S03.E08: Quality Family Time

[AnimeMania]

Chosen families come together at Thanksgiving when an unwelcome visitor brings Finley to her breaking point. Sophie realizes the price of her indecisiveness, while Maribel plans a grand gesture for Micah, and Carrie lets her true feelings slip. Across town, Dani kicks back for a solo holiday until unexpected circumstances push her and Dre closer and Shane and Angie volunteer together when a surprise sighting forces them to confront Angie’s feelings.

Original Streaming Date: January 6, 2023        Showtime OnDemand
Original Air Date: January 8, 2023      Showtime    8pm

[oldCJ]

I hate Finley. My god why does this show revolve around her of all possible interesting characters. How many minutes of this episode were literally her sitting at a desk thinking then writing then washing her hands and thinking some more. 

So Dani’s mom is dead and her father went to prison a year before and her fiancee left her for Finley. Dre is stuck with strangers missing their first family thanksgiving of their life. Tess’s mom just died and she just separated from Shane who cheated on her. Misty has diarrhea caused by Finley. Carrie is in physical pain. Maribel and Micah don’t know if they will get to be parents. Finley’s mom is leaving a loveless marriage that made her miserable for decades. But yeah let’s pretend Finley, a grown woman with a good job with a great boss and a huge social circle and support, is having the worst time. Boo hoo. 

Also the graduate student storyline is still so gross. Hiding from the man who groomed you and used his position of authority over you to take your virginity and then breaking his car window? That’s Angie’s plotline? I guess it’s better than getting a condom out of your roommate…

This show sucks now. But at least it no one sang this week. 

[CarpeFelis]

If Carrie was supposed to be having a heart attack, she grabbed the wrong arm to show where the pain was coming from.

[gesundheit]

Carrie better not be dead now that they're letting her be wonderful. (And of course if she's dead it'll be another storyline about how Finley's life is so cruel.)

[hatchetgirl]

I figured Finley is their new young Shane but now that Shane is back to being a dog (and still hot), no point for Finley anymore. Lol

I take issue with the idea the teacher groomed Angie. They made out at Dana's, then turned out he was her teacher. Do I think he should have dated her after finding that out, nope and I hope he loses his job, but he didn't groom her.  

Was Tess drinking wine? I wanted her to call her sponsor. :(

 

[sistermagpie]

On 1/6/2023 at 3:58 PM, oldCJ said:

So Dani’s mom is dead and her father went to prison a year before and her fiancee left her for Finley. Dre is stuck with strangers missing their first family thanksgiving of their life. Tess’s mom just died and she just separated from Shane who cheated on her. Misty has diarrhea caused by Finley. Carrie is in physical pain. Maribel and Micah don’t know if they will get to be parents. Finley’s mom is leaving a loveless marriage that made her miserable for decades. But yeah let’s pretend Finley, a grown woman with a good job with a great boss and a huge social circle and support, is having the worst time. Boo hoo. 

Yeah, plus she really did seem determined to make the night as bad as possible as well. Like, her mom actually started to say that she admired Finley, which was exactly the kind of moment Finley kept being upset at not being able to have. 

I didn't realize Finley was having to work that night at first and I thought how ridiculous it was that this family wasn't just inviting Finley and her mom to their Thanksgiving rather than moving everyone to a bar.

 

On 1/7/2023 at 12:13 AM, gesundheit said:

Carrie better not be dead now that they're letting her be wonderful. (And of course if she's dead it'll be another storyline about how Finley's life is so cruel.)

I admit I was really pleasantly surprised by Misty's running away from Carrie being about Finley's coffee. Carrie doesn't bother me at all when she's with Misty and being a mom-type person to Finley. She's a much better character when she's not the one doing the moping.

Still seems like Maribel and Micah are nowhere near in a good position to have a baby, but okay.

I'm still waiting for somebody to point out the actual issue between Angie and her teacher is that he's her teacher and so has proved he has no sense of boundaries and needs to be fired. He says he'll wait for her *until the end of the semester?* I thought he was saying he'd wait until she was an appropriate age (whether he would or not). 

I can't even tell if Angie's supposed to be purposefully hiding the fact that he's her teacher when she talks about him using euphamisms like "the timing isn't right" or if she really doesn't get it and it's not supposed to be important? 

[MicheleinPhilly]

On 1/8/2023 at 12:39 PM, hatchetgirl said:

I take issue with the idea the teacher groomed Angie. They made out at Dana's, then turned out he was her teacher. Do I think he should have dated her after finding that out, nope and I hope he loses his job, but he didn't groom her.  

Yeah, he's a dick and their relationship was wildly inappropriate but Angie is 18. This was not a case of grooming. 

I hate that Tess fell off the wagon. And she was around all of those people at Dana's - did no one smell her? 

With the exception of Micah shoveling gummies in his mouth like they were gummy bears, this episode bored the crap out of me. Although it did make me crave stuffing and mashed potatoes so I guess there's that. 🤷‍♀️

[izabella]

18 hours ago, sistermagpie said:

I admit I was really pleasantly surprised by Misty's running away from Carrie being about Finley's coffee. Carrie doesn't bother me at all when she's with Misty and being a mom-type person to Finley. She's a much better character when she's not the one doing the moping.

I like Carrie a lot.  She's becoming my favorite person on this show, or at least someone I look forward to seeing.  She's been very kind to Finley.  I'm glad Misty told her what was up.

The missing ring and mashed potatoes stuff was silly, but at least it was a break from the angst and shouting.  I'm not sure how I feel about the baby.  It was a joyous announcement, but those two seem entirely unprepared for parenthood.

[gesundheit]

Okay, somehow I can't get the "quote multiple posts" feature to work anymore but:

- I guess everyone at Dana's was boozing so maybe they wouldn't notice the smell? Except for Finley, who as a newly-ish sober person definitely should be able to tell that Tess is drinking, but that would require Finley to focus on not-her-own-problems which...

- as sistermagpie mentioned above, she helped fan the flames of instead of walking through the many doors her (admittedly shitty) mother was cracking open.

- I love that Carrie is a neurotic mess and that there's an over-50 character on this show who has normal over-50 issues that (finally) aren't mocked due to their lack of hotness in relation to, say, Bette. This is not a show in either incarnation that has been kind to masc-of-center women, so I'm appreciating it.

- I don't know why there was such celebration at a donor match, there's so much more that has to happen between that and actually sealing the deal! I was glad that they gave more time to Maribel and Micah's good relationship moments in this episode, though. It seems they've been determined all season to make us long for their split after having been so glorious last year.

[Elizzikra]

Was Alice too busy with her new kitten to hang with the gang for Thanksgiving?

Quote

I like Carrie a lot.  She's becoming my favorite person on this show, or at least someone I look forward to seeing.  She's been very kind to Finley.  I'm glad Misty told her what was up.

I like er too. I hated the character with Tina; they just didn't make any sense to me. I thought it was just a stunt casting for Rosie O'Donell and they couldn't figure out what to do with her so they shoehorned her in there to create conflict for Bette and Tina. I like her as wise counsel to Finley (who needs to take all the wise counsel she can get) and I like her with Misty. I still don't feel like I need to see a lot of her, but what I do see of her doesn't bother me. 

I also am sad that Tess fell off the wagon and no one at all seemed to notice. I like Tess and she seems level headed and loving. I hope the rest of the season gets better for her.

[MicheleinPhilly]

11 hours ago, Elizzikra said:

Was Alice too busy with her new kitten to hang with the gang for Thanksgiving?

I know there are only 2 episodes left but they really seem to be phasing out the "olds." We saw it last week with Shane's total absence aside from a phone call, and of course, B&T being gone for weeks. 

[gesundheit]

16 hours ago, Elizzikra said:

Was Alice too busy with her new kitten to hang with the gang for Thanksgiving?

They said she was with her mom, but yeah, they seem determined not to integrate the OG gang with the Q gang, and now they're literally on alternating episodes. It's not a good sign. I like many of the new gen, I just want the old folks too!

[Elizzikra]

6 hours ago, gesundheit said:

They said she was with her mom, but yeah, they seem determined not to integrate the OG gang with the Q gang, and now they're literally on alternating episodes. It's not a good sign. I like many of the new gen, I just want the old folks too!

I don't really like B&T so I'm fine with them being largely out of the picture. I like Shane and I find her interesting. It would be great to see her truly work through some of her baggage and work hard on repairing her relationship with Tess but I don't find Shane, The Player, all that interesting. I do love seeing both Shane and Alice interacting with Angie as I find those to be very sweet relationships.

[izabella]

Having watched the original series back when it was new, the thing that bugs me about this show is that both Shane and Alice are still basket cases when it comes to relationships.  So. boring.  Let your characters grow up, show!   Let the younger ladies bring the love life drama.  Surely there are other issues that middle aged women face that could be their story lines.  I'm glad they both at least have their careers sorted, for the most part.  It would have been tragic if they were still romance basket cases and also had not developed any sort of career in all this time, too.  Jeez, aren't they both around 50 now?  They should be going through peri-menopause, if not already in menopause.  I'd think Alice would be all over that since it brings many sexual side effects.

I appreciate that Tess struggled with being a caregiver to her mom while also trying to have her own life and love life.  That is real, and something that many women in this country face with aging parents and our terrible health 'care' industry.  The burden often falls on women, many of whom are squeezed by child care and job duties at the same time.  And I appreciate Carrie and Misty being real, too, about aging and its effects.  As you get older, it really takes a village to get by, and showing how a community of friends and family can support and help each other should be right up this show's alley.

Ok, this 55 year old is stepping off her soapbox now.

Edited January 13, 2023 by izabella

[sistermagpie]

1 hour ago, izabella said:

Having watched the original series back when it was new, the thing that bugs me about this show is that both Shane and Alice are still basket cases when it comes to relationships.  So. boring.  Let your characters grow up, show!   Let the younger ladies bring the love life drama.  Surely there are other issues that middle aged women face that could be their story lines.  I'm glad they both at least have their careers sorted, for the most part.  It would have been tragic if they were still romance basket cases and also had not developed any sort of career in all this time, too.  Jeez, aren't they both around 50 now?  They should be going through peri-menopause, if not already in menopause.  I'd think Alice would be all over that since it brings many sexual side effects.

I appreciate that Tess struggled with being a caregiver to her mom while also trying to have her own life and love life.  That is real, and something that many women in this country face with aging parents and our terrible health 'care' industry.  The burden often falls on women, many of whom are squeezed by child care and job duties at the same time.  And I appreciate Carrie and Misty being real, too, about aging and its effects.  As you get older, it really takes a village to get by, and showing how a community of friends and family can support and help each other should be right up this show's alley.

Ok, this 55 year old is stepping off her soapbox now.

It almost seems like that annoying TV thing where they have good careers because on TV getting older always automatically equals having more money and success--because it wouldn't be cool to have them floundering that way. But otherwise, they're just the same, still a mess. It's just not as cute to be a mess professionally at 50 as it is to be a mess emotionally.

[izabella]

23 minutes ago, sistermagpie said:

It almost seems like that annoying TV thing where they have good careers because on TV getting older always automatically equals having more money and success--because it wouldn't be cool to have them floundering that way. But otherwise, they're just the same, still a mess. It's just not as cute to be a mess professionally at 50 as it is to be a mess emotionally.

That's an interesting point I hadn't thought of.  I think you're right and that's a big part of why they seem established in that one area. 

At least we did see them all working toward something in the first series to develop their careers - Bette with the art museum, Shane as a hair professional working with movie studios, Alice with her podcasting and tv show.

[Elizzikra]

Quote

It almost seems like that annoying TV thing where they have good careers because on TV getting older always automatically equals having more money and success--because it wouldn't be cool to have them floundering that way. But otherwise, they're just the same, still a mess. It's just not as cute to be a mess professionally at 50 as it is to be a mess emotionally.

I think, too, that a lot of tv is aspirational. Characters that sell well are the ones that the viewers want to emulate in some way. We want their cute clothes and their fun vacations and their amazing hair. All that costs money. For the most part, we see people living in upscale homes that they often would not be able to afford in real life (the Friends NYC apartment, for example) unless they are supposed to be "poor" and then they live in terrible, filthy homes. But seldom do you have anyone in just a regular, middle class home and apartment.