S02.E09: Yard Sale

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Quote

Martha learns to haggle.

[Edie Wharton]

I can't believe next week is the season finale. I love this show more every time I watch!  Each cast member continues to hit it out of the park.

Christine Baskets is a classy blonde. :-)

[Ms Lark]

Hmm. I could do without Dale. I find him far more useless than Chip and that's saying a lot. Since he's unemployed now, I hope he doesn't move in with Christine. Hopefully, we've seen the last of her shit brother. So glad MeeMaw left her everything, but I can see Dale trying to manipulate her out of a good part of it. I really do only watch for Louie/Christine. Without his amazing character, this show wouldn't be worth $.02.

[peeayebee]

I really enjoyed this ep. Christine is one of the best characters on TV right now. Love that she wasn't suckered in by her brother. I mean, she would have seen the will anyway, but I got the feeling that when she was talking to him in the house, she was acting like she was going to let him have his way. Her little breakdown with the bank person was sad, but there humor there as well. Her selfies afterwards were sweet.

I actually felt for Dale this ep. He misses his family. I'm glad he got to rescue his daughter -- I think she would have gotten raped -- but he's still an idiot.

The scenes at Arby's were funny. I liked seeing Trinity and the guy start to fall for each other.

Poor Martha, getting stuck at the yard sale. Loved her line to the guy interested in the lamps, "Let me call the grandson of the dead lamp owner."

[Guest]

I've been down in the dumps for the last few months with not a whole lot to be joyful about -- but I gotta say, the scene in the hotel room with Christine reigning victorious over her brother? Was just a beacon of light to me. I didn't think it was even possible to be so invested in a character on TV! And I'm so glad that the writers chose to set her on a course for happiness. 

That being said, I wish they'd extend some of that courtesy to poor Martha who seems to have no interior life at all besides being a doormat for Chip. What did she do with her free time before ever meeting him? 

ETA: I don't know why the episode description said Martha "learns to haggle" 'cause I didn't see any evidence she caught on how to do that.

Edited March 18, 2017 by Guest

[DrivingSideways]

I love this show more every week.  Having Suze Orman on in the background while Christine exercises her financial freedom with her brother was amazing, and I loved Christine defending her.  The scene with her in the bank and taking the loan officer as a brief surrogate daughter was a heartbreak.  Poor Christine is surrounded by asshole boys.

Christine Baskets may be one of the best characters in TV history.  Louie Anderson is a revelation.

[Quickbeam]

After Christine got done giving it to her brother, I realized I had been standing for the whole scene. It was priceless. 

Anderson's portrayal is so seamless I forget he is a man. It's just stunning. I do need some Martha redemption though. Otherwise she'll degrade into Frank Burns territory. 

[ChipBach]

Martha will get her day...  I love that Christine ran all the injustices by her loud mouth, Quiznos jacket wearing, ass of a brother.  He had the nerve to say "dad treated us both the same" after her list of everything then attacked her self esteem.  What a nerve to bring the realtor to the house, try to duck past Christine, and act the big cheese in front of Mrs. Facelift.  I love that the older guy (I forget his name) was actually a capable executor.  Christine is perfect.  I got choked up when she told the brother how her mom kept silent score and made things right.  Love this show.

[possibilities]

I also find it unpleasant how much everyone dumps on Martha (and she goes along with it), but I am hopeful because Christine likes ad respects Martha (as we saw when they had lunch at Costco), and even Chip seems to be waking up to her this season.

They all kind of relapsed into treating her like shit, and I was disappointed to see that, but then again they were all very stressed dealing with multiple crises and the sudden death of Meemaw. I bet Chip feels very guilty and is self-sabotaging because Meemaw died on his watch, and Christine was being sabotaged by her shit of a brother. They do trust her, though, and treat her like family. But they are a dysfunctional family.

If Martha had been comfortable making unilateral decisions, I'm sure she would have had a much better day. After all, when someone puts you in charge of their yard sale, and repeatedly tells you they are too busy to answer questions, you kind of have free rein to do whatever you want about whether to discount the gravy boat. Some of her haplessness is her own fault at this point.

I love her, so I do want to see things turn around, though. Maybe next season they can develop her the way this season they developed Christine. I hope so. I really want to see that happen.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

At the beginning of the episode, I was afraid that Christine's brother was going to be mad that she had only set aside a box of their mom's things for him and that she was selling all the rest. But of course he didn't care since he was planning to flip the house and make a shitload of money. I was so glad when Christine went to tell him about the will and she said that their mother had kept a list comparing what her husband had given their son versus what he had given their daughter. And I loved Christine's response to his "you don't know how to make business/financial decisions" comments: "it's none of your concern." Hell, if she wants to sell their mom's house and then set the money on fire, she can do that and it's none of his damn business.

And yay for Trish!

Dale is an ass, but I'm glad he swooped in and saved his daughter. That scene with the daughter and her boyfriend in the bedroom was a great reminder of what assholes teenage boys (and adult men, if we're being honest) can be when they have that entitled attitude about expecting sex.

I'm glad that Chip did the right thing and turned down the stolen computer (because he's on probation!) and got Trinity a legit job at Arby's. "He's a gigolo." "Juggalo."

[possibilities]

I don't usually enjoy anything about Dale, but I kind of enjoyed that his approach was to provide helmets and condoms rather than that he was going to show up to make a scene and drag his daughter away. The guys were awful anyway, but I thought it was a more interesting story than just having him try to drag her out of there against her will as I expected (I also expected him to fail at that, which I'm sure he would have, if she hadn't wanted to leave any way).

[peeayebee]

4 hours ago, ElectricBoogaloo said:

And I loved Christine's response to his "you don't know how to make business/financial decisions" comments: "it's none of your concern." 

OMGosh, I loved that too. I think she said it twice to him. I mean, that's the perfect response to someone trying to meddle in your life. That was a big YAY CHRISTINE! moment.

The other night I actually had a dream about Christine. It wasn't really set in the Baskets world, but it was Louie Anderson as Christine. I kept waking up during the night (as I usually do) and then falling back asleep and getting the dream again. I guess I'm a bit obsessed with Christine.

[JohnnyGilda]

On 3/19/2017 at 5:33 AM, ElectricBoogaloo said:

And yay for Trish!

It was a jam-packed, A+ episode, and Trish running item by item down the minutes of the trustees' meeting definitely was a highlight.

Now it's time for Martha to get a win.

Haven't checked imdb but was that a different actor as Jody at Arby's? I liked our original Juggalo. 

[BTBAM310]

On 3/18/2017 at 1:25 PM, Quickbeam said:

After Christine got done giving it to her brother, I realized I had been standing for the whole scene. It was priceless. 

Anderson's portrayal is so seamless I forget he is a man. It's just stunning. I do need some Martha redemption though. Otherwise she'll degrade into Frank Burns territory. 

I loved the end of the scene, when the housekeeper is there and Christine bangs on the door and yells "HOUSEKEEPING!"

[Blakeston]

On 3/20/2017 at 3:52 PM, JohnnyGilda said:

It was a jam-packed, A+ episode, and Trish running item by item down the minutes of the trustees' meeting definitely was a highlight.

Now it's time for Martha to get a win.

Haven't checked imdb but was that a different actor as Jody at Arby's? I liked our original Juggalo. 

Different guy. You'd think they would have at least cast someone who had a somewhat similar body type as the original actor.

Louie Anderson's breakdown scene at the bank was just incredible. If he doesn't win a second Emmy, something will be very, very wrong.

[peeayebee]

I know, but I'm still rooting for Andre Braugher. Louie got his; let Andre get one for his great comedic performance.