Difficult People – Strike Rat

By: Dustin Bradley

We begin with Billy (Billy Eichner) and Julie (Julie Klausner) getting pissed because everywhere they turn there is a “strike rat” and a strike happening. They, of course, don’t care about the annoying pickett because that means no line at the restaurants.

Julie has an audition this week that she doesn’t realize is for Woody Allen’s new Amazon series. She is at first uncomfortable, but eventually does it because it’s a part and it’s good pay. Little does she know that outside there is a strike against the series by WAWA (Women Against Woody Allen) led by one of Julie’s nemesis Andrea Mumford (Shannon DeVido). She tells them that she was actually protesting from the inside.

At the diner Matthew (Cole Escola) gets a surprise when his ex wife, Trish (Vanessa Williams), shows up and introduces herself to Billy, Denise (Gabourey Sidibe), Nate (Derrick Baskin) and Lola (Shakina Nayfack). She tells them that she’s in town for a balloon convention. This gives Billy an idea to have her make a “strike rat” for him and Julie so they can cut lines.

In this universe VP Pence has offered an incentive for gay conversion therapy by offering thousands of dollars to the therapist and LGBT+ person. So, of course, Billy thinks it’s a good idea to get Marilyn (Andrea Martin) to help him. After one session though Marilyn feels guilty about it and agrees to just lie and say they went through with it.

Arthur (James Urbaniak) is back in town and is comforting Julie with her dilemma with WAWA. She says she won’t do the job, but…well that is until she gets the job. So, it turns out she will do it after all and just hope that WAWA doesn’t find out and blackball her.

We get a hilarious scene where Matthew is taking pictures for the cafe’s new menu and site when Trish shows up in a sexy outfit and begins to seduce Matthew, even though he is seemingly gay. Hey, if my ex wife was Vanessa Williams then I wouldn’t be able to resist her either!

Well Julie takes the Woody Allen series and is miserable because the script is terrible and Woody is nowhere to be found. So, the A.D. makes everyone look for him, which leads to WAWA finding Julie and telling her that she is officially blackballed. Too bad they can’t see it through because apparently Amazon is cancelling the series before it even begins.

It turns out that Trish wasn’t just in town for a balloon convention or to reconnect with Matthew. She was here because she signed up for the Pence program, which Billy finds out when he goes to collect his check.

After lugging around a giant strike rat in order to shoo lines aways for restaurants and art exhibits, Billy and Julie decide to end the reign of the “strike rat” and return to a boring and line waiting life.

And that was Season 3, Episode 2 of Hulu’s “Difficult People.” The full season is streaming now. We will have a recap of Episode Three up soon!