S03.E05: No Thanks-giving

[joanne3482]

Cattleman's Ranch hosts a Thanksgiving feast.

Some good and some bad parts. I was expecting the feast to be a debacle and was glad they were prepared for the crowd. I loved the 'wanting more for our kids' discussion. I didn't love Jessica torpedoing the business. 

[vibeology]

I loved Eddie in this. Sometimes he can be too much but this I totally can relate to. I don't know how it works elsewhere but in Ontario they tell you ahead of time that Universities will only look at your top 6 classes (or whatever pre-reqs a specific program has and then the top however many classes are left to reach 6) from your grade 12 year to determine if you get in, what scholarship you might get etc.. Part way through my first semester, I did the math and then stopped wasting my time on Math homework. I wasn't going to need the class as part of my entry average, didn't need it as a pre-req and used the time I would have spent on math homework (which was a ridiculous amount of time for 20-30 questions a night) to really focus on my other courses and bring up the average in those classes. I honestly wish I'd figured it out sooner. I didn't go around like Eddie and preach my newfound discovery and I certainly participated in class but it was freeing to realize that not everything matters at the same level and part of life was prioritizing things.

Yes, Eddie was using it to be lazy and by not doing any work he was probably going to be behind once high school started, but I will say, he's a smart kid who uses his smarts to make himself happy rather than get good grades. That's not the worst trait ever.

[biakbiak]

The fact that Eddie's whole story hinged on the fact that he was a straight A student took me out of the episode.

[ItCouldBeWorse]

On 11/16/2016 at 1:46 PM, biakbiak said:

The fact that Eddie's whole story hinged on the fact that he was a straight A student took me out of the episode.

Yes, Ethan and Evan must be receiving A+++++++ on everything. (Should be Emery and Evan.)

On 11/16/2016 at 1:37 PM, vibeology said:

I don't know how it works elsewhere but in Ontario they tell you ahead of time that Universities will only look at your top 6 classes (or whatever pre-reqs a specific program has and then the top however many classes are left to reach 6) from your grade 12 year to determine if you get in, what scholarship you might get etc.. Part way through my first semester, I did the math and then stopped wasting my time on Math homework. I wasn't going to need the class as part of my entry average, didn't need it as a pre-req and used the time I would have spent on math homework (which was a ridiculous amount of time for 20-30 questions a night) to really focus on my other courses and bring up the average in those classes. I honestly wish I'd figured it out sooner.

Completely not like this in the US.  I'm not saying that a mediocre grade in math will mean no admission to a competitive university, but all academic subjects are part of your GPA (grade point average) and it would be very dangerous to purposely ignore a subject.  A grade of "C" would be very noticeable.

 

On 11/16/2016 at 1:28 PM, joanne3482 said:

I didn't love Jessica torpedoing the business.

Perhaps they made enough on the raffle to cover the cost of the food, staff and decorations (and live turkey). I thought there would be push-back from the staff about working on Thanksgiving, even at time-and-a-half, but I guess they're too afraid of Jessica to argue.

Edited November 17, 2016 by ItCouldBeWorse

[vibeology]

1 hour ago, ItCouldBeWorse said:

Completely not like this in the US.  I'm not saying that a mediocre grade in math will mean no admission to a competitive university, but all academic subjects are part of your GPA (grade point average) and it would be very dangerous to purposely ignore a subject.  A grade of "C" would be very noticeable.

And in a different system I wouldn't have done it because it wouldn't have made sense. Also, I got an 81 in math that year. I paid attention and participated in class. I just didn't bother lugging home my textbook for homework. We didn't use letter grades in my school, but I know that's not a C.

I'm just saying Eddie is much smarter than he gets credit for because he analyzed the system, broke down its weaknesses and figured out how to capitalize on it. He's lazy and he procrastinates but I don't think that doesn't mean he isn't smart and probably can still pull off okay grades just coasting without worrying about homework. There's so much focus on grades long before they actually matter and that's really dumb. I know there isn't really another established way to codify learning but who cares if you get an A or a C in 8th grade? What does it matter if you've taken in the learning. That's where Eddie might get himself into trouble down the line. If he doesn't learn the material it'll be much harder for him to catch up once the marks matter.

I forgot to post earlier about how much I loved Grandma in this. Her Garfield love is perfect.

[TeapotWakeen]

Quote

I forgot to post earlier about how much I loved Grandma in this. Her Garfield love is perfect.

it was!

and I know it wasn't right, but I LOL'd at "No more white people!!"

[ClareWalks]

2 hours ago, ItCouldBeWorse said:

Ethan and Evan

Emery and Evan :)

Grandma Huang is amazing. I love how she gives zero fucks that nobody besides her family can understand a word she says, she just lives life and keeps up the commentary :)

[TigerLily20]

30 minutes ago, ClareWalks said:

Grandma Huang is amazing. I love how she gives zero fucks that nobody besides her family can understand a word she says, she just lives life and keeps up the commentary :)

I said pretty much the same thing to my husband last night, she can understand everyone around here, but doesn't care to learn English (or possibly couldn't? but I would assume she's been in the country long enough to pick up on it if she can understand everyone) and just joins in the conversations.  Reminds me so much of my father in law.

[peeayebee]

3 hours ago, ItCouldBeWorse said:

Ethan and Evan

51 minutes ago, ClareWalks said:

Emery and Evan :)

Ebony and Evan :D

It took me a while to get into this ep, but when I did, I was enjoying it. I think my favorite parts were with Emery and Evan. I like their personalities.

Louis had a lot of lines that tickled me, though I can't recall them now.

[angora]

So many awesome lines in this one.  I died at Mitch just realizing that Emery and Evan were two different kids, along with later having "Ebony" and "Evan" written on his hand.  The whole scene of Eddie spreading the word about the pointlessness of eighth grade to other kids and a teacher running into the lounge to declare a "code black" was excellent.  The tag with Eddie's NWA family tree was great, too.

My favorite, though, was Eddie and Louis getting into it over The Goonies.  Eddie's entire rant about it was hilarious, and I loved Louis's defense of it and the fact that he was still stewing about it later.

[Skyfall]

17 hours ago, ItCouldBeWorse said:

Yes, Ethan and Evan must be receiving A+++++++ on everything.

Completely not like this in the US.  I'm not saying that a mediocre grade in math will mean no admission to a competitive university, but all academic subjects are part of your GPA (grade point average) and it would be very dangerous to purposely ignore a subject.  A grade of "C" would be very noticeable.

 

Perhaps they made enough on the raffle to cover the cost of the food, staff and decorations (and live turkey). I thought there would be push-back from the staff about working on Thanksgiving, even at time-and-a-half, but I guess they're too afraid of Jessica to argue.

Pretty sure Emery and Evan made like 4 gold stars and a fish or something like that ;)

Edited November 17, 2016 by Skyfall

[Skyfall]

15 hours ago, vibeology said:

And in a different system I wouldn't have done it because it wouldn't have made sense. Also, I got an 81 in math that year. I paid attention and participated in class. I just didn't bother lugging home my textbook for homework. We didn't use letter grades in my school, but I know that's not a C.

I'm just saying Eddie is much smarter than he gets credit for because he analyzed the system, broke down its weaknesses and figured out how to capitalize on it. He's lazy and he procrastinates but I don't think that doesn't mean he isn't smart and probably can still pull off okay grades just coasting without worrying about homework. There's so much focus on grades long before they actually matter and that's really dumb. I know there isn't really another established way to codify learning but who cares if you get an A or a C in 8th grade? What does it matter if you've taken in the learning. That's where Eddie might get himself into trouble down the line. If he doesn't learn the material it'll be much harder for him to catch up once the marks matter.

I forgot to post earlier about how much I loved Grandma in this. Her Garfield love is perfect.

Actually depending on the scale used an 81 can be either a B (10 point) or a C (7 point). May be different but my grade schools used 7 point and then college used 10 point. Since this was grade school that would be a C out here.

[vibeology]

3 hours ago, Skyfall said:

Actually depending on the scale used an 81 can be either a B (10 point) or a C (7 point). May be different but my grade schools used 7 point and then college used 10 point. Since this was grade school that would be a C out here.

Obviously, I'm off topic with this, but what did they give kids with marks in the 70s if something in the 80s is a C? What was considered a fail? There are not enough letters between A and F for this system! This is why everyone should just use numbers.

14 hours ago, angora said:

My favorite, though, was Eddie and Louis getting into it over The Goonies.  Eddie's entire rant about it was hilarious, and I loved Louis's defense of it and the fact that he was still stewing about it later.

I loved this. I know The Goonies is considered a classic, but I've never liked it it so having someone make my point for me was great. People are strangely passionate about it and I have never understood why.

[ItCouldBeWorse]

2 hours ago, vibeology said:

6 hours ago, Skyfall said:

Actually depending on the scale used an 81 can be either a B (10 point) or a C (7 point). May be different but my grade schools used 7 point and then college used 10 point. Since this was grade school that would be a C out here.

Obviously, I'm off topic with this, but what did they give kids with marks in the 70s if something in the 80s is a C? What was considered a fail? There are not enough letters between A and F for this system! This is why everyone should just use numbers.

My recollection: 64 was failing.  65-66: D;  67-69: D+;  70-73: C-;  74-76: C;  77-79: C+;  80-83: B-;  84-86: B;  87-89: B+;  90-93: A-;  94-97: A;  98-100: A+

So, an 81 would be a B-. 

[EVS]

In the Catholic high schools around here, below 70 is failing. 

[Ikki]

I currently work at a high school, and there are plenty of kids who don't give an eff about college and work out how to do the minimum amount of work to graduate high school, so I could totally buy Eddie realizing how little he needed his middle school grades.

I do agree that I don't see him as a straight-A student, and I think the plot could have worked without that detail thrown in-- he could have realized he only had to do some assignments rather than stop altogether, for instance. Also, didn't he say he'd be set for the rest of the school year? Based on grades he had gotten by Thanksgiving? Even if he was at all A's, if the school is by semesters, that's straight F's for the second semester, and for the whole year if the grades carry across the school year.

And now I've put too much thought into it. Whatever. I liked the episode, even though the grade aspect doesn't exactly work.

[Court]

An 81 can be a C. 

In my kids elementary school, it's a B but barely

A 90-100 B 80-89 C 73-79 D 70-72 F 0-69

[MaryMitch]

The live turkey was hilarious; I was a little surprised, though, that Jessica knew it was live.  (Pretty bird, though.)  I would think a live turkey would be more difficult to find and more expensive too.  What was Jessica planning to do with it when Eddie won it?

[Landlord]

55 minutes ago, MaryMitch said:

The live turkey was hilarious; I was a little surprised, though, that Jessica knew it was live.  (Pretty bird, though.)  I would think a live turkey would be more difficult to find and more expensive too.  What was Jessica planning to do with it when Eddie won it?

Return it to get her money back.

[TigerLily20]

I was surprised they didn't have Grandma come in to take care of the turkey when they realized they would have to kill it lol.

[Landlord]

3 hours ago, TigerLily20 said:

I was surprised they didn't have Grandma come in to take care of the turkey when they realized they would have to kill it lol.

Grand-ma would have taken care of that, no problem.

[SmithW6079]

On 11/16/2016 at 4:47 PM, ClareWalks said:

Emery and Evan :)

Grandma Huang is amazing. I love how she gives zero fucks that nobody besides her family can understand a word she says, she just lives life and keeps up the commentary :)

It would have been funnier had the guy sitting next to her understood her.

Jessica's been straddling the unlikable line for me for a while, and she stepped firmly over it in this episode. The only behaviors I liked from her in the episode was her tough love of Eddie (but then she caved, no matter how she rationalized it), and her declaration that Thanksgiving really wasn't their holiday (and I liked her point about Chinese immigrants building the transcontinental railroad).

It's one thing to want more for your kids, but to denigrate your husband's business to make that point was inexcusable, as was her charging the blonde friend and her husband for dinner (until she decided to give everyone a free dinner to convince Eddie not to follow his father into the business). She also committed fraud by pre-picking the winning ticket & making sure Eddie had it.

I felt sorry for the wait staff that their dreams go no further than waiting tables at Cattleman's Ranch, and that they fully expect to be working for one of the Wong (or all) of the Wong brothers 10 or 15 years down the road.