the suite life takes on civil rights: season 2 ep 32, 34, & 35

We're closing out season 2 of the Suite Life of Zack & Cody with three of our least favorite episodes of the entire series: Nugget of History, Health and Fitness, and Back in the Game. What do they all have in common? They tried to tackle some of the most important and difficult topics they could - black history, body image and physical health, and ableism - and they all fell incredibly short. Come commiserate with us as we discuss what they did do and what they should have done. 

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Chapters

• 0:00 Intro
• 8:35 E32 Summary
• 12:09 E32 Notes
• 24:29 E34 Summary
• 30:14 E34 Notes
• 45:05 E35 Summary
• 47:38 E35 Notes

Transcript

Get home from school turn on my TV who are these friends staring right back at me now that we'e older why don't you come over and go back in time with me 90s babies nostalgia 

Hi I'm Amanda 

And I'm Jessica 

and this is Nineties Babies Nostalgia where a couple of 90s babies rewatch and sometimes watch for the first time tweet entertainment from the early 2000s

Just to be clear We are not sponsored by or affiliated with any of the channels actors shows that we discuss on this channel We just really love talking about Tv and today we're talking about the suite life of Zack and cody

season 2 part like 5 I think we're on like part 5 this is going to be the last episode of season 2 We've already covered all of the episodes that we felt or really Good or important to I wouldn't even say there's a storyline in the suite life It's very sitcom-esque but that's been covered in episodes 1 through 4 and you can go back and listen to that if you want like more of a full recap on the suite life in general But as I was finishing season 2 I noticed these 3 episodes in particular which all fall at the end of the season that felt like they were trying to do something kind of political I've I've dubbed this suite life takes on civil rights It could also be The suite life gets serious so these are episodes 32 34 and 35 that we'll be discussing and so content warning beforehand in episode 32 we will be discussing segregation but more so racial stereotypes in episode 34 there is talk of eating disorders and body dysmorphia and in episode 35 it's about physical disability So we might get into ableism Fun fun Looking forward to that Ah but before we get into all of that and there will be timestamps for Those whether you're listening to the audio or if you're watching on Youtube there will be times chapter markers wherever you find those to skip those episodes if you find those ones to be triggering for you but before we get into all of that Jessica what have you been enjoying lately

I think maybe you've mentioned this on the show before but I'm not sure I'm going to do a game I have been enjoying Stardew Valley it just had a patch come out which is like a pretty detailed patch Um with a bunch of new updates You can have multiple pets you can put hats on your pets there's also just like a but lots of graphics and bugs and things fixed I haven't played probably in like a year or now and so now I'm starting another playthrough and I just freaking love the game It's so cozy It's so fun I'm still in the first year I'm in summer So I'm still deciding like who I want a romance and it's pretty early game I'm always like broke but it's just such a fun game every time I get back into it I'm like gosh I don't know why I ever stop It's Yeah it's one of my favorites I know Amanda loves it too

I do I love early gameplay too I think that the creator of stardew has done a really good job First of all I just love that like he's more obsessed with this game than anyone else's because It's been hugely popular for so long but it's been out for so many years that most of the players like ourselves stopped playing a while ago but he's still like let me give you all of these new things 

Well so what happened was like five years ago now probably maybe 4 around the time when they brought in co-op which I know was around the time of the pandemic he was like I'm not doing and More patches no more updates to stardew because I want to work on haunted chocolatier which is his new game that I don't know when it's going to come out 

May at some point come out

yeah and then like a year ago he was like okay I'm pausing work on haunted chocolatier I'm going to give you guys a big patch But then that's it like So he comes back every few years and he's like fine I hear you I hear you I'll make some updates like

I know and I love it and it is such a cozy game I started playing it again recently I did a one off cause I needed a day like off of my phone and socials and stuff and I saw that the Patch was coming I didn't even know it was like a week before the patch came out and I was like good to know I'm about to lose my life again

What have you been enjoying

first of all shout out to the t-shirt if you're part of our Youtube or socials you will see it if you're audio only you are severely deprived I'm wearing a t-shirt that says Ethan Craft and has 6 6 5 six I don't know

5 

Ah ah ah an amalgamation of I just keep gesturing at my breasts beautiful beautiful images of our one and only Ethan Craft custom ordered by Jessica for me for my birthday And I love it very much that wasn't going to be my what I'm um enjoying lately I just wanted to give it a shout-out because you should really you should really be checking out our Youtube to watch to to see it what I have been enjoying is this book I finished it a couple weeks ago it's called monstrilio And I almost wish that we had done a what are you enjoying during our last young royals because it's a little more applicable to the young royals plot It's a debut novel by Gerardo Sámano Córdova I probably butchered that but it's 1 of the most unique books I've Ever read it opens up with 2 parents mourning the immediate loss of their child and out of just pure instinct The mother cuts off a piece of his lung because she wants a part to keep him and he only had one lung when he was born so that was like a symbol of his life and death and over time she feeds this lung and it grows into this little monster that Is carnivorous but also like reminds her of her child and and you get four perspectives of the mom The dad The best friend and the monster as it ages and it's very much like a beautiful book on grief and also queerness because like Everyone is gay and just like so unique

Yeah it sounds very very very unique Also maybe a little dark

Yeah it is a little dark That's why I was like this fits more with young royals 

Yeah yeah yeah yeah 

Ah but it's not so dark as to be depressing to me because it's also just such a comedic situation It's magical realism Which if you don't know is like it's not full on fantasy It's like everything about their lives is the real world It's our world that we're living in except for this 1 thing that is magical that could not happen this little monster growing out of a piece of a lung

Yeah 


okay before we get into the episodes I wanted to throw in 1 more disclaimer if you've been listening to us cover the suite life of Zack and Cody as we took a break to do young royals quiet on set came out on max and it's good Go watch It Whatever that could be its own topic but in it it was revealed that Brian Peck who was Drake Bell's ab*ser was not only part of the Nickelodeon family But after being committed and doing his time Was then hired on for the suite life We didn't know that before he voices the mirror which is not in any of the episodes we're going to discuss but may come up later just a reminder that um sh*tty things are happening all the time and We didn't know that that was a thing when we were talking about how funny and quippy the mirror is and now I think it brings to light a different perspective of this is a voice commenting on people's bodies So that's fun and I think that kind of sets the tone episode 32

a nugget of history

I love that you wrote the guest stars Phill Lewis is Grandma Rose most be as if Phill Lewis isn't in every single episode

Okay but it is kind of a guest star We don't you know 

Yeah what in the Tyler Perry

so with that Mr Moseby's Grandma Rose Moseby played by Phill Lewis um shows up to the hotel and he's really not looking forward to her visit we see her arrive and he's just a little frazzled later on We see her come up to Carey's suite because they're gonna go shopping and she reminds the boys to get their homework done before she gets back Because they have a project that's due the next day and Zack is struggling because he's like nothing happened that was exciting in the 1940s I don't want to write this multiple page paper on it this sucks and rose is like I live during that time So many exciting things happened And she starts telling him about Hugh Mulzac he was a commanding captain of the first integrated crew of the US merchant marine in 1942 and she knows all about this because she was a dancer in the uso and she performed at the ship's departure and so Zack gets like really excited We never see him get excited about school and he is f*cking stoked about this paper He can't wait to get it back He wants to know what his grade is but he gets a d because the teacher is like this is inaccurate segregation Like continued on through the 1950s like there was no integrated crew in the 40s and Zack was like I know you're saying what's in our textbook but like this was not included in the textbook like this is accurate  he ends up getting Three weeks of detention because I think he talks back to the teacher maybe and so he brings rose with him like I need you to back that like what I wrote was accurate and so she comes with him and she pulls out a piece of paper From the day the boat left out of her purse and gives it to the teacher and the teacher is like oh you were right and then Zack ends up getting an A+
 
That's yep I'll cover the b plot k London's dad tells her that she has to get a job so she Decides to get a job at the cluck bucket because she has to ruin Maddie's life and Maddie works there Maddie's put in charge of training London because she has to ruin Maddie's life and London sucks at everything can't even read the drive-thru script She can't make sandwiches She doesn't even cluck in the costume correctly Maddie is working on a really complicated order for a customer and this is back when it was like if you don't get it done in a certain amount of time It's free and London's distracting her and the timer runs out so the customer gets a free meal and Maddie gets demoted and London gets Promoted to the front counter which was like a big deal for Maddie to get in the first place but then a football team comes in It's swamped and she can't do anything right and Maddie refuses to help London and just lots of annoying back and forth eventually Maddie is like She's in the costume the tail catches fire They both get fired but then London was like slay girl boss I'm going to buy this place and hire you back 

Yup

that's the b plot

that's the b plot

Do You want to do notes on A or B first 

Do you want to get b out of the way

I Kind of feel like we should get B out of the way 

Okay

Cause it's so stupid and unimportant

It's stupid and really unimportant there is a note that In this job that London is being forced to get from her dad that he's giving her a thousand dollars an hour for every dollar made and like I know they're rich but how rich are they

Well This was what 2006 she wasn't making that much per hour

She comments that it's $6000 an hour because she's like $6000 an hour adds up so six bucks an hour 

Six bucks an hour is so low 

It is really low but still

Yeah and that's how she can afford to buy the clock bucket because of all that money

Yep it made me sad that London mentions she would never be caught dead eating a friend tfy because that's one of the best form of potatoes

Hundred percent hands down agreed when Maddie's training London she has this dumb little trick on how she makes the sandwiches it really bothered me because she spends all this time being like look I have this trick blah blah blah blah but she's really just going down the assembly line All the ingredients are already in order You're making it more complicated didn't like it

Agreed Okay my one semi-serious note on The stance that we have stood for a little bit Especially Amanda is that Maddie's a bad friend 

call me out

yeah but I never like thought about it until you pointed it out and now I see it in like every episode I'm like f*cking Maddie being a terrible friend How dare she

Same I never saw it growing up I see it now and now I can't unsee it

Yeah yeah and so London gets promoted by no fault Well okay I don't want to say no fault of her own but it's just an unfortunate situation that Maddie gets demoted And so Maddie decides to take it out on her by not helping her when she's swamped until money is involved so London's like I'll pay for the down payment on your car and that's when Maddie's like fine I'll help you and then her tail catches on fire and to me While she's sitting there being like I'm not helping you You never do anything for me blah blah blah I'm like one London does come through for her all the time and 2 you only ever are a friend to London if she's paying for something for you if money is not involved You do not care about her like a good friend Even if you were fighting with someone A good friend would be like I'm annoyed with this person right now but she's in a really unfortunate situation and if I was in her shoes I would step out up and help out a good friend wouldn't be f*cking petty like that Even And at 16-17

And we see it over and over and over again that Maddie only agrees to help London when London buys her friendship and London makes comments about how 1 of the things she struggles with is she doesn't know if people like her for her or because she has money and Maddie almost sympathizes with this but then continues to be 1 of those people who really is only her friend because she has money it pisses me off Okay but notes on the A plot because this is really why we're here

Yeah and I think I have 1 note that transitions perfectly is like we spent so much time on that damn b plot like this was an episode that I would say was pretty 50 50 split like maybe even favored the b plot slightly more And because we spent so much time on that stupid ass cluck bucket We spent no time on the a plot so it has no opportunity to go anywhere productive or great They just didn't give it the time it needed

I agree I think it had a few small merits

okay 

I I liked that they spoke about a figure in black history that I personally had not heard of before 

Me neither

I don't know about you But You hadn't either is that what you said 

Yeah 

Yeah and I also like the point about how textbooks aren't always accurate and to anyone listening who's confused the point was that the teacher said that the navy didn't desegregate until I think it's 1948 but they're talking about the merchant marine which was controlled by the military at this time and it is all accurate The person they're talking about and the time period and whatnot so oftentimes you know it's the whole they say history is written by the victors Whatever so I liked that part of it Especially since I have a degree in history and a lot of my degree was about reading through the bias and the gaps in the way that we teach public history But like you said there's just not really Enough time dedicated to it and my biggest offense from it is that the the character that they introduce into the show Grandma Moseby which first of all I think by age should be his mom not his grandma and

I didn't even write that down as a note but right when she went on screen I was like she's not that much older than Mr Moseby who's portrayed to be in his like forties

I know I know I was like what is this man supposed to be like the oldest 25 year old 

Yeah

She should be his mom but also she fits into like multiple weird stereotypes of portrayals of Of black women and black people in general in media Like first of all it's the Tyler Perry version of it all like we've seen this with Raven doing the costumes playing older people and it's good physical comedy that Disney likes doing but it's starting to feel like it's more often The black characters than it is The white characters 

Yep

She has this giant Mary Poppins bag is what you called it where she's just pulling things out It's like the the bag that the grandma has in Halloweentown She specifically pulls out a giant tub of moisturizer saying she doesn't want to get ashy And then she also pulls out a giant hub of peanut butter and calls it lunch

yep 

both of which were just like crazy outlandish to me watching that in the same episode that we're supposed to be learning about black history It really pissed me off I'm like already mad and we still have 2 episodes to go

I Know well and it's like yeah I just feel like part of me wants to appreciate what they tried to do which was teach us about someone and that none of us has heard about but then everything else they did after or alongside it

Was so wrong

Makes you upset Yeah because I'm like why do we give her a Mary Poppins bag like we could have made her character something that we continued to someone we learned from throughout the episode like she could have been this character with nuggets of history that she's throwing out Instead of like feeling like we had to make her this super comedic character in a way that edged on not appropriate

it wasn't she also like big bootied and making just like weird jokes A lot of the times like not fully all there It was kind of and that's part of why I'm bringing up the Tyler Perry obviously other people do stuff like that I think Jim Carey has done movies like that But it was kind of Madea-like in the portrayal of just being this like sassy quippy but a little bit weird and big bootied woman 

Yep

Do we have more notes on the A plot

No I just think my thing is like not that the Raven black history episode was perfect but like we know Disney can do something like this well I'm not saying it was perfect I'm not saying it's the best ever prime example But it was good They did it well we know Disney can do this and they did it in an earlier timeframe than when this episode was released and so it just sucks to feel like they're going backwards

Yeah and I think that's a perfect segue into what you you put because I think that brings to light how much the network matters versus how much the people behind the production really matter so Jess wrote Ok I finally had to look into the writing that's her subtitle for this

Yeah normally I write like notes quotes and this when I was just like I had to look into the writing because I was like this is getting out of hand basically the way that all of these episodes function That I learned now that I looked into these three I'm saying all at least these 3 episodes all function the same way is Jim Geoghan and Danny Kallis who are creators are credited on every single episode for writing as creators of the show And then each additional episode just has 1 additional writer credited and that is it and so

That seemed that was my impression as well is that those 2 were the primary writers on all of suite life and on deck

Yep and my thing with this is so the lead writer for this is Dan Signer scene sing It's not singer Signer it's the only episode he wrote on Season 2 he writes 4 episodes in season 3 and he goes on to write 16 more for suite life on deck but you are taking on an episode on segregation That's what you decided you're going to do so you bring on one additional writer and it's a white man

Did you check that 

Yes yes

and it feels like a handful of white men got tasked with writing an episode about segregation in a show with a predominantly white cast And I think suite life is often probably actually no I'll take that back suite life gets applauded for its diversity because we have Esteban we have Brenda song and we have Mr Moseby so we have 3 people of color aside from the fact that Esteban is a crime against all latinx people but

Yeah the writing

it is very disappointing It feels very half assed

Yep yeah it feels like they I don't know like spend less money on like building out a freaking fast food set And bring in like 5 additional writers

Oh and also a real actress Could we just hire an older black woman to play his grandma 

That too

could we just pay people money 

Yeah

support careers like

yeah I went on to write like I really hope that this is not exhaustive of everyone in the writing room for this specific episode but I went and referenced Other shows and they do list multiple writers where this just listed that one additional So I am believing that that is the only additional writer but I do think this is why this show constantly is disappointing us in the writing Like you'll hear it a lot in this specific episode just because of the topics that are discussed but if you go back to any of our other season 1 or season 2 I think we mentioned the writing at least 5 times each episode

And it does feel like a show that has a consistent tone which could be indicative of how few people were working on it and it's not It's a good thing to have a consistent tone in most instances but when it's too insular then you can have a problem

Yep

quotes

I wrote down even though we said we didn't like the purse element of rose There is a moment I think 

Zack probably said it

it's one of the boys Yeah I'm pretty sure it's Zack and he goes quick hide me in your purse which I just it was kind of funny

Yeah when London is telling Maddie that she has to get a job she says I can't even say it And Maddie says really it must be more than 3 syllables and I in my notes app Credited this to Maddie the bitch 

Yep

moving on 

episode 34 health

and fitness 

our guest stars in this one we get Georgina Rosso Francesca she's not a notable actress but I did want to write her down because she is the older sister of the british twins that we get a few times throughout this series 

I didn't know that

Yeah 

I didn't know 

I didn't know know that either 

That she was their sister 

until I looked into it and then it makes sense because they look kind of like Similar-ish other really small appearances Not notable characters in the show but notable actors Um we have Zack lively as Benji He played Heath in Greek and then we have Brock Kelly as Ron who was in Pitch perfect and like long long long reoccurring character on ah days of our lives

which plot would you like to do 

I'd like you to do the A plot because it's going to piss me off

okay a plot It's health and fitness week at the tipton so all of the employees are lined up to get their cholesterol checked because that's Not strange Carey is reading the pamphlets about childhood diabetes and cholesterol and decides that zack needs to go on a diet because he's literally hoovering chocolate bars in this episode chef Paulo also gets his blood test and a apparently They find bacon bits in his blood That's how bad his cholesterol is and so Cody who we've seen in the kitchen repeatedly chef Paulo as his friend He volunteers to help chef Paulo with his tasting of the food and his diet because he's like I'm eating 2200 calories before breakfast And it's my job to taste the food So while in the kitchen Cody goes to grab the parmesan for a second and returns and chef palo has eaten an entire pot of soup He's doing great with his diet and then he shoves the entire wedge of parmesan into his mouth things just keep disappearing We don't even see him chewing the next day Cody is so proud of chef palo for going an entire day without breaking his diet but as he is getting ready to leave he notices that food is hidden everywhere in chef Paulo's uniform and starts falling to the ground So Finally to help him Cody decides that the best thing is for chef paulo to have a sleepover at his apartment which is as we know a suite in the hotel where he works where he has a completely stocked fridge that makes a lot of sense Cody so chef Paulo sleeps on Their sofa and Cody prepped him a midnight snack of 1 chocolate chip which he wakes up to eat takes a tiny bite saves it for later he and Zack have this thing because Zack wakes up to sneak a chocolate bar that he hid in a cookbook because Carey never uses her cookbooks and then they're like what are we doing There's a whole kitchen Downstairs and they Zack's like we can go through the vents and Paulo's like we can go through the front door and he's like I have a reputation to uphold and then they go to the kitchen where they are just shoveling ice cream into their faces 

With their hands 

With their hands

They're not even using utensils You have a whole kitchen

I couldn't even get my hand into ice cream straight out of the freezer It would be too hard 

and cold

so they're shoveling ice cream into their faces and Carey and Cody come down to the kitchen and find them And they admit that they have a problem and Carey's like I probably shouldn't have made you quit sugar cold turkey and it's okay to enjoy things in moderation and Cody wants chef palo to think about eating healthy as a lifestyle and choice so he makes a new Healthy menu and names it after Cody

Our B Plot London is hosting a fashion show alongside health and fitness week to raise money and this is where we're introduced to London's friend Francesca while they're picking out outfits for the show and she makes comments on both London and Maddie's bodies and so Maddie's now afraid that she has chicken legs and London thinks her butt is too big and they both look in the mirror and it's like a funhouse mirror and it makes their bodies look all distorted It's not really a funhouse mirror It's a normal mirror but what they're perceiving it in their brain It's Just sorting their body like a funhouse mirror would so then we see them in the lobby and London is running around the lobby in circles trying to lose weight and then Maddie is like taking two bites of a like protein bar and then like standing on The scale and then stepping off and taking more bites and standing back on the scale constantly weighing herself trying to gain weight and so Mr Moseby stops them and is like what the hell are you girls doing you look wonderful The way you are but the moment he walks away they both continue to Do what they were doing before and so at the fashion show Maddie's dress is now too tight and Carey is trying to get it zipped up but the zipper ends up breaking and the dress rips a little bit and so Carey has to go and get her like a shawl to cover it up and then London is So lightheaded She literally can't even walk in a straight line and then while they are like walking on the runway and London's not really walking She's more like dizzily spinning in circles They end up exposing Francesca for stuffing her bra on stage and so after the fashion show They both have a little heart to heart and they're like you know what moseby was right after all and we should both be happy with the way we look What You know everything we put ourselves through was silly

I have to say Jess's First note first of all I knew making her watch this episode was going to piss her the f*ck off her first note is that she got so pissed 4 minutes into the episode that she almost turned it off and told me that she couldn't watch it and I had to do the a plot because she is so pissed off about the a plot but listening to The summary of the B Plot I got so angry I can like feel my blood boiling and I might cry the B Plot really f*cks with me

The whole episode is terrible Unfortunately I Do think there is some realism into the experience of being a teenage woman in the B plot and that's why I Feel like it made me less angry but the whole episode in general made me

Okay let's get Let's do the a plot

I think this is the know I don't know who wrote this but I agree if chef paolo is sleeping on the couch which we know is Carey's bed because there's only 1 bedroom and Zack and Cody sleep in it where the f*ck is Carey sleeping

I wrote that note and I would like to know if Zack and Cody were cuddling I would like to see it

let's get into the fat phobia of this I hate all the jokes that surround chef paolo in any episode that we have watched but Specifically in this episode like we really did not need to see him eat a whole pot of soup in 5 seconds also at one point they literally have him on his hands and knees on the floor eating leftover in-room dining like room service Plates that like guests left outside their room It just feels like really dehumanizing ah to chef Paulo and his character just because he does also happen to be fat

he it and it's not satirical in any way These jokes can be quite offensive There are ways that people could argue the jokes Surrounding some of these topics could be done in satire and like social commentary etc But we're not laughing at Society we're laughing at him and it's yeah I agree I don't like it It's also a weird Thing to me because he works in this kitchen every single day It's not like he's just eating all of the food all of the time like the ingredients aren't disappearing

yeah and that's what they like lead us to believe in this episode is that like he is just like so hungry and just like on the need for calories constantly that he's just like shoveling full dishes into his mouth and it's like No he could just taste the food and still have the body that he has and it could be fine like I don't know yeah and the fact that we never actually see Cody taste any of the food We just see Cody ridicule him It's like Cody you signed up to help him out and we don't actually see the helping out that Cody signed up for We just see like Cody constantly shaming him for when he does want to eat anything and also the far like either You're like so unhealthy and he has bacon bits in his blood but like we swing so far that we're like now he's just not allowed to eat anything

yeah and saying it's a lifestyle choice but you're expecting so much of him overnight and just making him feel really awful for it instead of trying to Actually like see where he is struggling and coming from and helping him and obviously like this is partially because Cody's like twelve years old and he shouldn't be doing this in the first place but it's just so unwell I definitely felt like there was a time I think there were some more studies published in the early 2000s or something about this because there I remember type 2 diabetes being like drilled into us as a risk because I also remember being told that ours was the first generation To have a shorter life expectancy than the ones before it because of increased rates of childhood diabetes and so we had like the Nickelodeon like get out and play commercials coming on and Michelle Obama telling us to like cook healthy ingredients and sh*t like that Like this felt very of that time but equating to like fatness to diabetes is quite inaccurate and damaging and then if you wanted to actually like if you really want to tackle diabetes make one of them actually diabetic And talk about how to live a healthier lifestyle for that particular issue

Yeah it's also like the common myth that like if you do have diabetes then you need to like completely change your full lifestyle like a lot of them eat a normal diet and continue eating all the things that they ate before It's just What you need to supplement with that changes Um so there could be a lot of ways to do this story Well I didn't love the bacon bits in the blood

No no because that's just a joke about him because obviously that's not like you That's not real That's never going to happen It's just a way of joking about him 

Yeah

Are we both getting mad Ah but here's your you have your you have 1 fun note

oh yeah okay so this which makes sense why I don't I'm not going to say I don't I've never seen this episode I definitely have seen it before and watching it and like oh I do remember this episode But it didn't stand out as like when I think of suite life I don't think of this episode think the lord it was included as the never before seen episode of that's so suite life of Hannah Montana on the Dvd So I'm like what This is what they picked they're giving us that's so suite life of Hanna Montana and then they're like here's this f*cking fat phobic episode here You go here's your treat Why

I think I don't know I don't know maybe the really Nick Jonas is so brave which by the way he has type one It's different 

Yeah I was like he doesn't even have that type of diabetes

Yeah but they're not and Not really talking about diabetes just they're talking about fatphoia they're talking about being fat 

yeah yeah 

So though it's I think it's funny that you don't remember this episode because to me when I think of the suite life I think of the B plot on this episode

Really

It is one of the quintessential suite life episodes I have known since we started this that this episode was coming and it was going to piss you off and we were going to have to talk about it I So the B Plot 

Yeah

we're ready to move on

We are ready to move on

Okay I have to go on like a little rant about how much it upset me because I think you're right that there's a lot of things that are true to like the teenage girl experience First of all Moseby being like you girls are beautiful The way you are and them being like oh ha ha and then not caring That's very very real right is like older people try to tell you and reassure you and you're like I don't hear it like that's not real but they're portraying body dysmorphia without knowing that they're portraying body dysmorphia like the funhouse mirror thing and the way that they're focused on Their bodies but I saw this at a young age as most people did we were the target demographic for Disney Channel when the suite life was on air even getting a little bit old for it I this is a core episode memory for me And I have grown up with a lot of body issues and I've definitely thought and had not full on eating disorders but disordered eating and like I just feel like so much of it stems from stuff like this and we had the Lizzie episode with Miranda's eating disorder that wasn't handled Super well but like wasn't this bad and we had the Raven Fashion show episode that you noted where she was like owning her body like it's like you said with with the previous episode like there are times when Disney did it not perfectly but better 

Yep

and I think what's Particularly harmful for me in this one is are the comments that Francesca makes that leads them to this sort of spiraling because she says that Maddie has chicken legs and that London's like what is it She's oh that her

Butt is too big

Butt is huge and those are both things that then 10 year old Amanda was like oh I should be worried about those things

Yeah because if even if you're not thinking about it and while I do like that I don't even know if I like this but I think right in the end both of them come around or like we should have loved our bodies this whole time which like great But maybe we should have focused on that Throughout the plot instead of just wrapping it up that way in the last thirty seconds but there is nothing We don't ever see them or get any closure with them like so telling Francesca you made us feel this way and you are struggling with this too because you stuff your bra and like Clearly I think about my body and you're thinking about your body and maybe we should all just think we're beautiful like if all of them came together with Francesca and they had a conversation I feel like it would have made the episode better

I also need to emphasize I've mentioned it before how f*cking lazy the endings are to a lot of suite life episodes like that episode where Maddie kisses the guy that London's talking to and then she just gets Forgiven in the credit scene in this one There's no revelation It's just that they're unwell Carey's like hey take care of yourself Francesca's stuffing her bra But really when they decide that they're going to own it and like think that they're beautiful Is they go on a date with a couple of hot guys who tell them that they're beautiful

Yeah which still is like that's making it worse because it's like so now are you 

External validation 

Yes are you teaching women that they need to seek validation from others instead 

And from men 

of like learning how to yeah yeah

It's it really really bothers me and I know that some people probably think that I'm taking this too far but I just want to like emphasize The first time I became aware of the size of my body I was in the second grade we were walking to our cubbies And 1 of my male classmates spanked me on the butt and said big butt and ever since then I have felt large I am an average sized woman but I have literally always felt large in my body compared to the rest of my friends ever since then and I believe it's about a quarter of girls Have gone on a diet by fourth grade and I had one of those best friends who was on a lean cuisine diet with her mom in fourth grade So these 

Yep I did weight watchers with my mom in middle school 

yeah

and I would say yeah I have a pretty body positive family compared to other friends when I hear about comments their parents have made to them or their mother made to them growing up My Mom never did any of that but they're still right like it Start somewhere and it stems so far that it's like no middle schooler should be doing weight watchers with their parents like that is just so f*cked

No and part of that is what your mom was conditioned to think about herself and your body and the way that nutrition and health get thrown around with diet culture as if they're all the same thing and they're not and no wonder it's so hard for us even now Thirty years old I still struggle like I'm just now starting to feel somewhat confident in my body and that's not even without faults and flaws about the size of it

Yeah like I know Amanda knows I don't know if I've spoke about it but like I have done a lot of self work to be like comfortable and confident most days not every day most days but it's taken a lot Of rethinking of what we were shown in media and what we were told growing up and things like that like it has taken years and years and years of work and restructuring where my brain naturally goes to feel confident about my body and it shouldn't be like that like 

Same

you shouldn't be broken down from second grade So then when you're 25 you're having to like rebuild yourself up for the last fifteen years of terrible things you were taught and told to think about yourself

Absolutely while there were While I am I don't even know how to end that I just think that the representation in this Storyline though I see where the episode was going theoretically where it intended to go I think that both of the storylines are portrayed in a way that is more harmful than positive

Helpful Yep 

Did you want to talk about the writers for this one as well
 
Um yeah I did so in addition to the 2 creators the lead writer on this episode was Howard Nametz who wrote 9 episodes of the suite life and 1 episode of suite life on deck Um ones that we've covered here so far that he also wrote was rockstar in the house in season 1 and then election Moseby's big brother and club twin and season 2 I just thought that was interesting because I don't remember any of those plots handling such serious topics Um Or being as terrible as this one also of course it was a man 

That's what I was going to say so there were no women in the room

no no and I think that's why we these stories kind of play out the way they do

I wrote down both of the quotes because those were the quotes that upset me they're both from Francesca who I described in my notes as classist british bitch So at one point because she meets Maddie and she's being a jerk to her London says you We can only criticize people that we pay and she says fine Your butt is huge and you have chicken legs and then hands them both money and walks off and then when they can't get the zipper up on Maddie's dress she says unfortunately you didn't gain the curves in the right places

So episode 35 

Back in the game

I'm going to be so for real guys this one's gonna be the easiest one for us to talk about probably 

yeah for sure

so guest stars we get nathan kress famous Freddie from iCarly playing Jamie

we get Daryl Mitchell as he plays Daryl he's in 10 things I hate about you and plays Patton Plame in NCIS And then we also get Denzel Whitaker as trent who's recurring on all that and the purge the Rockland Rollers a wheelchair basketball team are at the Tipton which inspires Zack and Cody to call up their friend Jamie invite him over because he hasn't been the same since his accident In order to get him over to the hotel they pretend that Jessica Simpson is there they invite Daryl who's the coach of this team over to their suite to kind of greet Jamie and meet him because they're like oh if he meets someone in Same situation They both are wheelchair users maybe he you know will find someone to bond with and be able to come out of his shell a little bit more Carey suggests that they play a game against Zack and Cody's team for Charity and when Jamie gets over He's upset because he's like dude you lied about Jessica Simpson this was all a ploy just to get me back on the team Everyone's preparing for this game And Jamie shows up and they're like oh you actually want to participate and he's like no the only wheelchair exit is through the gym like I'm just trying to leave and he's also like I don't want to stay and watch you guys make a fool of yourself because you're gonna get your ass beat it's game day And to everyone's surprise Jamie shows up to watch and Zack and Cody's team is losing terribly and so Jamie steps in they end up losing but only by single digits and then Daryl invites Jamie to join the team that he's going to start in Boston

B plot because it's the dumbest of all 6 plots that we're covering in this whole episode Maddie's working on a student film She asks all of her co-workers to get involved It's supposed to be about classism and some rich guy elevating a poor girl Whatever Everyone sucks They all are divas and she ends up editing it it into a comedy documentary and wins an award 

Yep

It's f*cking stupid That's how filmmaking works I have the only note about the b plot which is it's a stupid film By a stupid bitch So A plot

Starting out a little bit light This is prime Carey sucks at cooking in this episode because before her id her like amazing idea where she's like oh we're gonna do this charity basketball Game and bring in a bunch of money She's prepping for bake sale instead and like I couldn't even tell you what she was trying to make like maybe a cookie but it was like green but also burnt but also flat and really unidentifiable and it just made me giggle

And Jess is someone who bakes all the time for Christmas she bakes cookie boxes full of like 3 to 5 different kinds of Christmas pastries She can identify a pastry

yeah but I don't know what she was holding up like it looked crazy

Yeah I wrote of course Arwin made himself a crazy electric chair because everyone's in a wheelchair for this basketball game and he's the basketball coach so he makes himself a really wonky one that just does a bunch of stuff because that's what he does

in the episode that we get with the basketball team kisses and basketball I think is what it's titled Jamie's not on their team

Maybe I k maybe that was post accident right We don't know how long he's been

Okay okay sure sure

It's a classic classic show like Disney and nick and kids show thing though right where they introduce a guest star for 1 episode and they're supposed to be like the entire plot is centered around this one character that we've never seen before and we'll never see again

Again Yeah fair

Yeah I wrote Jamie chooses to play and they all do a lot better because all it takes is one player who's never played from this angle you know because famously basketball is not a team sport

like maybe yes right like his ability to use his chair is probably more skilled than the rest of the boys who are not wheelchair users So like to an extent I could see how him Playing could help the team do I think it's making them come up from like losing terribly to only losing by single Digits No

no and maybe he plays at home I don't know

I feel like there were a lot of things that we could have touched on in this episode but instead of doing that what they did decide was a good use of the time Um Was to just put all of the wheelchair and disabled tropes and jokes into one episode and be like called it Good We Cover Disability guys Check that one off the list

Yeah this is another note similar to 1 of my own that I copied and pasted which was that suite life is the weirdest f*cking show because it tries to be political harder than any other show that we've talked about but also does it so half assedly like they just are like Checking boxes 

Ah yeah I just feel like it makes it worse they spent all this time being like oh all of these jokes that we use to make fun of or poke at disabled people I Want to write those into a script So I'm going to pretend to do this like political like oh we have wheelchair basketball look how inclusive look how fun but then I'm just going to say all these horrible jokes like what

full Disclaimer Jessica has a physical disability that is not a visible disability whereas I do not so your Commentary on ableism reigns Obviously I didn't mind the jokes in this one as much as I did the jokes in the other two because they felt satirical in I liked Daryl I liked the way that he clapped back at the jokes There were a couple I didn't like like when he tells Jamie at the end of the episode that he'll teach him how to use sympathy to pick up girls

Yeah did not love that

I did like that at the beginning of the episode Moseby's being extra nice to the kids in the lobby and he tells them no special treatment and I liked that there's this really weird exchange where he like acts like Carey's coming onto him and like maybe He wants to go on a date and she's clearly uncomfortable which like that is weird of the whole like not wanting to date someone who's disabled but then she makes a comment like I dated a guy in a wheelchair once maybe you know him and then he says like he has a girlfriend and he's like no she can walk Maybe you know her Like I felt like some of his lines were kind of good 

Oh I feel like his lines were good It was more like what was being because in that same conversation Moseby in around the girlfriend Moseby's like oh is she disabled too which is just like this weird thing where we think that Disabled people can only date other disabled people and we can't have like interabled relationships It's just very weird

it felt like it's Problematic It's like if the other ones were like really problematic this one's like a a middle point It's like we're not doing anything great but we're not I Don't know it's ah
 
Yeah no I agree I feel like I don't know if they thought they were so like setting out to do anything or if like maybe someone was just like oh wheelchair basketball is a thing that would be cool And then they decided to like run with that because again I don't think they're not failing as hard as they did in the previous 2 episodes but they also aren't using it as an opportunity to like do anything great either

Yeah and I think that really stands out in that we don't know about the extras but at least the people with speaking roles None of them are actually physically disabled that we know of n

Besides for daryl

no he's not is he 

Yes he is he is a wheelchair user

the actor

Yep he had a spinal cord and injury and he is a wheelchair user

Okay I love learning that Thank you for checking that because I fully was going off of I love this man as an actor I absolutely adore him in 10 things I hate about you and I think he's the reason why I look at this episode more favorably is that he just like eats everything up

Oh he does a great job and a lot of people like love his character in NCIS I'm not an NCIS person but people like really really really love him as an actor

Yeah he's fantastic if you've ever seen 10 things I hate about you He's the actor that like raps Shakespeare to get the kids to pay attention and also gives Kat sh*t and just like constantly is telling her to go off to the guidance counselor's office because he doesn't want to deal with her So anyway I'm glad to know that our main guest star is a wheelchair user

Yeah everyone else because they were children I tried I looked at all of them but like it's their 

The extras

yeah but it's like they were all given names So I don't know like if the name they were given was on like Zack and Cody's basketball team or the wheelchair basketball team And then all of them have no other acting credits so it was really impossible I wanted to know I'm like I hope they hired wheelchair users to play these roles I Highly doubt they did but I hope they did

I Highly doubt it also because I didn't notice any different looking bodies They all looked like they could stand up and walk there weren't there like there was no one who was like missing a limb or was like had really bad scoliosis to my eyes

Yeah which you can't always right like some people just are wheelchair users and you can't see a notable difference But yes if you're gonna have a whole team of them You would think at least 1 or 2

That's my point That's my point is like a whole team There's going to be There's so many reasons for people to be wheelchair users 

yeah I will touch on writing real quick on this one Um just because I thought it was interesting Our writer is pamela l o'connell she's written 15 episodes of suite life and I think My guess is every episode of on deck because she's credited on 71 episodes she also wrote ghost of suite 613 but also the Boston Tea Party episode which I was like oh this checks out We're setting up to do something and not doing it Well

Yeah one a classic and one a nightmare 

Yeah

And it's not the Halloween one 

Yup

this one had the most quotes worth saying

one of the quotes from Daryl is just because a person is in a wheelchair doesn't mean you need to give them special treatment mic drop 

facts 

yep let's just treat people like people Also I f*cking love Bob Bob is so good he has quote in this episode which is well I believe in frequent short naps which Bob me too me too

And he says that in response to a quote I wrote down from one of their classmates My dad says if you aren't giving your maximum effort You're a waste of human life that just felt like Hit a little a little too close to home Not that my dad has ever said that But I maybe have to myself 

Yeah

there's also at 1 point Moseby I think asks Daryl How did you end up in your wheelchair and Daryl gives the greatest comedic Delivery of I'm in a holy cow Why didn't anyone tell me 

Yeah 

I really liked him and now that I know that he's a wheelchair user I feel like that's probably part of why his lines are so good is he may have Been given more say as a guest star who came in for this role

yeah and like his delivery Unfortunately probably a lot of these conversations are conversations that he's maybe had to have in his real life and so the delivery just feels more natural and more naturally comedic because that's probably a coping mechanism yeah I I do I did appreciate the inclusion of him

you have any other final thoughts

No I'm glad we watched those don't need to go back and rewatch them 

You see why I grouped him together though 

Yeah yeah I do

Yeah I want I want to point out for listeners that this is not indicative of the entirety of the suite life and we're being heavily critical in this episode and we are sometimes heavily critical I should probably ease up on Maddie she's 16 but it felt like we could easily have skipped these episodes and just talked about the ones that we're enjoying or the ones that felt memorable from our childhood First of all the the latter 2 that we talked about Stuck out to me from my childhood but also it would be a disservice to the point of our podcast that we're rewatching stuff to see if it holds up and talking about the good and the bad and we have to talk about the bad Sometimes it doesn't mean that the whole show overall sucks It's just that sometimes

It did 

Yep

sometimes

with that in our next episode We'll be back kicking off season 3 of suite life Our final season So look forward to that 1 make sure to come back and check it out In the meantime make sure to rate and review on Spotify or Apple Podcasts and follow us on all of our social media including Instagram and Youtube at nineties babies nostalgia spell out the word nineties we are also on Tiktok but use the numbers there

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and we've been getting like more engagement which we love so like DM us DM us comment on our posts like let us know your thoughts if you have any thoughts especially about these 3 episodes we discussed today Would love to hear your thoughts or your memories of watching it as a child with that We'll see you in the next one bye

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