S01.E03: Give Drink to the Thirsty

[Meredith Quill]

Quote

While delays plague the trio's renovation plans, Maddie strikes a deal with Bill, Dana Sue stresses out over work and home, and Kyle opens up to Noreen.

 

[Suck It Trebek]

Dana Sue is incredibly unlikeable. I like Helen, though, while Maddie is just...meh.

 

 

[Avabelle]

Agreed I’m three episodes in. Dana Sue is the worst. Just miserable. 

[Avabelle]

Also is Noreen delusional? Why is she referring to Ty as her son. On what planet did she think that was going to go down well. 

[Avabelle]

I really wish Justin Bruenig didn’t give me the creeps. I like the character and On paper im rooting for him and Maddie but he just makes me shudder.

[Megan]

6 hours ago, Avabelle said:

Also is Noreen delusional? Why is she referring to Ty as her son. On what planet did she think that was going to go down well. 

I don't know if  the writer's were aiming for naive, young and hopeful, but she comes off as not very smart.

She was a teenager like 5 seconds ago and she thinks a teenage boy would enjoy and feel supported by his dad's affair partner wearing homemade t-shirts screeching at his games? He'd die of embarrassment if his actual Mother did any of that.

And so it seems to me like jerkass Bill not only took advantage of a young employee but also one that has low intelligence. Makes the affair even sleazier.

This show is like a crappy version of Hart of Dixie, which itself was a kinda crappy version of a Gilmore Girls-esque quirky small town show. I'm still going to watch it while sitting at my kitchen table desk doing work.

Edited May 21, 2020 by Megan

[txhorns79]

On 5/21/2020 at 7:46 AM, Avabelle said:

Also is Noreen delusional? Why is she referring to Ty as her son. On what planet did she think that was going to go down well. 

The whole idea of her going to his games, cheering him on and referring to Ty as her son just made me want to slap her, and ask her what the heck she is thinking.  I mean, maybe she really is just really naive and kind of dumb, but this particular town seems too small and gossipy for her to be making a spectacle without serious blowback. 

[truthaboutluv]

On 5/21/2020 at 7:46 AM, Avabelle said:

Also is Noreen delusional? Why is she referring to Ty as her son. On what planet did she think that was going to go down well. 

Yeah I questioned whether she was a bit simple with the behavior at the game in the second episode, but that solidified it for me. Chick is either simple or plain delusional and batshit cray cray.

When she said that line about not having her son not have his mother cheer for him, I had a full on eyes bugging moment of "say what now". So I was very glad when Bill rightly said that um, Tyler mother IS at his games. Like WTAF?

[methodwriter85]

On 5/21/2020 at 7:40 AM, Avabelle said:

Agreed I’m three episodes in. Dana Sue is the worst. Just miserable. 

I've always thought that despite the age difference Brooke Elliot should have played Adult Kate on This is Us. She's overweight but not to the point where you fear for her life like you do with Chrissy Metz. They even have similar voices and acting styles. I remember Brooke mostly because of her lifetime show Drop Dead Diva, where she plays a size 2 wannabe model who's soul is transferred into the body of a overweight lawyer. As for Noreen, I'm assuming she has severe daddy and mommy issues. It's all kind of meta for Jamie Lynn Spears to play a chipper southern girl pregnant out of wedlock and trying to remain impervious to the social blowback of that. I loved the way she was dressed with that very 2000's Jean skirt and big hoop earrings, like she's mentally stuck in 2007.

Edited May 26, 2020 by methodwriter85

[greekmom]

On 5/26/2020 at 4:15 PM, methodwriter85 said:

I've always thought that despite the age difference Brooke Elliot should have played Adult Kate on This is Us. She's overweight but not to the point where you fear for her life like you do with Chrissy Metz. 

Agree about Brooke Elliot. She's  been my fave since Drop Dead Diva. I think she would have made a better Kate in This is Us but glad to see her back on my screen in Sweet Magnolia.

 

[RachelKM]

On 5/21/2020 at 4:46 AM, Avabelle said:

Also is Noreen delusional? Why is she referring to Ty as her son. On what planet did she think that was going to go down well. 

That was bad enough.  But her reaction to Bill noting that Ty's mom will be at his games, i.e. he already has a mom who supports him, was sort of unnerving.

I would think they were trying to make her BSC or dumb as a rock.  But then in the same episodes she had a really nice talk with Kyle.  I have no idea how she is with Kate. I (and it seems the show) periodically forget that she exists.

On 5/21/2020 at 5:12 AM, Avabelle said:

I really wish Justin Bruenig didn’t give me the creeps. I like the character and On paper im rooting for him and Maddie but he just makes me shudder.

Thank you.  I don't know why.  I never minded him on All My Children.  But for some reason everything I've seen him in since I find him unnerving.  It's a combination of the way he carries himself and his facial expressions, which should be kind looking but manages to just put me on edge. 

I really like Helen, but I'm finding her to be a collection of competent and charming characteristics without any depth. The actress is good and charismatic and think she gets the credit for liking her. 

Also, regarding Helen, I'm  perplexed about what she does and how she has so much money.  She seems to work intermittently and otherwise wander around town giving sound, but occasionally uncompensated, legal advice and services and overseeing the remodel.  WHich, speaking of, how can she afford to keep paying overtime and for all these fixes to the that she can just hire more workers and endlessly for overtime.  Didn't she buy the mansion herself?  How are she, Dana Sue, and Maddie all partners? Are the financially contributing and I missed it?  Or is Helen just magically gloriously wealth 

I don't dislike Dana Sue the way some people seem to.  I do hope she calms down. Teenage girls and moms have buttons for one another.  I want her arch to take it somewhere, though.

Maddie is fine.  I always like Joanna Gacia-Swisher.  But she's also always kinda the same.  So ... she's fine and exactly what I expected. 

I adore Erik the sous chef.

I'm also enjoying Cal's friend/Maddie's new employee.

 

[Unraveled]

On 5/31/2020 at 10:53 PM, RachelKM said:

Helen, I'm  perplexed about what she does and how she has so much money.  She seems to work intermittently and otherwise wander around town giving sound, but occasionally uncompensated, legal advice and services and overseeing the remodel. 

She also seems to be a jack of all trades lawyer. She handled divorce (for Maddie), will/custody (for those two orphan girls), and business (employee thing with Dana Sue).

[AzraeltheCat]

On 6/3/2020 at 5:05 PM, Unraveled said:

She also seems to be a jack of all trades lawyer. She handled divorce (for Maddie), will/custody (for those two orphan girls), and business (employee thing with Dana Sue).

That's not that unusual if the town is as small as they make it out to be. 

I'm only part way through this ep but annoyed by the sous chef's lawsuit.  First, in SC wrongful termination is unlikely unless he was fired for something like being a member of a protected class or because he was injured/file workers' comp, etc.  As we say here, employees at will can be fired for good cause, bad cause, or no cause at all. I can't even think of any lawyer that would take that case.  He also has no copyright claim on any of the dishes he might have created [assuming Dana is still using them, it seemed like she was using some of her own and some by the new sous chef]. Unless he and Dana had some other type of agreement like a non-compete or similar document regarding the sous chef's signature dishes, he's out of luck.   

The Noreen/baseball scenes are just painful - I find myself muttering "someone tell her to SHUT UP!" And for her to refer to Tyler as her son is just mind-blowing.  He's not even her stepson at this point! 

 

[Ilovepie]

On 5/21/2020 at 4:46 AM, Avabelle said:

Also is Noreen delusional? Why is she referring to Ty as her son. On what planet did she think that was going to go down well. 

 

On 5/21/2020 at 10:42 AM, Megan said:

I don't know if  the writer's were aiming for naive, young and hopeful, but she comes off as not very smart.

Yes, it’s painful how dumb she comes off. Isn’t she a nurse? How the hell did someone that stupid make it through nursing school?!?

[chocolatine]

Noreen really is something else. The tone-deaf baseball cheering, acting like Ty is her son, and, to top it all all off, telling Maddie how she wants to be surprised by the baby's sex and rambling about nursery paint colors as if Maddie is an old friend who wanted to catch up!

Why so much secrecy around the backstory with Dana Sue's ex-husband? Her character is not nearly intriguing enough to pull this off; her story already became tedious in episode 2. If the show wants us to think that she has many layers to her personality, they need to show us, not tell us.

[Avabelle]

And make her more likeable. 

[Ilovepie]

2 hours ago, Avabelle said:

And make her more likeable. 

Yes! I find her even more tedious because she repeatedly says she knows she is being nasty to everyone, but she continues to do it. Hey Dana Sue, if you know you're being a bitch, try being a little nicer or go get some medication for your pms/menopause/anxiety, etc. if there is a medical reason for it.......

And making catfish for the VFW guys is not enough to redeem her at this point........

[Avabelle]

She’s just the worst. I pity her kid so much. 

[Aunt Catfish]

On 7/7/2020 at 2:33 PM, Ilovepie said:

Yes! I find her even more tedious because she repeatedly says she knows she is being nasty to everyone, but she continues to do it. Hey Dana Sue, if you know you're being a bitch, try being a little nicer or go get some medication for your pms/menopause/anxiety, etc. if there is a medical reason for it.......

And making catfish for the VFW guys is not enough to redeem her at this point........

Hey!  There ain't nothing better than good old catfish!!  I ought to know!

[NeenerNeener]

On 5/21/2020 at 6:57 AM, Suck It Trebek said:

Dana Sue is incredibly unlikeable. 

I covet her blender, though. Anyone know what brand that is? Maybe a Vitamix?

ETA: After much google research, I think it's a Wolf Gourmet Blender, whose claim to fame is making great margaritas. I can't imagine paying $500 for a margarita maker, but I don't live in the fictional town of Serenity. It's a very cool-looking blender, though.

Edited February 26, 2022 by NeenerNeener

[Kristi800]

I just started watching this. Have been denying Netflix's insistence that this is part of my algorithm, but I do like The Good Witch. It starts out with a similar storyline of Reba (with Joanna Garcia[Swisher]) with the husband getting his nurse pregnant, but a lot younger this time around! Question, she owns the gym? 

Yeah, and Noreen wearing "Life's a Bitch" shirt? Really? SMH. Don't go around and flaunt it in others' faces, especially your almost husband's wife. Eeesh. 

The coach seems stalkery - I know it's a small town, but he seems to be everywhere...I haven't seem him (knowingly) elsewhere. And of course he takes off his shirt just at the neighbor passes by.

Poor Ty. Such a bad age to be a boy and his parents are going through a bad time. 

I didn't even recognize Brooke Elliott from DDD, which was an awesome show. I thought it was Rebecca Field who was in The Client List with Jennifer Love Hewitt. She definitely reserves her niceness for her friends. I get she's a boss, but she's also a business owner in a small town where there's talk. She certainly doesn't give her daughter the time of day except to be nasty to her. She was totally dismissive to Eric, who is trying to get a better himself, but seems a little bit too good to be true.

I like Helen, but yeah, she does have a lot of time on her hands running around town. I think in a small town, you have to be a lawyer of all trades to be able to survive. You're not going to just do wills and make a living. 

How is baseball season a month away from Christmas, even in South Carolina.

[Daisy]

On 3/4/2022 at 11:45 PM, Kristi800 said:

Yeah, and Noreen wearing "Life's a Bitch" shirt? Really? SMH. Don't go around and flaunt it in others' faces, especially your almost husband's wife. Eeesh. 

LOL i thought it said that too. but it says "Life's a Pitch" :)