S04.E05: Four Funerals and a Wedding

[ElectricBoogaloo]

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When Jessica's aunt passes away, the Huang family packs their bags for Houston where the boys see Jessica's father for the first time. While observing the distant relationship, Louis makes it his mission to push Jessica and her father closer together. Meanwhile, Evan decides to make Eddie the executor of his will, prompting Emery and Eddie to fight over who is the better older brother.

[Star Aristille]

I kinda don't see how Jessica would be okay with not being all that close with her father.  I'd think that'd be the last thing anyone would want unless he strongly disapproved of some part of her lifestyle, and he didn't seem to at all.  Plus, that means not being close to his grandchildren, which shouldn't be okay with Jessica, since he seemed like a very nice guy.

I had a feeling that Louis kept trying to pursue matters due to his issues with not getting close to his own father, though.

I liked the boys' storyline and kinda dug Eddie replacing Louis's lost tie for Emery.  But I don't see how Deidre could've thought that Evan was dying just because he wanted to get a new executor for his will.  (And why would a boy his age be having a will, anyway?)

Decent episode.

[MaryMitch]

Interesting how Jessica and Louis feel the obligation to travel for Jessica's family funerals and weddings, but Jessica doesn't seem to be close to her family at all. I'm not saying I don't believe it; I just find it interesting that there are obligations where it comes to ceremonies, but no obligation for day to day normal life. I come from a ridiculously close family, so this is like looking at aliens to me.

As to why Evan has a will - it's because he's Evan.

[Blakeston]

So the kids didn't even know their grandfather was alive? That seems pretty silly. Even if he and Jessica aren't that close, she'd still let her kids know about his existence - unless there was something deeply, deeply wrong. And there didn't seem to be.

I wasn't crazy about Louis lying to Jessica, especially about such a huge thing. I get that his intentions were good, but I don't see the Louis of earlier seasons feeling so justified about lying to her. They're making him more of a jerk lately, for the sake of easy laughs.

[tennisgurl]

Louis lying to Jessica wasn't alright, but I did like how it ended with Louis realizing that he was actually dealing with his own feelings about his now deceased father and his regrets that they weren't closer. 

I can certainly relate to spending a childhood going to funerals for relatives that I didn't or barely knew. Being from a big Catholic family, I certainly spent a lot of my childhood starring at coffins and being like "who is this again?" while my parents filled me in on family details. 

[biakbiak]

9 hours ago, Blakeston said:

o the kids didn't even know their grandfather was alive? That seems pretty silly. Even if he and Jessica aren't that close, she'd still let her kids know about his existence - unless there was something deeply, deeply wrong. And there didn't seem to be.

Also, it seems weird that he wouldn't acknowledge them on their birthdays and during Lunar New Year both weird particularly if he was still married to her mother, the only reason to do that would be to keep up appearances which would mean having your grandchildren know you exist.

[SmithW6079]

Who decided that making precocious Evan into officious little prick Evan was good character development? 

Also, why did no one point out that all his executors were older and quite likely to die before he did? Unless he knows he's a little dickhead now and someone is likely to kill him sooner rather than later. 

[ItCouldBeWorse]

3 hours ago, SmithW6079 said:

 

Also, why did no one point out that all his executors were older and quite likely to die before he did? Unless he knows he's a little dickhead now and someone is likely to kill him sooner rather than later. 

Well, that would be a good reason for excluding his grandmother, but who is he going to get who's his age or younger?

[biakbiak]

Eddie and Emory aren't they're  sure to die first amount of older and if your executor dies you just appoint a new one.

[Camera One]

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So the kids didn't even know their grandfather was alive? That seems pretty silly

True, but it did lead to one of the funniest moments of the episode when they asked "Who's that man?"  

Despite that conversation at the end with the dad, I think Jessica did want to be closer to her father, and that's one of the reasons why she didn't tell the kids.   I can relate to that, to talk mostly about the weather or neutral topics.  It's hard to become close to someone even if you want to, especially in cultures like this one where emotion is not openly expressed.  

I don't like the bad luck year plot, so I hope this episode was the end of it.  I did like the scene with Eddie and Emery making up.  

The plotline with Evan had some amusing moments, but as others said, it makes him seem like a total jerk yet again.  Though the actor has pretty good line delivery for a kid so young.

This week raised some interesting cultural issues, so I found it better than the more generic plots.  However, the show is tonally all over the place.  There always seems to be a lesson which feels a little too forced and after-school-special-ish.  Then out of nowhere, they throw in a weird adult joke with Eddie telling Evan to "do it in the shower"?  

Edited November 3, 2017 by Camera One

[biakbiak]

17 minutes ago, Camera One said:

don't like the bad luck year plot, so I hope this episode was the end of it.  I did find the scene with Eddie and Emery making up.  

I doubt that's the case given that they had Eddie tell him it's just how they explain puberty and it lasts longer than a year but maybe it won't be as prevalent.

[Camera One]

3 minutes ago, biakbiak said:

I doubt that's the case given that they had Eddie tell him it's just how they explain puberty and it lasts longer than a year but maybe it won't be as prevalent.

Yeah, I was hoping now that Emery has figured out what it actually is, they'll stop calling it the bad luck year.  Though he actually started puberty way earlier than this (last season), so it's also weird timing.  If anything, Eddie's the one whose voice just changed.

Edited November 3, 2017 by Camera One

[Star Aristille]

1 hour ago, Camera One said:

Then out of nowhere, they throw in a weird adult joke with Eddie telling Evan to "do it in the shower"?  

Evan's "Huh?" response, followed by Eddie's own "Huh?" when they each realized they were talking about different things made that whole bit to me.:)

[ItCouldBeWorse]

On 11/3/2017 at 1:02 AM, Camera One said:

Then out of nowhere, they throw in a weird adult joke with Eddie telling Evan to "do it in the shower"?  

This same week on The Middle, Brick asked a potential girlfriend (in his mind only) if she had spent so long in the bathroom because she had unexpectedly gotten her period and hadn't been prepared.  Although it does sound like the kind of thought Brick might have, I was a little surprised they put it in the show.

Edited November 4, 2017 by ItCouldBeWorse

[biakbiak]

Masterbation doesn' strike me as adult joke, it' a teenager joke.

[juliet73]

Last season Jessica was unbearable; this season it seems to be Evan. In the past he was a sweet little boy who never wanted to disappoint his mommy. Now Evan has become a selfish brat. I'm surprised that Jessica tolerates his attitude.

Eddie seems like he aged 10 years over the summer. He's the same height as Louis and has a deeper voice too.

I don't like the bad luck storyline with Emery. He was always so positive and upbeat and now he's always disappointed. I hope his bad luck doesn't last the whole year. 

Edited November 4, 2017 by juliet73

[Kaiju Ballet]

I loved this episode, at least the part about the funerals and wedding. It resonated with me because Jessica's father was exactly how I see her -- completely pragmatic, blunt and accepting that their interactions had evolved over time to be exactly was needed from one another. I'm also distant with my relatives, and kinda envied the fact that Jessica and her dad had that understanding without worrying about what other people thought.

Louis was insufferable here, although coming out of good intentions (and unresolved issues with his own dad). They got a lot of humor out of his attempts to force Jessica and her father to conform to having the kind of relationship that he felt they should have, but that didn't sit well with me. As others have commented, his lying about the father's impending death was surprisingly out of character; the seeming ease he felt doing it even more so.

The irony was that helped demonstrate (at least to me) how actually way more honest the existing relationship between Jessica and her father was, rather than trying to force one that looked better to everyone else but was supremely uncomfortable for the only two people who should matter.

I did find the triplets hysterical. I laughed out loud with the reveal of the sister's mini-skirt and her sassy sashay from the casket; another LOL moment was the "flower girl" nonchalantly tossing out petals from the basket attached to her walker.

Edited November 4, 2017 by Kaiju Ballet
Paragraph breaks are cool.

[floridamom]

I'm glad they toned down the boys' mother. Last season she was a dishonest, unlikeable character. I wrote in to the network about her. I told them that I wouldn't want to have that woman as a friend, nor would I want to know her. In an episode when she went to a garage sale, looking for bargains, she actually changed the price tag of an item and then bargained it down with the son of the family...DISHONEST of her period.  She also quite openly played favorites with her sons....not ok with me. She treated her husband like dirt and all he wanted was to have a more warm relationship with her.

I find the boys not even knowing their grandfather was alive unbelievable. I would think that over the years Jessica's dad would have visited ONCE, for a day, even if he stayed in a hotel.

I live in Orlando and don't recognize any of the outside footage on the show at all. "Millenia Mall" isn't the mall to go to for anything, really...they showed a quick shot of it from the outside for a second.

They also don't dress like they live in Florida where it is HOT most of the year.

[theatremouse]

I didn't enjoy the Louis shenanigans at all. His admission at the end was SO clunky. "Gee, I guess I was projecting." MMhmm, glad you caught up, Louis. It felt a bit after-school-special to me, not the lying about someone being terminally ill, but the lesson-learning.

[Ottis]

What did Eddie say about missing George Carlin? Didn’t Carlin die about 10 years later?

[ooh.boo]

On 12/2/2017 at 5:59 PM, Ottis said:

What did Eddie say about missing George Carlin? Didn’t Carlin die about 10 years later?

They were talking about George Burns