Suspend disbelief, grab a bag or three of chips, pop open a non-diet Coke and get cozy on your couch — “Drop Dead Diva,” Lifetime’s big hit, returns for its second season this Sunday.
And you’ll be happy to know, that, yes, the show about a skinny model reincarnated in the body of a chubbette lawyer, holds up as well as a stainless steel Wonderbra.
When last we saw Deb/Jane (Brooke Elliott), she was facing bigger dilemmas than merely dying and inflating back to life in size 16 jeans.
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In fact, Deb, who’d finally embraced her new existence as big Jane, had to decide if she was going to: A) Embrace the sudden appearance of her secret husband, Ethan (Devon Gummersall) — who was so secret she had no recollection of ever marrying the guy and B) take her upcoming disbarment hearing lying down.
What’s a girl to do when faced with drama of such magnitude that even a whole pan of lasagna won’t cure it?
Call on Judge Paula Abdul, that’s what.
And since every show these days has to include a big, choreographed musical number (I swear, “Viva Laughlin!” was the victim of ahead-of-its-time syndrome), Jane and Abdul sing and dance in a hamburger joint with full-out choreography. Not only does the judge look fabulous in her sequined mini judge robe, but, she gives great advice to boot while kicking up her heels.
OK, since I can’t tell you what happens, I will tell you that Teri (Margaret Cho) drags the down-hearted Jane back to court (even while she’s facing disbarment for ratting out a client) to take a pro-bono case against an insurance company. Seems the dastardly pencil pushers won’t pay for a little girl’s life-saving heart surgery.
As for the disbarment, well, what do you think?
So what makes this show so much fun? I think it’s because Jane is the literal epitome of the American woman: She’s a skinny girl trapped in a fat girl’s body.
But unlike the rest of us, Jane was lucky enough to grow up as Deb — a gorgeous, perfectly perfect specimen — and therefore has a skinny girl’s self-confidence.
In real life, you’d have to be from Latin America, Ukraine or some isolated pocket of Europe to have that kind of body confidence.
So, yes, the second season opener is at least as good as the first season closer.
Viva “Diva!”