S04.E17: I'll Never Play Banjo Again

[jewel21]

Quote

A conflicted Abishola pushes against her Nigerian roots when she opens up about her past to Dele. Also, Bob attempts to bridge an emotional gap with Douglas.

Airdate: 04/10/2023

[greekmom]

I can't believe they (writers) broke up Douglas and Olivia. 

[Yeah No]

4 hours ago, greekmom said:

I can't believe they (writers) broke up Douglas and Olivia. 

I'm not happy about it but it doesn't surprise me as they never followed up on them after they first got together.  I was wondering a few weeks back on this thread whether they would ever follow up on them at all as it had been quite a while without an update.

At least Christina is past her ridiculous role as janitor!  Although she still seems to feel ignored.

[shapeshifter]

6 hours ago, greekmom said:

I can't believe they (writers) broke up Douglas and Olivia. 

Edy Ganem (Olivia) was cast as “The Daughter” in a movie coming out next month, “Fool's Paradise,” that is loaded with a lot of respected actors. I would not have been likely to Google that info about her if the writers had just referred to Douglas’s “girlfriend” instead of repeating the name Olivia several times.

[bad things are bad]

This seemed like a filler episode.  No stories really advanced.  If it never ran in syndication,  it would not be missed. 

[Harvey]

I liked that Abishola tried to open up and connect with Dele.

I don't understand why doesn't Ebun do the laundry if she is so knowledgeable about it. Abishola has a full time job and also prepares to be a doctor, Ebun really could help out more.

[HurricaneVal]

I just love how Dele manages to surf through all the complicated familial cultural rocky waters with ease, having grown up through it and living and breathing it the whole time so it is so second nature to him.  Poor Bob can't read the room--though he should be used to it by now--and gets Dele in trouble.  At least he apologizes.

The disconnect between Bob and Douglas just didn't ring true.  I mean, I know that Bob has been all-in on his factory, but he's always been portrayed as someone to whom family is quite important, no matter how sarcastically he deals with them.

It was really nice to see the extended family rally around the injured Douglas.  Abishola sweeping into the Emergency Room and taking control was nice to see--she was in mama bear mode, because Douglas was part of her family.  We see a lot of Bob's family considering Abishola's family as part of theirs, but we don't see a lot of Abishola's extended family reciprocating.  So when Tunde and Olu and Ebun were all at the house and very concerned about Douglas, it was nice. 

Less nice was Christine on the edge of it all, feeling slighted.  I kind of get why Dottie is punishing Christine, because Dottie feels betrayed that Christine went to another sock company.  But I also think that dynamic goes back much further than that.  There was a reason why Christine went to Toesie-Woesie and succeeded there until she was undermined by that weasel (though, still bad judgement on her part to put her in that position).  She was clear of her family and able to soar.  She's still got those skills, she's just so ignored and marginalized.  Family dynamics are hard, often you get assigned a role and that's it, even if you're not really that person.  Christine has been assigned the role of emotional and crazy family screw-up, and that's that.  I really hope all this piling on to Christine has a point, and she gets a huge success story by the end of the season.

[joanne3482]

1 hour ago, HurricaneVal said:

Less nice was Christine on the edge of it all, feeling slighted.  I kind of get why Dottie is punishing Christine, because Dottie feels betrayed that Christine went to another sock company.  But I also think that dynamic goes back much further than that.  There was a reason why Christine went to Toesie-Woesie and succeeded there until she was undermined by that weasel (though, still bad judgement on her part to put her in that position).  She was clear of her family and able to soar.  She's still got those skills, she's just so ignored and marginalized.  Family dynamics are hard, often you get assigned a role and that's it, even if you're not really that person.  Christine has been assigned the role of emotional and crazy family screw-up, and that's that.  I really hope all this piling on to Christine has a point, and she gets a huge success story by the end of the season

I doubt the show thinks this deeply, but it makes me think about the sexism/misogyny she must have experienced as a child. Dottie had to be 'tough' to make it and she was the only girl of the 3 kids.  If she wasn't as tough as her mother then clearly she was the 'emotional' one. Dottie is emotionally/verbally abusive to the kids now. If Christine was a sensitive child, Dottie wouldn't have held back in being unkind to her which furthers the cycle.  

I loved Abishola sharing photos with Dele and wanting to tell him about her life, to a point. It's an interesting balance for her. She doesn't want to be shut out of his life like Kemi was with her son. 

I don't really know how socks are made. What did Douglas do that caused his injury? Or how did he injure himself on that machine? (Or are we not supposed to ask and just assume that sock making machines are dangerous)

[shapeshifter]

52 minutes ago, joanne3482 said:

I don't really know how socks are made. What did Douglas do that caused his injury? Or how did he injure himself on that machine? (Or are we not supposed to ask and just assume that sock making machines are dangerous)

Wasn't there a line on an episode when they were planning the sock manufacturing project about how it was common for new workers to lose a finger? I don't recall who said it, but this seemed like a call back.

I was surprised Bob never apologized or blamed himself for distracting Douglas. 

We see Douglas doing something with yarn on the machine when it turns on:

• [DOUGLAS] How many of these do you want done?
• [BOB] Uh, I want to thread the whole fleet, do a test run in full production mode.
• [DOUGLAS] Okay, well, I'm almost done with this one. I just got to keep this yarn from splitting.

Without Abishola coming to the hospital and demanding Douglass be seen immediately because of a "grade 3 laceration," he might have lost use of the finger. 
BTW, not looking at the injury was bad advice from Bob. If part of it was cut off, it can only be reattached if it is found immediately and brought to the hospital. Fortunately that was not the case, but with all the blood and time they spent on his injury, I would have liked Abishola to bring that up at the hospital.
But it's better that they just used her limited number of lines in that scene to have her boss and threaten her way in to get him the care he needed. 

On a brighter note:
Maybe Douglass will discover a new interest that could give him a sense of accomplishment while his hand is healing? IRL this seems unlikely, but it's a comedy show.

Or maybe he'll just have a Band-Aid by the next episode.

Or maybe the factory will get shut down for safety violations due to Douglass's hospital visit.

Edited April 11, 2023 by shapeshifter