S07.E15: The Fake Funeral

[OtterMommy]

Quote

Frankie throws herself a funeral, leaving Grace to attend an important meeting alone. To Brianna's annoyance, her family rallies around Barry.

 

[Harvey]

I loved the scene when Frankie yelled at the people about she being her own person, and them perceiving her to always be paired with Grace. That was very powerful.

Also, the line where the Japanese assistant explained that it't frowned upon to be disrespectful to business partners was hilarious 🤣. Really good episode. It kinda made me want to throw a funeral for myself too.

[CarpeFelis]

I really felt for Grace with the karaoke thing. I wouldn’t want to do it either, and being forced into something like that when you’re not even on company time (and hell, she didn’t even work for these people!) is just WRONG. I’m so happy I’m retired and no longer have to put up with corporate BS. 

[shapeshifter]

16 hours ago, CarpeFelis said:

I really felt for Grace with the karaoke thing. I wouldn’t want to do it either, and being forced into something like that when you’re not even on company time (and hell, she didn’t even work for these people!) is just WRONG. I’m so happy I’m retired and no longer have to put up with corporate BS. 

I've always wanted to do Karaoke, but never had the opportunity. 
My feelings for Grace in that moment were a little different, and maybe what they writers were going for? That Grace can't do it without Frankie.

The end with Mallory and Brianna was 😭.

[Bastet]

Even if karaoke wasn't one of the most annoying things in the world, it would be completely unfair to hinge a business deal on whether someone is willing to participate in some forced group activity; calling it a testament to teamwork doesn't make it so.  It's just bullshit.

This was my least favorite episode of this second half of the season, because I'm seething with anger over how Brianna and Barry's relationship is being retconned and how she's being treated in all this*, and also because Grace and Frankie are separated.  But that part makes sense, with the whole thing being a testament to the fact they are well and truly partners, and can't do the important things in life without each other.

*My heart broke for Brianna when Barry talked about how free she is.  And then it was soothed when Mallory spotted her and went over to hold her and let her cry.

Edited May 4, 2022 by Bastet

[shapeshifter]

57 minutes ago, Bastet said:

This was my least favorite episode of this second half of the season, because I'm seething with anger over how Brianna and Barry's relationship is being retconned and how she's being treated in all this*, and also because Grace and Frankie are separated.  But that part makes sense, with the whole thing being a testament to the fact they are well and truly partners, and can't do the important things in life without each other.

*My heart broke for Brianna when Barry talked about how free she is.  And then it was soothed when Mallory spotted her and went over to hold her and let her cry.

The Brianna-Barry dramedy is my least favorite (most hated?) part too, but maybe it was supposed to be a look through a time machine of what it was like for Grace and Frankie when they were both younger, married to men for whom they were essentially just beards. Like the couples of Grace & Robert and Frankie & Sol, Brianna & Barry are better as friends rather than spouses --or even roommates. 

I heard a podcast this morning with 2 women who said Brianna was their favorite character. 
I wonder what that says about their own lives?

[Bastet]

12 minutes ago, shapeshifter said:

Brianna & Barry are better as friends rather than spouses --or even roommates.

But they spent years establishing that they loved each other and wanted to be together romantically forever, but that could only happen if he could be happy without marriage or kids.  The whole point was that over time he figured out he could -- it wasn't what he'd imagined, and it wasn't what life looked like for a lot of couples, but this permanent engagement and him having a kid this way gave him everything he'd wanted, and it didn't matter that it was in a different way.  When his parents came and insisted she's all wrong for him, their narrative was rejected, because Barry was happy.  And then all of a sudden it doesn't work.  Which, okay, minds change, but it was a sudden flip, and then, worse, it gets presented as if it never worked, was never going to work, that he was always in a relationship not at all suited to him.  Um, I was there.  I saw it.

Traditional marriage just isn't good for some people, especially some women.  Showing the process of a couple crafting something else that does work for them was terrific.  Tearing that all down and implying a woman who doesn't want to marry and procreate cannot have a lasting romantic relationship even if the couple is in love and wants to make it work, because a man is never truly going to be satisfied with someone like that, is not.

Brianna is going to be just fine without Barry, but it was nice for Brianna to have Barry.

[Bastet]

One thing I did love in this episode was Robert's face when he realized he was conflating a memory of Grace with one of Sol.

Also Peter giving him a supportive pat on the shoulder as he walked past afterward; you don't think that guy's capable of genuine compassion, but he is.

[853fisher]

I thought they overdid it with the idea that nobody had any memories about Frankie that didn't involve Grace.  I get the point and it is important.  But literally nothing from childhood, years before she and Grace became close, from her two sons?  Or from the former husband with whom she spent a couple genuinely connected decades?  Haven't we been told that Brianna was close to her when she was a child?  Didn't Allison have a baby delivered by her?  Come on now.  I know some things have been painted increasingly broadly over the seasons, but this was such a stretch that it really took me out of things.  It probably doesn't help that I've struggled to take this "the psychic told me I will die on XYZ" seriously form the start.

[Yeah No]

On 5/4/2022 at 2:22 PM, Bastet said:

But they spent years establishing that they loved each other and wanted to be together romantically forever, but that could only happen if he could be happy without marriage or kids.  The whole point was that over time he figured out he could -- it wasn't what he'd imagined, and it wasn't what life looked like for a lot of couples, but this permanent engagement and him having a kid this way gave him everything he'd wanted, and it didn't matter that it was in a different way.  When his parents came and insisted she's all wrong for him, their narrative was rejected, because Barry was happy.  And then all of a sudden it doesn't work.  Which, okay, minds change, but it was a sudden flip, and then, worse, it gets presented as if it never worked, was never going to work, that he was always in a relationship not at all suited to him.  Um, I was there.  I saw it.

I agree with you 100% but I actually think there was a subtle message here that made Barry look like an ass and a child who was not the right person for Brianna.  And so in spite of the others spinning it to look like Barry was the one getting getting screwed, it was really the other way around that Brianna was the one getting screwed by Barry.  As snotty and full of herself and even mean at times as Brianna is, she really didn't deserve what he did to her.  He sold her a bill of goods and couldn't follow through on it.  She was very clear and open about what she wanted and didn't want.  No one was twisting his arm to make him please her.  The kicker was when he was actually not upset at all about the breakup.  That just goes to show where he was coming from!  She has a very crusty exterior but at least she has genuine feelings and showed that she was more emotionally invested in him than he ever was in her.  

[Bastet]

1 hour ago, Yeah No said:

I agree with you 100% but I actually think there was a subtle message here that made Barry look like an ass and a child who was not the right person for Brianna.  And so in spite of the others spinning it to look like Barry was the one getting getting screwed, it was really the other way around that Brianna was the one getting screwed by Barry.

I agree that's the truth of the situation, but my problem is I don't think the show intended to frame it that way with every character sympathetic to Barry, and some even proclaiming it as a relationship that was never right for him, and that narrative never being countered except by Brianna pointing out "he's the one who broke our deal" yet not one single person acknowledging that truth. 

They worked for years to craft a relationship that accommodated both their needs, and it was going well.  All of a sudden, he changed his mind.  His right to do so, of course, but his last-minute shift wasn't presented like Oh, how sad, he's not actually good for her after all, but instead like This was doomed to fail from jump.

Brianna is left in a good place, poised for a nice next chapter with a sister she understands better than she ever has, so it's hardly a tragedy Barry is gone.  But it's a disturbing message that she was inevitably going to wind up without a romantic partner, since even this one who loved her and was happy with her would be unfulfilled without traditional marriage and parenting.

[Yeah No]

5 hours ago, Bastet said:

I agree that's the truth of the situation, but my problem is I don't think the show intended to frame it that way with every character sympathetic to Barry, and some even proclaiming it as a relationship that was never right for him, and that narrative never being countered except by Brianna pointing out "he's the one who broke our deal" yet not one single person acknowledging that truth. 

I don't know, the way the others went OTT to support Barry got me in the feels for Brianna, which admittedly is hard to do so it made me think it was intentional for us to see how wrong they were and feel for her.  Them not listening to her when she said that was to show why they were wrong, because they dismiss that she's a person with a right to feelings and needs of her own.  Perhaps she brought some of that upon herself and in that sense deserves it to some degree, but I felt that the overall message was pro-Brianna.  Anyway, YMMV.

[Bastet]

It would have needed a moment with just one character validating Brianna's opposition to the "poor Barry" narrative for me to believe that's what they intended.  Like the first time he broke up with her, because he wanted marriage and kids and she didn't, people acted like he was the normal one and Brianna was defective, and Frankie assured her, "If it wasn't right for you, it wasn't right for anyone."  It could have been Frankie again, given their relationship and her specific understanding, but I think it would have worked best coming from Mallory this time around.