S05.E09: The Heist

[Harvey]

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Katie goes overboard in her efforts to help J.D. (Jake Choi) become a father. Meanwhile, after a brush with the law, Greg worries Taylor may be a political liability.

Air date: 2021, February 10

[Ms Blue Jay]

What happened to Logan's family money?  I must have missed that.  I love his chef storyline.

Katie's heist was really unethical, wasn't it? I don't know how I feel about this.

[Kiddvideo]

4 hours ago, Ms Blue Jay said:

What happened to Logan's family money?  I must have missed that.  I love his chef storyline.

Katie's heist was really unethical, wasn't it? I don't know how I feel about this.

I thought Cooper voluntarily decided to not use his family’s money. He saw how the café manager’s father uses money to control him as an adult, and Cooper didn’t want to live like that. Fortunately he’d already renovated that sweet basement apartment.

I didn’t like how Oliver and the other boy were treating Cooper. He’s always been kind, generous with his money, and was never consciously unthoughtful. (Doesn’t everyone have a guy whose full-time job it is to reset the pins in their bowling alley?)

How can Katy blather on about loving her family yet do what she did? She jeopardized her own freedom and Greg’s political career. The kids face humiliation at school. Fines, lawyers fees, and court costs will bankrupt them. I’d say she’s running with the wrong crowd, but she’s the wrong crowd.

[Harvey]

I loved that Katy could get Tammi to do the break-in simply by telling her to "be cool". Hilarious 😄

It was sweet how supportive Oliver was all through the episode towards Cooper ❤️ . Their friendship is adorable.

[iMonrey]

There's no way J.D. can contact the egg donors whether he has their addresses or not. It's supposed to be anonymous. If he tries to contact them they will undoubtably complain to the fertility clinic, and the clinic will know it was him and refuse him the donations. 

That said, I enjoyed the silly heist plotline, and I'm enjoying Tami and J.D. more than Angela or Doris. It feels like the writers think they need to give Holly Robinson Peete more to do than the obligatory one scene at the cafe like Angela and Doris always got. And while it stinks that the actress who played Angela had to leave the show - especially if her accusations of racial bias are true - the fact is that the character of Angela never really added anything to the show.  

[Lone Wolf]

My GF pointed out to me last night that despite the apparent cast changes, Katy still has an African American, an Asian, and a gay person in her Second Breakfast Club (although the gender changed for the latter).  My response was, "Good catch, Babe.  But we need more Jim Rash." I'm glad he had a few more scenes in this ep.

I still look at the new Ana-Kat and think of how the original one would have delivered her lines, though.

 

[floridamom]

I must have missed something here. Why is Cooper suddenly without his family's money?

Regarding the 'heist' plotline, I didn't enjoy that at all. I am surprised that a TV show would write such an episode. This is a crime....not a silly joke to play on a friend or something but breaking the law. To minimize it was not a good idea. Also it was unbelievable to me because Katie hardly knows this guy...what for a week? No one would suddenly be BFFs with a virtual stranger. How did the new lady (don't remember her name) come about? Suddenly, everyone is such great, close personal friends? Silly of the writers, IMO.

[readster]

1 hour ago, floridamom said:

I must have missed something here. Why is Cooper suddenly without his family's money?

Regarding the 'heist' plotline, I didn't enjoy that at all. I am surprised that a TV show would write such an episode. This is a crime....not a silly joke to play on a friend or something but breaking the law. To minimize it was not a good idea. Also it was unbelievable to me because Katie hardly knows this guy...what for a week? No one would suddenly be BFFs with a virtual stranger. How did the new lady (don't remember her name) come about? Suddenly, everyone is such great, close personal friends? Silly of the writers, IMO.

The show the past two seasons has been portraying this stuff as "funny" when sorry, these are crimes and in a town like this, they be up a creek and forever shamed. Same with Cooper's money situation, I got he didn't want to end up like the waiter guy, who is basically in this late 40s and being manipulated by his rich parents until they die. At some point he have to realize they aren't going to give him shit. In a way, good for Cooper realizing the life he has been living all these years is going to leave him just a joke later in life. Sadly, Oliver seems to not have gotten that in his head. Of course, same goes for Katey still saying Greg's ideas are stupid, and he has to be "dirty" with politics, but then gets upset when she screws him over. They keep writing Katie that she "wants it both ways" and then when it backfires goes: "Ooppps" then proceeds to do it again the following week.

[iMonrey]

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I still look at the new Ana-Kat and think of how the original one would have delivered her lines, though.

I don't. They could never replace Oliver or Taylor at this point (although I know they replaced Taylor after the pilot), but I find the new Ana-Kat pretty interchangeable with the last one. Probably because I was already used to her from Life in Pieces.

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How did the new lady (don't remember her name) come about?

Tami was supposedly Katie's best friend wherever they lived before Westport, and she just recently moved to Westport herself.

[ljenkins782]

On 2/13/2021 at 10:01 AM, readster said:

The show the past two seasons has been portraying this stuff as "funny" when sorry, these are crimes and in a town like this, they be up a creek and forever shamed. Same with Cooper's money situation, I got he didn't want to end up like the waiter guy, who is basically in this late 40s and being manipulated by his rich parents until they die. At some point he have to realize they aren't going to give him shit. In a way, good for Cooper realizing the life he has been living all these years is going to leave him just a joke later in life. Sadly, Oliver seems to not have gotten that in his head. Of course, same goes for Katey still saying Greg's ideas are stupid, and he has to be "dirty" with politics, but then gets upset when she screws him over. They keep writing Katie that she "wants it both ways" and then when it backfires goes: "Ooppps" then proceeds to do it again the following week.

This show has some really tone deaf ideas about what's funny. For example, the entire character of Maria, who prior to marrying the principal, existed only to be the whipping boy for Chloe Brown-Mueller and I'm baffled as to why it was supposed to be funny to watch someone being treated horribly. There was plenty of evidence that Chloe was an asshole in the way she spoke to Katy, who gives her shit right back. Watching her treat Maria as an indentured servant wasn't funny or necessary.

And making the hijinks in this episode about breaking privacy laws wasn't funny either. There were plenty of other things they could have used to create a silly, minor crime scenario.

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I still look at the new Ana-Kat and think of how the original one would have delivered her lines, though.

Me too. Julia Butters had a unique style that lent a specificity to the character that can't be replicated. Replacing Taylor with any random blonde probably wouldn't have made a blip on my radar (and might have been an improvement, since that actress can't act her way out of a paper bag) but both Anna Kat and Oliver are played by actors who put a stamp on their characters.

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That said, I enjoyed the silly heist plotline, and I'm enjoying Tami and J.D. more than Angela or Doris. It feels like the writers think they need to give Holly Robinson Peete more to do than the obligatory one scene at the cafe like Angela and Doris always got. And while it stinks that the actress who played Angela had to leave the show - especially if her accusations of racial bias are true - the fact is that the character of Angela never really added anything to the show.  

I do like JD and since the Doris character never did much for me, that's an upgrade, but Holly Robinson Peete's acting is pretty stilted. I'd have preferred that they'd given the Angela character more to do in the way that they're giving HRP more material/airtime, I feel like that actress was better at delivering lines.

[Harvey]

25 minutes ago, ljenkins782 said:

This show has some really tone deaf ideas about what's funny. For example, the entire character of Maria, who prior to marrying the principal, existed only to be the whipping boy for Chloe Brown-Mueller and I'm baffled as to why it was supposed to be funny to watch someone being treated horribly. There was plenty of evidence that Chloe was an asshole in the way she spoke to Katy, who gives her shit right back. Watching her treat Maria as an indentured servant wasn't funny or necessary.

 

Um, speak for yourself! Those scenes with Chloe mistreating Maria were downright hilarious. I have rewatched them all of them multiple times because they are awesome. Like when she told Maria to hit the muffin out of Katy's hand? Gold.

[ljenkins782]

24 minutes ago, Harvey said:

Um, speak for yourself! Those scenes with Chloe mistreating Maria were downright hilarious. I have rewatched them all of them multiple times because they are awesome. Like when she told Maria to hit the muffin out of Katy's hand? Gold.

I am. I find it disgusting in the same way this show and many, many other show find it hilarious to show people in positions of power abusing the people they have power over. Like all the Spanish maid characters who are always being threatened with deportation if they don't sufficiently lick the boots of their employers. It's not funny to me and it's outdated thinking and lazy writing, in my opinion.

[Yeah No]

Lots of issues here! 

I didn't care for the Heist plot.  Not that every plot has to be squeaky clean or PC because even a zillion years ago stuff like this happened on sitcoms like "I Love Lucy" and we all laughed.  But here it just doesn't play as well.  I think the difference for me is that when Lucy messed up it was usually over something pretty trivial or innocuous, and she got in trouble for it until somehow Ricky or someone bailed her out and she atoned for her behavior, but here the crime is more serious and there isn't even an attempt at real consequences or moralizing about it.  I know shows used to have to do that for the censors and we are basically living in a post-censor world, but I think on what is supposed to be a "family show" we expect a little more.

I have to say that I still miss Julia Butters.  I never knew this new actress beforehand and I still can't completely warm up to her in the role.  She's not a bad actress but like others have said, Julia brought something unique to the role that can't be duplicated and without it I feel that something is lacking.  For me part of it is that it was too late in the series for me to completely accept someone new in the role.

As far as Angela went, the show did try to feature her more in plotlines earlier in the series but somewhere along the line they dropped that.  It used to irk me that the show would go in one direction and then change every season.  I know they had to make some changes recently because of the pandemic and the original actress's departure so it's not bothering me as much this season but it seems like the show just can't pick a direction and stick with it.  I remember that they were trying to portray Angela as a cougar-ish lesbian and I didn't really care for that either, so when they dropped it I didn't mind.  But they never really featured her in much other than second breakfast after that.  And that was too bad because I always felt they were wasting her talent.  Now this is conjecture at best, but perhaps she felt sidelined by the show for reasons of bias.

I also think that the new characters aren't being allowed to develop organically and there is some shoe-horning of them into the show too fast and it's not feeling right somehow.  I agree with @floridamom above that it seems too sudden for them all to be such BFFs.  At least introduce the "old friend" a little more like they did with characters at the beginning of the series.  Like make Katy say "Oh, and since you are now a member of the community, come have second breakfast with me".  Don't just show them together like nothing is different. 

As far as Cooper is concerned, given this show's penchant for changing things around so often I'm not getting attached to him without his money.  I personally don't think he's going to be able to live without it for the long haul and somehow he will end up with it anyway.  He'll just find a way to live like he doesn't have that much money.  I don't even know if I believe he's really not just doing that right now.  I don't remember him signing away his inheritance so I never thought it was more than just that anyway.

 

[Harvey]

11 hours ago, ljenkins782 said:

I am. I find it disgusting in the same way this show and many, many other show find it hilarious to show people in positions of power abusing the people they have power over. Like all the Spanish maid characters who are always being threatened with deportation if they don't sufficiently lick the boots of their employers. It's not funny to me and it's outdated thinking and lazy writing, in my opinion.

I hear you. I think it's important to keep in mind that humor is extremely subjective, that is why it's hard to come up with a comedy that is generally acclaimed, it is very hard to please everyone. & It's okay, we can't all love the same things.

[Lone Wolf]

9 hours ago, Yeah No said:

I didn't care for the Heist plot.  Not that every plot has to be squeaky clean or PC because even a zillion years ago stuff like this happened on sitcoms like "I Love Lucy" and we all laughed.  But here it just doesn't play as well.  I think the difference for me is that when Lucy messed up it was usually over something pretty trivial or innocuous, and she got in trouble for it until somehow Ricky or someone bailed her out and she atoned for her behavior, but here the crime is more serious and there isn't even an attempt at real consequences or moralizing about it.  I know shows used to have to do that for the censors and we are basically living in a post-censor world, but I think on what is supposed to be a "family show" we expect a little more.

I have to say that I still miss Julia Butters.  I never knew this new actress beforehand and I still can't completely warm up to her in the role.  She's not a bad actress but like others have said, Julia brought something unique to the role that can't be duplicated and without it I feel that something is lacking.  For me part of it is that it was too late in the series for me to completely accept someone new in the role.

 

 

Greg needs to bend Katie over his lap and spank her like Ricky used to do to Lucy (can you imagine?).  That would calm her down.  Of course then the kids would be fatherless and they'd have to change the title of the show to American Housewife: Snapped.   

Hear, hear.  Butters was better at the charming, quirky, deadpan personality that defined the character.  At least initially.  

[SnarkySheep]

On 2/14/2021 at 5:07 PM, ljenkins782 said:

This show has some really tone deaf ideas about what's funny. For example, the entire character of Maria, who prior to marrying the principal, existed only to be the whipping boy for Chloe Brown-Mueller and I'm baffled as to why it was supposed to be funny to watch someone being treated horribly. There was plenty of evidence that Chloe was an asshole in the way she spoke to Katy, who gives her shit right back. Watching her treat Maria as an indentured servant wasn't funny or necessary.

And am I misremembering things, or wasn't the original Maria just a fairly normal woman caught in a bad work situation? Now they've got her quirky as hell and I'm just like, TF is this suddenly coming from??

[ljenkins782]

44 minutes ago, SnarkySheep said:

And am I misremembering things, or wasn't the original Maria just a fairly normal woman caught in a bad work situation? Now they've got her quirky as hell and I'm just like, TF is this suddenly coming from??

The original version of Maria was a woman so brow-beaten by her employer that she did any ridiculous thing asked of her. There was never any explanation of why Maria felt that being a sales clerk in Chloe's store was so important to her existence that she needed to endure such abuse, and in fact, she briefly went to work for Katy, didn't she? So it strains credibility that she would let someone treat her so awfully just for what must have been a minimal paycheck.

Quote

I hear you. I think it's important to keep in mind that humor is extremely subjective, that is why it's hard to come up with a comedy that is generally acclaimed, it is very hard to please everyone. & It's okay, we can't all love the same things.

Agreed. The thing that I hope for is that certain outdated comedy tropes will eventually become shocking (like the husband spanking a wife example referenced above).

One of the general comedy premises is that you don't "punch down," yet there are still these gross bullying types of "jokes" built into so many comedies and I keep waiting for that trend to expire. How is shitting all over someone who has no power to fight back funny? 

[Yeah No]

50 minutes ago, ljenkins782 said:

Agreed. The thing that I hope for is that certain outdated comedy tropes will eventually become shocking (like the husband spanking a wife example referenced above).

One of the general comedy premises is that you don't "punch down," yet there are still these gross bullying types of "jokes" built into so many comedies and I keep waiting for that trend to expire. How is shitting all over someone who has no power to fight back funny? 

We laughed at the way Leonard's mother treated him in "Big Bang Theory" and yet that was about as bad as it gets because it was bullying by one's own mother.  I admit I laughed too, but in spite of myself.

[readster]

7 hours ago, ljenkins782 said:

The original version of Maria was a woman so brow-beaten by her employer that she did any ridiculous thing asked of her. There was never any explanation of why Maria felt that being a sales clerk in Chloe's store was so important to her existence that she needed to endure such abuse, and in fact, she briefly went to work for Katy, didn't she? So it strains credibility that she would let someone treat her so awfully just for what must have been a minimal paycheck.

Agreed. The thing that I hope for is that certain outdated comedy tropes will eventually become shocking (like the husband spanking a wife example referenced above).

One of the general comedy premises is that you don't "punch down," yet there are still these gross bullying types of "jokes" built into so many comedies and I keep waiting for that trend to expire. How is shitting all over someone who has no power to fight back funny? 

I agree, I mean others have pointed out characters that did the same, but I think it was more in a humorous way that instead of coming across as spiteful it was funny. However, then you just go too far like with Maria. I mean you. have the classic: "Be happy you have a job" then you are on the verge of going to prison for someone because: "They want it this way and defy logic." Like on The Middle how Mike's bosses pretty much did everything to screw over their employees or do some very very illegal stuff. Yet, they laughed about it with: "But we've been getting away with it, so who cares?" Instead of: "you would have been sued by the state and people would have walked out in several lawsuits." 

[ams1001]

Now I want Cooper to start making gourmet meals for the family. (Though I couldn't help but wonder where he got all the ingredients for his fancy grilled cheese without his parents' credit cards...some of them didn't sound like things Katie would just have around the kitchen.)

What the hell were the cops doing that they had time to hide behind the wall and have a whole conversation, then two of them climb out the window and have a further conversation (all at normal volume that no cop heard...you'd think they'd be checking around the outside of the building) and Katie still had time to log into the computer and find (in a presumably unfamiliar system...somehow I doubt you log in to the computer and it goes directly to their client database, which would probably have its own separate password) and write down the donors' information before the cops actually entered the building and arrested her? And what, they just booked her and let her go (for breaking and entering and accessing confidential information, like it's no more serious than sneaking into people's hot tubs without permission), and she was even home early enough that no one wondered where she was? And she thinks she can just ignore it like a parking ticket? Okay. I know it's just a silly sitcom, but there's a limit to my suspension of disbelief.

Never mind that it didn't occur to any of them that the place would have a security system. Katie isn't he only idiot in that trio.

 

[chediavolo]

On 2/11/2021 at 3:50 AM, Kiddvideo said:

I thought Cooper voluntarily decided to not use his family’s money. He saw how the café manager’s father uses money to control him as an adult, and Cooper didn’t want to live like that. Fortunately he’d already renovated that sweet basement apartment.

I didn’t like how Oliver and the other boy were treating Cooper. He’s always been kind, generous with his money, and was never consciously unthoughtful. (Doesn’t everyone have a guy whose full-time job it is to reset the pins in their bowling alley?)

How can Katy blather on about loving her family yet do what she did? She jeopardized her own freedom and Greg’s political career. The kids face humiliation at school. Fines, lawyers fees, and court costs will bankrupt them. I’d say she’s running with the wrong crowd, but she’s the wrong crowd.

Katie can be very unlikable and unkind at times. 

[Neiman]

I had no idea hot tub hopping was a thing. Whatever. Not sure why they felt the need to add the Joshes to an already overcrowded cast. Still wishing they’d send this Taylor off to college.

The Heist plot was ridiculous. Of course, I don’t mind the new friend going through the process of having a child, but breaking in? Ridiculous.

Cooper made me hungry. Hope they publish his grilled cheese recipe. 🤣
 

[Cowgirl]

Hated this episode.  The crime was sloppily written. Sometimes I think the writers of this series think we are all idiots. (Or maybe they're idiots.)  I too miss the actress who played Ana-Kat and have never seen this new one before. 

I agree with the poster above who stated that Cooper was never intentionally thoughtless.  While Cooper is growing some this season, Oliver seems to have backslid again.  Then again, that's the M.O. of these writers.  No one ever seems to permanently learn a lesson.