MPDP welcomes us in front of the U.S. Capitol Building; she's wearing jeans and a red, white, and blue flower-printed sleeveless t-shirt. Since I'm recapping this during a snowstorm, wearing three layers of clothes, I'm filled with envy. Yeah, I know it's not live or anything. My brain hasn't completely frozen yet. I am, however, braced for the inevitable government puns and clichés. MPDP announces with a salute that she'll be our Commander-in-Chief for the next two days. What, we get off that lightly?

We see Gen, Vern, and Ty in a park. Gen, barefoot, is running up a stepped wall with Vern alongside her trying to push her off. Ty is on the other side, trudging slowly upward. He waves wearily. We see our first couple, Jamila and Jasan (pronounced Jah-sawn) in a park; she's getting ready to run, and he's got a timer. They want their living room redone. It's a very decent room, just bland: hardwood floors in great condition; pale yellow walls; comfortable-looking and relatively new beige upholstered sofa and chair with rolled arms; white woodwork and trim. And a huge, honking black hole of a television set that sucks a lot of light and life out of the room. ["I crave that TV. Who needs attractive décor when you have a giant TV?" -- Wing Chun] There's a striped area rug on the floor in neutral shades and a few colourful pillows, but otherwise not much going on in the room visually. The window has an off-white shade. Jamila and Jasan's house is older, with more generous woodwork and a radiator. Jasan says their style is "modern," "contemporary," and "classic." Jamila compares their style to that of a calla lily: very elegant, very sleek, and you don't need a lot of them to make a statement. Jasan says that if he compared their style to a car it'd be a Mercedes Benz 500. Calla lilies and Mercedeseseses? What are they doing on this show? Boy, I hope for their sake that they're getting Vern. Jamila laughs her head off at this, and I think she asks him, "What's that cost?" Jasan says they need window treatments. Jamila would like to see more colour brought in. Jasan says they have a room where they can sit down and talk, and they need a room where they can turn on the TV and watch the fight. Jamila pipes up, "Drink beer..." She laughs. Jasan says, "No...the fight coming on this weekend..." I think what they're after is probably a coffee table. There's not a lot in this room in the way of horizontal surfaces on which to put food or drink, other than the floor.