The Game: 3.01 ‘Baby on Board’ Recap

Original Air Date: October 3, 2008

Yes, there is definitely a baby in the oven during the third-season premiere of The Game. Unfortunately for Melanie, who decided at the end of last season that she still loves Derwin, that baby belongs to her former fiancé and his former girlfriend Janay (Gabrielle Dennis).

As the episode opens and Derwin delivers the shocking news to Melanie, neither can believe it. In fact, Melanie is so suspicious, she makes Derwin suspicious that Janay might be fooling with him to get her hands on some of his money. Never mind that Janay is independently wealthy, thanks to her father’s successful coffee-cup lid business (who chose that?!).

The doubts get to Derwin eventually, and he visits Janay at her job to have her pee on another one of those sticks. Actually, he brings a whole bag of sticks, just to make sure.

Of course, the results confirm that Janay isn’t lying, and Derwin won’t even bother with Melanie’s follow-up protests that maybe he’s not the father. Janay doesn’t have any reason to lie about that either. Forced to put on her happy face for Derwin, Melanie breaks down the second she leaves his apartment, giving the episode one of those familiar dramatic closing moments that make The Game so much better than a mere sitcom.

Elsewhere, while Malik is busy plotting to keep his recent marriage to Robin Givens (who doesn’t appear in the episode, by the way) from his mother Tasha, Jason is busy trying to get back with his wife Kelly. However, a reunion between the Pitts is made impossible by Kelly’s visiting parents (Lee Garlington as Bren and Don McManus as Nick), whom Jason derisively and kinda accurately calls hillbillies.

Kelly, Bren, and Nick take over the Pitts mansion, refusing to let Jason stay. Bren is particularly angry at him, although it seems both she and her husband, Kelly’s stepfather, are most interested in Kelly getting as much of Jason’s wealth as possible in a divorce settlement.

Unfortunately, it looks like that’s exactly where things are heading after Jason, apparently still unaware of how disrespectfully he talks to and about his wife, gives Kelly an ultimatum of either trying to work things out or divorcing. The condescending tone of his voice makes the difficult choice easy enough for Kelly to select the latter, and I couldn’t agree with her more. To put it nicely, Jason acts like an ass.

“Baby on Board” has more in common with a dramedy than a comedy, and it’s an excellent season premiere that promises quite a bit more drama in the near future. At this point, things are definitely looking good for viewers, yet perhaps not so much for some of the show’s main characters.