Retro Television Review: Malibu CA 2.21 “Parent Trap”

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Posted on July 10, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Welcome to Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past! On Thursdays, I will be reviewing Malibu CA, which aired in Syndication in 1998 and 1999. Almost the entire show is currently streaming on YouTube!



Soon, I will be finished with this show. I’m just trying to keep my spirits up.

Episode 2.21 “Parent Trap”

(Dir by Gary Shimokawa, originally aired on April 15th, 2000)

Peter is having a midlife crisis so Scott, Jason, and Traycee introduce him to Traycee’s mom, Candee (Wendi Winburn). Peter falls for Candee and decides to ask her to marry him. Traycee warns Scott and Jason that Candee has been proposed to by a lot of men — including Donald Trump! — and she always turns them down. But, for some reason, Candee accepts Peter’s proposal. But then, at the celebration dinner, Candee mentions that she wants to travel and Peter mentions that he wants to stay in Malibu and manage his restaurant (even though he tried to retire just a few episodes ago) and Candee and Peter decide not to get married. They both share a laugh over the whole thing which struck me as odd.

Meanwhile, Lisa gets upset when Murray paints a naked picture of her. She goes to Murray’s art showing and attempts to paint clothes on her body and seriously, I just wanted the police to arrest her and drag her away. What a stupid storyline. Lisa (the character, not me) is the worst.

This episode …. hey, it fit the running time and stuff happened. Apparently, by this point in the second season, that’s all anyone was demanding from Malibu CA. There’s an odd lack of conflict in this episode. Candee wants to go on safari. Peter doesn’t. They laugh and call the whole thing off. Uhmm, okay. Most engagements end on a bit more of a dramatic (or, at the very least, an emotional) note. When I was 18, I was briefly engaged until I found out that my fiancé’s family didn’t actually own all of those oil wells in South Texas, despite the fact that he claimed otherwise. That was not a happy breakup. Everyone in this episode is so agreeable that it’s boring. For someone who was totally in love, Peter certainly seem to be cheerful about never seeing Candee again. Seriously, he picked his tacky restaurant over the supposed love of his life. What an idiot.

Oh well, at least this show is nearly over.