S06.E11: A Seat at the Table

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Quote

With a little help from Louis' business advice, Jessica lands her dream job as a private school dean. Yet, after learning she was the token diversity hire, she quickly discovers a way to flip the script and use her title to make a difference. Meanwhile, Eddie and Emery teach Evan the hard way that it's okay for the brothers to have their own "things" at school.

Original air date: 1/17/20

[Mr. Sparkle]

So is this going to be preempted by the Jeopardy championship? That's what my DVR is showing. 

[SoMuchTV]

18 minutes ago, Superclam said:

So is this going to be preempted by the Jeopardy championship? That's what my DVR is showing. 

From what I can see, Jeopardy is taking Friday and Monday off, then back on Tuesday.  

[Robert Lynch]

Oh, this is too much! Jessica's a private school dean?!? This show is off the rails already. There was nothing funny about this episode. 

Edited January 18, 2020 by Robert Lynch

[Snow Apple]

I had to turn the channel within the first few minutes. Can't stand the way Jessica treats Honey. 

I really wonder what is going on behind the scenes. The writers seem determined to destroy the character of Jessica and make the audience hate her. It's hard to remember how she was the breakout when the show first started.

[rmontro]

43 minutes ago, Snow Apple said:

I really wonder what is going on behind the scenes. The writers seem determined to destroy the character of Jessica and make the audience hate her. 

I actually wondered if they had been reading some of the comments about Jessica, and had made a few adjustments for the second half of the season.  You're right about the way she treated Honey, but aside from that I almost thought I had tuned into a different TV show.  They seemed to revamp her character somewhat, making her a victim of discrimination, and turning her into a somewhat wacky dean who talks to her rabbit assistant.

She seemed out of her element for a time there, and was even willing to ask Louis for advice.  Even taking it, at least partly.  She also seemed more plugged into what was going on, instead of looking on askance with a smug look on her face.

[Robert Lynch]

13 minutes ago, rmontro said:

I actually wondered if they had been reading some of the comments about Jessica, and had made a few adjustments for the second half of the season.  You're right about the way she treated Honey, but aside from that I almost thought I had tuned into a different TV show.  They seemed to revamp her character somewhat, making her a victim of discrimination, and turning her into a somewhat wacky dean who talks to her rabbit assistant.

She seemed out of her element for a time there, and was even willing to ask Louis for advice.  Even taking it, at least partly.  She also seemed more plugged into what was going on, instead of looking on askance with a smug look on her face.

I would not be surprised about that. It was like watching a different show.

[rmontro]

48 minutes ago, Robert Lynch said:

I would not be surprised about that. It was like watching a different show.

Oh, you thought so too?  I was wondering if it was just me.  I almost thought Constance Wu was putting more enthusiasm into her role, whereas before there was almost a note of resentment in it.  Maybe she asked for a few changes in her character?  Or maybe I'm just reading too much into it.

[Ms Lark]

4 hours ago, Snow Apple said:

I really wonder what is going on behind the scenes. The writers seem determined to destroy the character of Jessica and make the audience hate her. It's hard to remember how she was the breakout when the show first started.

Seriously! The first year or two, it was my must see favorite sitcom. Jessica and Louis were huge favorites. Now, I'm just going to muscle through the last 5 episodes for completion, if I can.

This was rough. Honey should just walk away, no one needs to be treated like that. Jessica is lucky someone hasn't knocked her off already. I appreciate the battle against tokenism, but Jessica is more about her ego being bruised due to it. Can't they see how wonderful, brilliant, wise, etc. I am? No. It's because you don't know how to treat other people, especially family and friends. I don't know, it needed to be addressed, but this fell flat. That board? OMG, they were horrible.

 

[Robert Lynch]

2 hours ago, Ms Lark said:

Seriously! The first year or two, it was my must see favorite sitcom. Jessica and Louis were huge favorites. Now, I'm just going to muscle through the last 5 episodes for completion, if I can.

This was rough. Honey should just walk away, no one needs to be treated like that. Jessica is lucky someone hasn't knocked her off already. I appreciate the battle against tokenism, but Jessica is more about her ego being bruised due to it. Can't they see how wonderful, brilliant, wise, etc. I am? No. It's because you don't know how to treat other people, especially family and friends. I don't know, it needed to be addressed, but this fell flat. That board? OMG, they were horrible.

 

Now we can see why it was so short a season here. Dave Foley's character was useless. What a waste.

[floridamom]

How could someone with NO TEACHING EXPERIENCE be hired as a dean of any school? Ridiculous, IMO.

[Robert Lynch]

2 hours ago, floridamom said:

How could someone with NO TEACHING EXPERIENCE be hired as a dean of any school? Ridiculous, IMO.

I hate to see what went on behind closed doors. They are just making her character even more despicable, despite Louis' help. It wasn't even about tokenism. It was really just how everything goes to her plan at the end. Next one is a spinoff episode. I am not holding my breath on that one.

[rmontro]

3 hours ago, floridamom said:

How could someone with NO TEACHING EXPERIENCE be hired as a dean of any school? Ridiculous, IMO.

They pretty much said she was hired simply because she was Chinese, to promote the idea that the school supported diversity.  Also, administrating is a different skill than teaching, so I don't think teaching experience would be a requirement.  Not that Jessica has any experience administrating either, that I can remember.  

[jmonique]

If Jessica was really as smart as she thinks she is, she would have asked questions about the job and her responsibilities before day 1. 

I will miss the boys, though. But it's probably good for them to be back in school, should they choose.

[Robert Lynch]

1 hour ago, jmonique said:

If Jessica was really as smart as she thinks she is, she would have asked questions about the job and her responsibilities before day 1. 

I will miss the boys, though. But it's probably good for them to be back in school, should they choose.

This!  Jessica seemed pretty naive about what the job was all about. She use to be smarter than that. Now, she is going wherever the plot leads to in her next adventure.

[mansonlamps]

I finally deleted this from my DVR.  I love all the rest of the cast, but Jessica 's ego, arrogance and entitlement have made the show unwatchable for me.

[Snow Apple]

54 minutes ago, mansonlamps said:

I finally deleted this from my DVR.  I love all the rest of the cast, but Jessica 's ego, arrogance and entitlement have made the show unwatchable for me.

There's only two episodes left so I'm watching to the bitter end. But I agree with you. 

There have been other characters with those traits but they're in on the joke or have redeeming qualities. Jessica had those in the early seasons. There is nothing likeable about her now. It's a shame the show started focusing on Jessica and less on Eddie.

Edited January 19, 2020 by Snow Apple

[Robert Lynch]

Only two episodes? How are they going to tie everything together? 

[Ms Lark]

There are actually 5 more episodes, the finale date is Feb 21.

[Robert Lynch]

Thanks, my friend.

[rmontro]

17 hours ago, mansonlamps said:

I finally deleted this from my DVR.  I love all the rest of the cast, but Jessica 's ego, arrogance and entitlement have made the show unwatchable for me.

Seems to work out for her somehow.  She has a great family, an administrative position, and she got a book published (even if it didn't sell).  This despite being unlikable, having no administrative or educational experience, and is by all indications a lousy writer.  How many people would love to have the opportunity to have a book published?

[rmontro]

9 hours ago, Ms Lark said:

There are actually 5 more episodes, the finale date is Feb 21.

I thought this was a 15 episode season, which would mean there are four more episodes left?

I'm kind of glad they're cancelling this show because I'm trying to pare down my TV watching.  But I'm a little sad about it too.

[Snow Apple]

10 hours ago, Ms Lark said:

There are actually 5 more episodes, the finale date is Feb 21.

I thought I heard the announcer say only three episodes left (which included this one)?

[Robert Lynch]

Now I am confused. Is it five or two left?

[theatremouse]

It's 15 total and the finale is a two-parter airing on the same night. The announcer saying "three left" counted the one-hour finale as "one" but in terms of the order, it's two.

[rmontro]

8 hours ago, theatremouse said:

It's 15 total and the finale is a two-parter airing on the same night. The announcer saying "three left" counted the one-hour finale as "one" but in terms of the order, it's two.

So there's four left.  Basically.

[Camera One]

It's ridiculous Jessica finished her "schooling" so quickly.  She is not remotely qualified to be a school administrator.

The first scene with Honey was pretty infuriating.  Jessica's arrogance was through the roof and annoying.

However, I actually thought the rest of the episode was a welcomed change.  Jessica for once did not get everything she wanted, and she actually had to put up with it.  At least it was something new for her to play.  They haven't explored the token minority concept yet so that was a bit different.

The subplot with the boys was pretty good.

[Robert Lynch]

No way would they have hired her that quick!

[rmontro]

8 hours ago, Camera One said:

It's ridiculous Jessica finished her "schooling" so quickly.  She is not remotely qualified to be a school administrator.

She didn't finish her schooling, she just decided she didn't need it and dropped out to find the job.

With all this talk about the series ending, maybe that's the source of the enthusiasm I saw in Constance Wu this episode.  Maybe she sees the finish line and it's reinvigorated her.

[tennisgurl]

Look like I found a new favorite character, and he is fluffy with floppy ears and a cotton ball tail! 

The opening with Honey was hard to watch, no one should treat someone like that, especially their best friend. It isnt funny, its just deeply uncomfortable. However after that, I thought that the Jessica plot was a bit better than usual. The story about her dealing with tokinism was interesting and it was nice seeing her actually being nice to Louis for once, and her actually having to work to get something was a nice change than her just being smug than getting her everything she wanted, especially when she has to go up against people even more unlikable than she often is. 

The plot with the brothers was pretty good. 

[fishcakes]

11 minutes ago, tennisgurl said:

The plot with the brothers was pretty good.

I loved their answers to the Mathlete competition. "E = mc ...?" "Hammer!" And Emery just said pi for everything lol.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

14 hours ago, fishcakes said:

I loved their answers to the Mathlete competition. "E = mc ...?" "Hammer!" And Emery just said pi for everything lol.

Ha, that was my favorite part of the episode. Emery buzzing in and yelling "Pi!" so confidently cracked me up, as did Eddie's logical assumption that MC is always followed by Hammer.

[ItCouldBeWorse]

16 hours ago, ElectricBoogaloo said:

Ha, that was my favorite part of the episode. Emery buzzing in and yelling "Pi!" so confidently cracked me up, as did Eddie's logical assumption that MC is always followed by Hammer.

Since when was Emery as ignorant as Eddie?  He didn't seem like he was faking it.

[Snow Apple]

15 hours ago, ItCouldBeWorse said:

Since when was Emery as ignorant as Eddie?  He didn't seem like he was faking it.

Yeah I don't like the dumbing down of Emory. I was confused when it started happening because Emory was played as the same, or almost same, level as Evan in terms of intelligence previously. 

 

[possibilities]

Emery was there to make a point to Evan. He might have been pushing the "pi" answer for that reason.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

3 hours ago, possibilities said:

Emery was there to make a point to Evan. He might have been pushing the "pi" answer for that reason.

Exactly. Eddie and Emery showed up at Mathletes to show Evan why you don't want your brothers hanging out with you at school so they were trying to be as annoying and embarrassing as possible.

[biakbiak]

14 hours ago, possibilities said:

Emery was there to make a point to Evan. He might have been pushing the "pi" answer for that reason.

But he was as dumb and clueless about it at the end of the show when the boys and Louise were talking about pie/pi on the couch. If it was a different show I would have assumed all of three of them were stoned given how they were acting. 

[Robert Lynch]

1 hour ago, biakbiak said:

But he was as dumb and clueless about it at the end of the show when the boys and Louise were talking about pie/pi on the couch. If it was a different show I would have assumed all of three of them were stoned given how they were acting. 

Hate that character change in most shows. You know, they did the same thing in the syndicated episodes of Charles in Charge with Willie Aames' character and they dumbed him down as each season progressed. What use to be a normal character in the 1st season just became dumb in the later seasons.

[biakbiak]

1 minute ago, Robert Lynch said:

Hate that character change in most shows. You know, they did the same thing in the syndicated episodes of Charles in Charge with Willie Aames' character and they dumbed him down as each season progressed. What use to be a normal character in the 1st season just became dumb in the later seasons.

In the first season of Friends, Joey was street smart and not dumb by the end of the run I didn’t understand how he survived without a live in minder. 

[ElectricBoogaloo]

12 hours ago, biakbiak said:

In the first season of Friends, Joey was street smart and not dumb by the end of the run I didn’t understand how he survived without a live in minder. 

Or as Chandler said:

(1) How do you not fall down more?

(2) You have to stop the q-tip when there's resistance!

[Mr. Sparkle]

14 hours ago, Robert Lynch said:

Hate that character change in most shows. You know, they did the same thing in the syndicated episodes of Charles in Charge with Willie Aames' character and they dumbed him down as each season progressed. What use to be a normal character in the 1st season just became dumb in the later seasons.

Also Kelly Bundy. She started off dumb, but by the end of the series she was so stupid I was surprised she could breathe on her own. 

[Camera One]

Sitcoms tend to exaggerate character traits as time goes by, mainly to keep the laughs going.  By trying to outdo the first season antics, the character can become utterly destroyed.  What was funny at the beginning can get tiresome especially when it begins to cross a certain line.

This applies to characteristics other than intelligence (or lackthereof).  Jessica was funny in Season 1 because of her mean comments, so they doubled down on that, and they never realized when it changed from "Jessica is so funny and snarky" to "Jessica is so despicable and it's not funny".

[rmontro]

On 1/24/2020 at 7:09 AM, Superclam said:

Also Kelly Bundy. She started off dumb, but by the end of the series she was so stupid I was surprised she could breathe on her own. 

Wow, could Emery be the next Kelly Bundy?

😮