Act 4, Scene 11: “The American Dream Updated: A Chicken in Every Pot, a Sweatpant for Every Occasion”

TRL has fully integrated into suburbia. It’s not that he wears sweatpants everywhere, it’s that he now has different sweatpants for different occasions. Like Mister Rogers changing his shoes, TRL wakes up and takes off his sleeping sweatpants to put on his ‘driving the kids to daycare’ sweatpants: A subtle but important change from basic blue gym sweats to white-stripped adidas work-out pants. And later, he just may change into his black REI ‘working at the computer and about the house’ mid-weight fleece pants. These are his favorites, and S has banned them from her sight.

“I am so sick of these,” she exclaims. “I’m taking you shopping for a different pair.”

Which may be the most disturbing part. S is TRL’s enabler. The suburbs, he knows, are killing them both.