Twyla Sands Is the Unsung Genius of ‘Schitt’s Creek’
We’ve all grown to love Moira, Johnny, Alexis, David, Stevie, and even Roland and Jocelyn during the last several seasons of Pop’s masterpiece “Schitt’s Creek.” We love watching Patrick and Ted grace the screen as the main love interests of our ever-evolving protagonists. And, of course, anyone who has taken a basic literature class can appreciate the bildungsroman the show creators captured with the Rose family as they manage to settle into the charming small town, so different from the extravagant cities they frequented prior. But there is one character who is slept on and never receives the admiration she deserves: Twyla Sands, the server at the town diner who doesn’t seem to get time off work, aside from her practices with the Jazzagals.
On the surface, Twyla seems to serve as the token “air-headed” girl on the show. For example, she acts oblivious when Moira and Alexis make snide comments about her clothes and profession. She also barely bats an eye when Alexis steals her boyfriend. This list could go on forever because, unfortunately, our precious Twyla is taken for granted in her neck of the woods because her community has little regard for her outside of the diner and Jazzagals. However, as we all know, “Schitt’s Creek” is a work of art that deflects the ordinary tropes popularized on sitcoms like “Friends,” so maybe Twyla isn’t an air-headed girl at all: perhaps she’s the smartest person living in Schitt’s Creek. (When I say “perhaps,” I mean she most definitely is.)
Hear me out: throughout the series, Twyla makes passive-aggressive remarks to anyone who tries to out-wit her, but she maintains her “nice girl” composure. I’m not talking about the passive-aggressive comments the Rose family constantly makes; Twyla’s remarks are much more subtle and may go unnoticed if you’re just watching the show as background noise while you inhale an entire bag of Flamin’ Hot Cheetos. Let’s take a look at the two most insightful examples I could find while browsing the episodes of the series.
In Season 2 Episode 4, Mutt buys Alexis a bike since her family doesn’t have a car (yet). Alexis, however, doesn’t know how to ride a bike, so Mutt has to teach her. During their lesson, Twyla walks up and gives Alexis a tip: “You know, one of my mom’s boyfriends had a really great trick. He used to say, ‘One foot on the ground, one foot on the pedal, and then get the Hell out of here!’” Keep in mind, this is right after Alexis stole Mutt from Twyla, and even though Twyla doesn’t seem to care outwardly, this scene shows her true colors: Twyla is a super-genius who can and will insult you to your face without you realizing it.
Viewers probably laughed this scene off as just another one of Twyla’s quirks. I did too…that is, until Twyla kept making these jabs at people in Schitt’s Creek every few episodes.
Let’s rewind all the way to Season 1 Episode 7. We don’t quite know Twyla yet, but we’ve gotten the impression that she’s “air-headed” since the party in the second episode because she’s intoxicated and makes David uncomfortable. In the 7th episode, Alexis goes to the cafe to get a delicious smoothie after her jog. She gazes at the menu and asks Twyla what the Meadow Harvest Smoothie is. Keeping a straight face, Twyla says it changes every day depending on her mood. In a Karen-esque way, Alexis keeps prodding her with questions about ingredients, and Twyla keeps telling her that it just depends.
Exasperated, Alexis asks if “Meadow Harvest Smoothie” is even an all-encompassing name. Twyla somehow remains composed and says, “Meadow Harvest is exactly how it sounds…” which, quite frankly, makes Alexis look dumb. Actually, let’s be honest; it makes us all look dumb because none of us knows what “Meadow Harvest” means. But Twyla knows because Twyla knows everything.
With that, I digress. “Schitt’s Creek” is packed full of Twyla’s intellect hiding behind the main characters. Why doesn’t Twyla put her intellect to use outside of the town, you may ask? The answer, my friend, is that she’s far too powerful for the capacities of the world as we know it. But one day, mark my words, our dear genius Twyla will shine and show everyone who she truly is without hiding it behind her subtleties. For now, she’ll just take your order and write down the secrets of the universe — not how you want your eggs cooked — on her order pad. And you’ll be oblivious.
