S08.E13: Invisible

[Snazzy Daisy]

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After the 118 responds to several calls from the same person, Hen steps in to offer them advice.

Meanwhile, Eddie confronts his parents and takes a big step in his relationship with his son.

Air Date: Apr 03, 2025

[fastiller]

12 minutes ago, Snazzy Daisy said:

Meanwhile, Eddie confronts his parents and takes a big step in his relationship with his son.

Air Date: Apr 03, 2025

He moves with Christopher to Butte, Montana? 

[bilgistic]

We can only hope.

[Snazzy Daisy]

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[j5cochran]

Hen's mama is back!

[iMonrey]

This was maybe the closest they've come to a "normal" episode since I can't remember when. The goofy guy who kept getting trapped everywhere was a throwback to the early days when they got crazy calls like this. And the way it escalated into a bus hijacking complete with a fiery crash into two police vehicles was actually kind of impressive, in that it at least took me by surprise.

It was also a good episode for Hen, although I thought for sure everyone was just pretending not to remember her birthday at first.

Plus, almost no Maddie! Win - win.

Not sure where they're going with Eddie and Christopher. I still think I need to see Eddie really tell off his parents for basically taking over Christopher's life. But if they end up moving back to L.A. I'm not sure what the point of having move down there was in the first place. 

[agathapenny]

1 hour ago, iMonrey said:

This was maybe the closest they've come to a "normal" episode since I can't remember when.

Absolutely, and I loved it. 

See, this is the kind of plot I really appreciate from this show: everyone forgets Hen's birthday. They take an ordinary, believable occurrence and create a great plotline. No nefarious politicians creating stupid melodrama.

I felt bad for the unluckiest guy in the world (who was surrounded by awful people), even though he was an idiot at the end. I still found myself liking him. Once again, just an ordinary guy (not some serial killer with multiple personalities).

Even Eddie's plot wasn't quite so infuriating this week, though his parents are still horrible and deserve to be put in their place more forcefully, IMO). I liked how he gently laid down the law with Christopher, finally. His mom is awful (pretending he hadn't told them he was cooking and sabotaging his supper), then trying to exclude him from Christopher's chess tournament, then bullying him over his groceries. And his dad apparently let people think he was Chris's dad, even if he didn't tell them he was directly. Ugh. At least it looks like that is over.

This felt way more like an old-school episode, with multiple rescues, and I cannot tell you how much I enjoyed that.

[Dirge]

What kind of half-assed action was the LAPD doing? They're responsible for that stabbing 

At least Eddie's parents got told off. That's been a terrible storyline all the way. 

[DanaK]

Finally Eddie got his spine back and took back responsibility for his son. Just ridiculous how long he let that go on. The rest was good. I too thought everyone was just pretending to forget Hen’s birthday 

[bilgistic]

Everyone--including HER WIFE--forgetting Hen's birthday was just beyond. People have calendars on their phone and there's such a thing as a staff calendar.

[Whodunnit]

After some people forgot my birthday one year I got into the habit of reminding them two weeks in advance by mentioning what I'm planning to do for my birthday or mentioning that I'm a Libra. The info is also on Facebook and the calendar. 

I can't believe her wife and kids forgot. I think Chimney needs to grovel too. Isn't he like her bestie?

[tennisgurl]

I swear, I spent the whole episode just waiting for some ridiculously dramatic turn, but this was a shockingly normal episode, almost a return to form. We have a low stakes conflict like everyone (except Athena) forgetting Hen's birthday, some wacky calls that escalate, multiple rescues (of the same guy) and we even have some process in Eddie's frustrating story. Its not great but its a real improvement on the melodrama we've been dealing with, I am crossing my fingers that this is a good sign.

I felt really bad for Hen, even if it does seem like a stretch that even Karen would forget her birthday, I would think that they would have made plans in advance. How very 16 Candles, and Karen didn't even have a wedding to plan. I liked the part where she was like "yeah its silly, but it hurts my feelings" which is very fair. Its not about birthday cakes, its about feeling valued. 

I felt bad for the unlucky guy, even if he went too far by the end of the episode. I actually thought the gift he gave Hen was cute, in an awkward way. 

Eddie's parents are awful, especially his passive aggressive mom. His dad seems more like he doesn't fully get how insensitive he's being, but his mom is full on being an asshole trying to keep Chris to herself. Sabotaging the dinner, making shitty comments about Eddie's groceries and his job, I am glad that Eddie finally laid down the law. He's Christopher's parent, not her.  

Edited Friday at 04:32 PM by tennisgurl

[iMonrey]

There was a continuity issue here that didn't make much sense. Hen came home after her shift was over, out of uniform, and then the balloons were delivered and her mom came over, etc.

Then suddenly she was back at work, in uniform, dealing with the guy who hijacked the bus. 

Then she was back at home, out of uniform, having dinner with her family and co-workers. Did she get called back into work for some reason after she had already finished her shift, changed back into plain clothes and gone home?

I thought maybe it was the next day when she was back at work but at the end when she's at the table she's still celebrating her birthday, and in a way that specified it was still that day.

[I Want My MBTV]

7 hours ago, bilgistic said:

Everyone--including HER WIFE--forgetting Hen's birthday was just beyond. People have calendars on their phone and there's such a thing as a staff calendar.

Birthday's are kind of triggering for me and I completely felt Hen.  It does hurt your feelings!

[possibilities]

I had one year where a bunch of people remembered and a bunch of other people forgot. And the people who remembered were not really the people who I thought liked or loved me the most, at all. And vice versa-- the ones who forgot didn't seem like people who were genuinely less invested. It still hurt my feelings, but it did help me to let go of the whole birthday thing to a large extent.

Still, I felt for Hen.

I also liked the gift the COTW gave Hen, though his timing was terrible.

[krankydoodle]

I feel like this show doesn't get enough credit for its funny moments. I periodically rewatch the "Ayo, rebar!" scene from season 1 and laugh every time. One of my favorites in this episode was when Buck was trying to convince Eddie to go to Chris's chess tournament: "Take an Uber...you are an Uber. Take yourself!"

[Cloud9Shopper]

Missed it live last night, so watched tonight. I agree that it was nice to only have one scene of Maddie and one not focused on her trauma, at that.

I also liked this episode more than I have over the last couple of weeks, but that was one of the shortest hostage scenes I ever saw on TV. I actually did think Archie was going to hurt Hen when he reached into his pocket, though.

So happy Eddie finally stood up to his mom and Chris was just as excited to go home. 

 

[buttersister]

About damn time, Eddie.

[Diana Berry]

When is Eddie coming  back to LA? 

[Snazzy Daisy]

Hen gets a good deal out of Buck. 🤣

Wait, what? Handsome Edmundo was a ballroom-dancer? Sassy… Are the writers trying to turn Eddie into a Disney prince or something? 😆

[jah1986]

Finally, Eddie decided to be a parent again. Loved Chris asking if he was going to be his dad again. Like, why are you letting a teenager run the show? Dad up! I really like Buck this episode and that doesn't happen a lot anymore.

Like others, I really enjoyed this episode. Poor Archie, hopefully he'll be invisible in prison.

I really thought everyone was faking about Hen's birthday, but at least she got some free yardwork from Buck out of it all. Did they forget about her mom's husband/SO? Did I miss if they are still together?

[iMonrey]

16 hours ago, krankydoodle said:

One of my favorites in this episode was when Buck was trying to convince Eddie to go to Chris's chess tournament: "Take an Uber...you are an Uber. Take yourself!"

I also liked Hen trying to storm out of the room with her balloons and struggling to get them through the doorway. Then coming back for the chocolates.

[michelec]

On 4/4/2025 at 12:31 PM, tennisgurl said:

I felt really bad for Hen, even if it does seem like a stretch that even Karen would forget her birthday, I would think that they would have made plans in advance. How very 16 Candles, and Karen didn't even have a wedding to plan.

When Karen and the kids left, I half expected Hen to say, "they forgot my f*cking birthday."

[andromeda331]

I'm glad Eddie finally put his foot down and told Christopher he was moving in. I love how great Eddie was after poor Christopher threw up at the chess tournment. But he was too kind to his mother after she sabotaged every attempt he made for his son, blew off poor Christopher throwing up because he was so miserable playing chess and his dad telling people he was Christopher's father. Both his parents' deserved a lot more then what he said. I really don't get why Eddie still loves his parents after everything they've done to him. 

Eddie was a ballroom dancer? Wow, I didn't expect that.

I also thought everyone was pretending to forget Hen's birthday and was surprised that they really did. I liked her admitting it was silly but it still hurt. I'm also glad she came back for the chocolates. 

The make up birthday dinner was really good. 

The poor guy kept getting stuck. I'm glad he was just a normal guy really down on his luck. While he shouldn't have grabbed the knife it's easy that he finally reached his breaking point. And did immediately feel bad about stabbing the guy. 

[DanaK]

I thought Karen said that some upgrade or something wiped stuff off their electronic calendars, including Hen’s birthday. So without that reminder I can see a busy family forgetting

[Crashcourse]

I thought Hen made too big of a deal about people forgetting her birthday.  It happens.  She should have just laughed it off instead of acting like a whiny five-year-old. 

[iMonrey]

12 hours ago, andromeda331 said:

But he was too kind to his mother after she sabotaged every attempt he made for his son, blew off poor Christopher throwing up because he was so miserable playing chess and his dad telling people he was Christopher's father.

To be fair, we don't know if Eddie's dad told people he was Christopher's father. The lady at the tournament merely assumed he was because that who she always sees.

This whole story was strange from start to finish. Eddie had been so passive about getting Christopher back for so long, as though the decision was up to Christopher and his parents. Christopher moved in with his grandparents because he was mad at Eddie. Finally we come full circle to Christopher asking Eddie if he's going to be his dad again. WTF? You left Eddie, kid, not the other way around. 

[Irlandesa]

5 hours ago, iMonrey said:

This whole story was strange from start to finish. Eddie had been so passive about getting Christopher back for so long, as though the decision was up to Christopher and his parents. Christopher moved in with his grandparents because he was mad at Eddie. Finally we come full circle to Christopher asking Eddie if he's going to be his dad again. WTF? You left Eddie, kid, not the other way around. 

The story was strange and it feels like it changed to make it easier to resolve. This started because of Eddie's relationship with Shannon's doppleganger. 

But the resolution to this story felt completely divorced from that.  It turned into Eddie dancing in his underwear and Eddie's parents being written like the obstacle.  I guess for Diaz parents haters, there's something that felt satisfying about Eddie standing up to them but it still felt unsatisfying that they sidestepped the issue as a resolution.

5 hours ago, Crashcourse said:

I thought Hen made too big of a deal about people forgetting her birthday.  It happens.  She should have just laughed it off instead of acting like a whiny five-year-old.

Birthdays aren't that big of a deal for me either so I can understand being hurt but not to this extent.  I also find it hard to believe that everyone forgot her birthday.  Coworkers?  Sure but her kids?  Karen?

[Crashcourse]

1 hour ago, Irlandesa said:

I also find it hard to believe that everyone forgot her birthday.  Coworkers?  Sure but her kids?  Karen?

Her kids might have been too young to even remember, and Karen might have been too busy or distracted by something.