- both as an adviser to Patrick and as the dime-dropper who made sure Patrick's wife found out about Carmelita, then encouraging Patrick to come clean with her. By the end, Patrick announces to Tripp that he and Eileen are moving into a building Elder owns. Whereupon Donald Sutherland gets to utter some classic Tripp bad dialogue: "I want to destroy him. I want that son of a bitch completely and utterly destroyed." Chills.