S03.E21: Pie vs. Cake

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Quote

Jessica is thrilled to hear Evan is interested in joining the debate team. When her protégé becomes so good that he beats her at her own game, she second guesses her worth. Meanwhile, Eddie and Emery team up to enter a comic book contest.

[TigerLily20]

Woah, Eddie's voice is either starting to change or he had a cold during filming, I noticed quite a bit during this episode.  I enjoyed the episode, especially as someone who has returned quite a few things with and without receipts, but never something I didn't buy from the store lol.

[theatremouse]

I think it's both that his voice is changing, but also possibly Hudson Yang recently went to the orthodontist? Some of the weirdness with his voice sounded distinctly new-retainer to me.

I have never encountered an elementary school with a debate team, and this made me wonder if in their district some middle schools have the 5th grade, but some elementary schools have 5th grade. That could be an explanation for why there would be a debate team there at all, as well as why it'd be limited to 5th: 5th were considered "middle" and the debate league were for middle schools. Of course then they shouldn't have been able to debate themselves around it if that were the reasoning. I dig why if they were going to do a debate plot it would involve Evan by far over the other boys, but this one didn't quite land for me.

[peeayebee]

I thought this was a great ep. I love Evan. His interactions with Jessica were so funny. Loved all the stuff with their debating back and forth. I'm just finding Evan ( and the actor) so good.

Evan: Luckily this is not a formal debate, and you are a buttface.

Evan: Pie is murder. If you choose life, choose cake.

(when Evan enters the scene) Evan:  Uhhh, why are the lights on?

Emery is a really good artist.

Loved Grandma backing out in her wheelchair, staring at Eddie.

Edited May 4, 2017 by peeayebee

[rmontro]

2 hours ago, peeayebee said:

Loved Grandma backing out in her wheelchair, staring at Eddie.

She had that super serious look on her face, and kept holding it.  I expected her to break into a smile, but she never did.

[smash]

Louis is great! He always has those overly cheerful but awkward moments, this episode being his little tune with the piano scarf, complete with mine-playing the scarf. Also love when he tries to be the mediator/adviser to Jessica and having it more or less backfire when Jessica vows to destroy Evan in a debate.  

Nice swerve with Evan needing Jessica to fight for his spot in the team. Thought the episode was going to come down to a duel, but even though this resulted in a rather happy and tidy ending, I like this turn of events because it highlights Jessica's real issue: the feeling of not being needed anymore by her children, especially her youngest one. However the guise of competition between the egotistical mother and the up-and-coming son was still super hilarious.

It's too bad the show's momentum with viewers gets a little broken with these 1-2 week long breaks (I'm sure it happens with many other TV shows), because I love love love this show! Somehow it features a mother who, on paper, can be conceited, strict, competitive, and even inconsiderate, yet is quite possibly the most popular (and maybe loved?) character on the show. It does make for great plots and episodes, especially when the tables get turned on her like this past one.

[mtlchick]

While watching the Stan Lee cameo I was thinking "At least they didn't explain why he looked so old as compared to DMX and Shaq when it's set in 1996."  

 

I expect Hudson to be a few octaves lower come next season.  

[tennisgurl]

I lost it at Louis imagining Eddie beating him at basketball, then revealing he was an urn with his piano scarf wrapped around it!

I really liked the Jessica and Evan plot, and I thought it ended well, with Evan still needing Jessica, and that being shown by her convincing the debate teacher to let him onto the team. I thought it would end with Evan and Jessica in a final debate, with Jessica winning or learning that she can let Evan win sometimes, but I liked how it played out.

Emery is a really good artist! Does this mean one day Jessica and Evan will join the Marvel Cinematic Universe?

[mtlchick]

It IS real as part of Free Comic Book Day (May 6th) 

 

http://ew.com/books/2017/05/02/fresh-off-the-boat-free-comic-book-day-gene-luen-yang-pages/?xid=entertainment-weekly_socialflow_twitter

[Robert Lynch]

As for Stan Lee looking old, he always looked old in the 90s. But Stan Lee and many others like him grew up in a era where being much older than your actual age was the norm. You could be 25 and look 45 back then. That was before the use of any surgery available. A great example is Betty White in some old 1940s clip, despite being in her 20s then. You see, I can laugh at that moment in the 90s because I remember my old neighbor telling me we did not dress like that when they were our ages. Such a fun thought back then and yet you remember they grew up in a mature era where everybody had decorum. Not everybody dressed like hookers or skanks then...yes, even the famed Betty Page or Gypsy Rose Lee could look dated by today's standards.  

Staying on topic, I thought the comic thing was ingenious and adding Stan Lee to the mix was a nice touch. I liked this episode.

[Canada]

Ugh, I hated people like Jessica when I worked retail.  Sadly for people like her, I'm very stubborn and never fell for their BS.  No receipt, no refund!  And if we hadn't sold one of whatever you were trying to return in the previous 6 months (I had inventory access right on my till), then you didn't get any store credit either.  Ha!  People would try and return stuff that was obviously well used, claiming they'd never used it.  They never got past me.

[Black Knight]

I loved the joke of Jessica's mail sorting system! 

[biakbiak]

4 hours ago, Canada said:

Ugh, I hated people like Jessica when I worked retail.  Sadly for people like her, I'm very stubborn and never fell for their BS.  No receipt, no refund!  And if we hadn't sold one of whatever you were trying to return in the previous 6 months (I had inventory access right on my till), then you didn't get any store credit either.  Ha!  People would try and return stuff that was obviously well used, claiming they'd never used it.  They never got past me.

I haven't even worked retail and I hated those scenes, it's called stealing Jessica!

[ClareWalks]

20 hours ago, Canada said:

Ugh, I hated people like Jessica when I worked retail.  Sadly for people like her, I'm very stubborn and never fell for their BS.  No receipt, no refund!  And if we hadn't sold one of whatever you were trying to return in the previous 6 months (I had inventory access right on my till), then you didn't get any store credit either.  Ha!  People would try and return stuff that was obviously well used, claiming they'd never used it.  They never got past me.

I agree, I thought it was a little too much and I just felt bad for the store (especially when she DEMANDED cash instead of store credit). It made me a little uncomfortable to watch, because I was expecting her to accuse someone of being racist if they didn't let her get away with it.

[juliet73]

I thought the Jessica part of this episode was awful!  I don't understand why she would think it was okay to teach her son that lying and basically stealing were something to be proud of.

Evan is so cute. I liked when he cut out the logo from the beer case because he needed a crest for his jacket.  

Louis is my favorite character! 

[HawaiiTVGuy]

On 5/6/2017 at 7:48 PM, biakbiak said:

I haven't even worked retail and I hated those scenes, it's called stealing Jessica!

Yeah, I am a notorious returner (back to the original store/business), but even I would never try to pass off something that a store has never sold.

[hatchetgirl]

Quote

Loved Grandma backing out in her wheelchair, staring at Eddie.

I laughed so hard, but what I liked better is, you know a crew member did that back up with a little turn using a remote or something and that gave me so much life! 

My mom would go to yard sales to find things from Sears just to return them.  I HATED it, but i cracked up at Jessica...

[rmontro]

On 5/6/2017 at 1:05 PM, Robert Lynch said:

I thought the comic thing was ingenious and adding Stan Lee to the mix was a nice touch. I liked this episode.

Stan Lee is a natural treasure.

6 hours ago, hatchetgirl said:

My mom would go to yard sales to find things from Sears just to return them.  I HATED it, but i cracked up at Jessica...

Yeesh, no wonder Sears has been closing stores.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

I knew someone who worked at one of those fancy kitchen/cooking stores. When she got married, she registered for a bunch of stuff at the store. Every time she received one of those items, she returned it and then immediately bought it with her 30% employee discount so that she was making a profit from her wedding gifts. Is that better or worse than Jessica demanding to return a phone that the store doesn't even sell?

[theatremouse]

Your friend's example isn't fraud so I'm going with better but still ethically murky?

[HawaiiTVGuy]

7 hours ago, ElectricBoogaloo said:

I knew someone who worked at one of those fancy kitchen/cooking stores. When she got married, she registered for a bunch of stuff at the store. Every time she received one of those items, she returned it and then immediately bought it with her 30% employee discount so that she was making a profit from her wedding gifts. Is that better or worse than Jessica demanding to return a phone that the store doesn't even sell?

Yeah, like @theatremouse said, I don't have a problem with any of what your friend did.  It is a loophole that works to her advantage, the store gives employees the discount, why shouldn't she be able to maximize it to her advantage.  What Jessica did with the phone was way beyond that since the "Save-More" didn't even sell phones (IIRC) so it couldn't have been their item.  The thing is, the cashier knew what was going on, and let it go, so oh well, at the end of it all, the cashier was to blame for letting himself get steamrolled by Jessica, and then Evan.  Of course Jessica trying to get away with it makes her morally/ehtically challenged.

[ClareWalks]

Yeah, by returning items she didn't even buy at that store, Jessica is almost literally just taking money out of the cash register. (I say "almost" only because she is making the *employee* physically do it, rather than doing it herself.)

[biakbiak]

10 hours ago, HawaiiTVGuy said:

 What Jessica did with the phone was way beyond that since the "Save-More" didn't even sell phones (IIRC) so it couldn't have been their item.

Or even the three year old worn socks. Yes they aren't expensive but it's still shitty. In the above friend example I assume she didn't open the box so they could still store could simply restock it in most situations and even in the narrow example where it might be put on Clearance or an Open Box sell it would probably be between 20-30% so the store doesn't lose anything.

Several of my friends used to work other still work at High End Kitchen stores  Corporate and the allowing staffs friends and family to use the discount for registries was brought up many times but abuse was continually sited. Some other stores do allow a specialty code but you have to jump through hoops. Most of my friends who worhed s just asked for gift cards with the explanation of the discount and many send a pic of what they used the gift card for in their thank you cards.

What Jessica appears to pride herself on is getting what's best for her even if it's at the expense of friends and family where typically she is shamed into acknowledging the feelings of others but often times its still shady and ethically challenged and the more they make that her defining characteristic the more I have come to dislike her character.

[Mellowyellow]

I took everything as an exaggeration because this is a comedy so I wasn't upset with Jessica.

NO ONE would let her return 3 year old worn socks in real life! This was more to highlight her "super powers"! 

[ElectricBoogaloo]

SmartWool lets you return old socks (or clothes) within two years of purchase and Icebreaker guarantees their socks for life so you can return them for any reason forever.

[Mellowyellow]

Wow!!!! We don't have that here!

We get 28 days with tags still attached and a receipt.

[amaranta]

I'm watching this show for the first time (have done the first three seasons in about a month) and what Jessica was doing was definitely stealing. Usually I like Jessica with her death stares and schemes, but this was a bit over the line even for sitcom land.

However, those mail sorting boxes - I cracked up when I saw a separate one just for AOL CDs.  Damn, getting those was so annoying!

[SmithW6079]

On 6/14/2017 at 5:06 PM, amaranta said:

However, those mail sorting boxes - I cracked up when I saw a separate one just for AOL CDs.  Damn, getting those was so annoying!

They made great coasters. :-)

[msrachelj]

On 5/9/2017 at 0:32 AM, hatchetgirl said:

I laughed so hard, but what I liked better is, you know a crew member did that back up with a little turn using a remote or something and that gave me so much life! 

My mom would go to yard sales to find things from Sears just to return them.  I HATED it, but i cracked up at Jessica...

people can be so dishonest.  i could never do something like that. 

what jessica did and the lesson she gave to her children was so wrong. 

[Camera One]

I'm still catching up on last season (forgot that I didn't finish the back third).  I thought this episode was really funny.  Watching Evan and Jessica debate each other was amusing, though I got my biggest laugh from Emery's ridiculously positive superheroes.  

[CurlyATX]

On ‎5‎/‎8‎/‎2017 at 4:23 PM, HawaiiTVGuy said:

Yeah, I am a notorious returner (back to the original store/business), but even I would never try to pass off something that a store has never sold.

Once, years ago... we had bought a video recorder, used it and then returned it.  We thought we hit the one month return date but it was actually a 30 day policy.  I did complain and they gave us credit (which is what we wanted).  But, to add insult, we had said we hadn't even used it and then the clerk politely told us that our tape was still in it! Doh!

One thing that changed by view was when a friend "bragged" about how she used the self checkout at Home Depot and someone had left $65 in change which my friend and husband quickly pocketed.  She thought I'd appreciate her frugalness.  I really was hit by how this was stealing, especially because you know someone paid with a $100 bill, forgot to collect the change in the bustle of self checkout and now, if he/she went to claim it, there would be no record.  Her argument was that cash was cash, so even if they turned it in, a cashier or the store would just pocket the entire thing. 

Now as an old lady I really see how there are no free rides.  All those liberal returns end up costing us all at the end. 

I will say that Jessica's frugalness is very first generation.  A friend of mine used to bring ALL her clothes to her cousin's apartment to hand wash because water was paid by the apartment (not electricity, so they didn't use the washer).  We're talking LOADS done in the sink using cold water.  My parents were immigrants, but even they weren't that frugal.