Summary
“Pumped” shows the corrupting influence of money for people who have very little of it, and Wayne realizes that fulfilling a dream isn’t always as good as it seems.
“Pumped” once again divides neatly into two plotlines which eventually intertwine. In the first, Jenny and Betty — though technically just Jenny — win the jackpot on a biblical scratch-off ticket, and in the second, Wayne gets his all-time dream job at the hardware store he used to escape from his problems and difficult home life growing up. Needless to say, neither of these things end up being particularly positive.
Jenny’s motivation is simple and relatable — jealousy. She’s upset that she can’t splash out on online shopping, or anything else, really, so she turns to Jesus for a lucky break. And she gets one. Her first-ever scratch-off ticket rewards her with $2,000, which she sees as a life-altering amount of money (props to “Pumped” for staying on-brand with the amount.) Violet wisely advises her mother to put the cash in the bank, but naturally, she and Betty spot a chair styled as a stiletto heel in a shop window and can’t help but buy it. Just what they’ve always wanted!
Speaking of which, Wayne gets what he has always wanted too when he’s offered a position at Bigsby’s hardware store, a kind of Shangri-La for him. He’s extremely well-suited to the role since he knows the store back to front already, so naturally, his new colleagues — one of whom, we learn later, is Bigsby’s son — hate him. They continue to sabotage his efforts until they can eventually get him fired for forklift malfeasance, bringing that particular dream to an abrupt end.
Things are less cut and dry for Jenny and Betty, especially once Violet and David return home and realize they love the shoe chair too. Just like that, they’re out on spending sprees for all the other stuff they supposedly need, and when they burn through the jackpot they begin taking out credit cards. It’s a vicious cycle, and it’s only once Jenny sees them all brawling over the purchases that she realizes how far they’ve fallen and decides everything must be returned.
That’s easier said than done since David and Betty steal the chair and attempt to cross state lines with it, leading to a chase and the chair becoming damaged. Wayne can fix it, but it’ll mean going back to Bigsby’s. When he gets there, though, he discovers Old Man Bigsby, having evidently seen the error of his ways, planning to blow the place up rather than hand it over to his useless son. (The best gag of “Pumped” is that he can’t give it to his daughter, the COO of Home Depot, because she’s a girl.) Maybe if Wayne got his job back, Old Man Bigsby would be able to die in peace?
There’s a happy ending for Jenny and Betty, too. Wayne fixes the chair and they’re able to return it for either a full refund or an exchange. So, according to the store’s own policy — but not moral decency — they can take each fancy item in the store home for three days and then return it. Everyone’s a winner!
Thanks for reading our recap of Bless the Harts season 2, episode 8, “Pumped”. For more recaps, reviews, and original features covering the world of entertainment, why not follow us on Twitter and like our Facebook page?
