S04.E05: La Abuela

[nodorothyparker]

The gang moves into an old mansion that used be owned by a notorious cartel leader, but while Carol makes Tandy help make the large estate baby-proof, Melissa is concerned about Todd's physical health and Gail and Erica worry about Dawn.

[Galileo908]

So, backstory on the house the gang is living in. The gang worries about baby proofing the house (even Tandy thinks it's overboard!), and they all forget about Jasper. I was actually relieved that there was no bomb in the pinata...but I'm still hoping something kills them all now.

Dawn is calm during danger? Really makes sense consider what she's been through the past few...however long she's been alive.

[GRChereck]

Well, THAT was different. I always like when the show has fun with the weird, random crap people left behind (such as the solar-powered bacon freezer and the stocks in s.2) -- something I kinda wish it did more of -- but this was the first time we actually got flashbacks for one of the Tandy Crew's homes. 

Based on the premise, I had assumed this episode would be little more than an excuse to recycle some of the baby-proofing gags from Forte's 'Brothers Solomon' script. But I guess it wasn't too surprising that Carol going to ridiculous lengths to protect her baby from getting hurt or killed in all manner of household accidents was just her helpless response to what she was really afraid of -- that "the virus" is still out there in some form, and her baby might not be immune. :\

35 minutes ago, Galileo908 said:

Dawn is calm during danger? Really makes sense consider what she's been through the past few...however long she's been alive.

In last week's episode, Erica said Dawn is a week old (probably going on two weeks by now).

[backformore]

I found myself thinking that these people are too stupid to have children.  I know it's over the top on purpose, but I couldn't stop thinking of a baby choking on packing peanuts.

[ottoDbusdriver]

1 hour ago, Galileo908 said:

but I'm still hoping something kills them all now.

If only.

There's no way the bomb is in the Rubik's cube -- the electronics board that henchmen was working on was WAY too big to fit inside a Rubik's cube, as was the cube of explosives.
Unless the cube is just the wireless trigger, but the battery should be long dead by now.

And I thought Carol was annoying before -- this episode was probably the worst so far.  Was she expecting the baby to walk on Day 1 of its life ?

Meanwhile Melissa was babyproofing Todd -- which was just plain stupid -- it was her fault that he collapsed in the first place.

[SayMyName]

So Will Forte is a Narcos fan? Other than the Carol line about the house having good vibes.....what was the point? It wouldn't have bothered me if another regular cast member was killed off with the bomb. I have no idea why I still turn this show on (other than there is nothing else on at that time) and continue to watch so I can only blame myself (and I do).

[ally862]

8 hours ago, backformore said:

I found myself thinking that these people are too stupid to have children.  I know it's over the top on purpose, but I couldn't stop thinking of a baby choking on packing peanuts.

I hate myself for being the sanctimommy but that carseat was stressing me out so much haha.  The straps were loose, the blankets between her and the seat, no chest clip and she was facing the wrong direction.  I have a 1 year old and 3 year old though so it's ingrained in me right now!  

[possibilities]

I loved that Jasper didn't know what the pinata was-- he'd probably never seen one before and who would imagine there'd be candy in it if you hadn't ever encountered a pinata before?-- and was using it as part of a spaceship game. His story is really the one I find the most interesting. How did he survive on his own from such a young age? He's probably the smartest person there.

[backformore]

9 hours ago, SayMyName said:

. I have no idea why I still turn this show on (other than there is nothing else on at that time) and continue to watch so I can only blame myself (and I do).

I know. When this show started in season 1, it was an interesting, quirky show, and I enjoyed it.  I think I watch to see if that fun off-beat humor returns.   But they just seem like a bunch of assholes and morons.

The humor, with the baby proofing, seemed so forced and slapstick that I cringed more than I laughed.  

Baby proofing is a good idea.  Using bubble wrap and packing peanuts is making it more likely that your kid will die.

And putting an obese  man in a wheelchair to prevent a heart attack is the opposite of what you're supposed to do.

Could we change the name of the show to the Last Morons on Earth?

[chaifan]

1 hour ago, possibilities said:

I loved that Jasper didn't know what the pinata was-- he'd probably never seen one before and who would imagine there'd be candy in it if you hadn't ever encountered a pinata before?-- and was using it as part of a spaceship game. His story is really the one I find the most interesting. How did he survive on his own from such a young age? He's probably the smartest person there.

I'll admit, I've been hanging with this show longer than I should mostly because I was hoping to see a little more backstory on Jasper.  But I don't know if they're going there.  It would be a hard one to do "funny". 

I normally don't catch this show in real time.  It's on Hulu, and I usually watch it when I have a half hour with nothing better to do.  That's not exactly a ringing endorsement.  I'm with backformore - the show has lost it's quirky. 

[ItCouldBeWorse]

I'm surprised that Tandy didn't point out to Carol that Dawn appeared to be immune to the virus.

With regard to Dawn, if a 2-week old baby is crying non-stop, perhaps try taking her out of the car seat to see if she wants to nurse, needs to burp, have her diaper changed.  If none of those work, then hold her, sing to her, walk around with her, pass her off to someone else in the group, but don't leave her miserably bundled up in her car seat. She needs human contact.  Finally, she didn't stress about being left on a desert island or seeing a decapitated body because she didn't have a clue that any of that was going on! Erica may be too tired to figure that out, but I would think Gail would have explained that to her.

An upcoming spoiler that doesn't surprise me in the least:

(ETA: I see that GRChereck posted this in the Spoiler thread when it first came out)

Spoiler

http://tvline.com/2017/10/27/fred-armisen-last-man-on-earth-season-4-cast-karl/

Edited November 6, 2017 by ItCouldBeWorse

[peeayebee]

12 hours ago, SayMyName said:

So Will Forte is a Narcos fan?

The first thing that occurred to me was Don Eladio's house in Breaking Bad. Judging from your avatar & username, I thought you might think that too.

I liked this ep. I figured the bomb wasn't in the piñata but in the Rubik's Cube. However, that didn't stop me from appreciating every time we cut to commercial as Jasper was about to do something with the piñata. Like possibilities, I liked that he didn't know what to do with it. I was actually wondering about that before he started playing with it like a Death Star. (Oooo, Death Star.)

I also liked Abuela's story about how everyone's story can change depending on when it ends. 

Yes, Carol's baby-proofing every darn thing was ridiculous, but I didn't mind since she was just overcompensating for her fear of the virus. I laughed when Tandy fell down the stairs into the pile of packing peanuts. I also loved whatever baby-proofing backwards was, and then Tandy trying to say THAT backwards and not coming up with baby-proofing. Oh, and corking the cacti.

Melissa over-compensating in protecting Todd was a nice parallel to Carol's plot line. 

[heisenberg]

13 hours ago, SayMyName said:

So Will Forte is a Narcos fan? Other than the Carol line about the house having good vibes.....what was the point? It wouldn't have bothered me if another regular cast member was killed off with the bomb. I have no idea why I still turn this show on (other than there is nothing else on at that time) and continue to watch so I can only blame myself (and I do).

It just make something to listen while I am downloading The Walking Dead,  but I feel the same.  It is like Fear The Walking Dead I watch it to hate it I guess...

 

By the way,  say my name!  :-)

[iMonrey]

I see I'm not the only one who has come to feel they are watching just out of habit anymore. The novelty of this show has sort of worn out and the absurdity of it doesn't seem to really work anymore. Maybe because there are babies involved now? I don't know. But the whole baby-proofing thing just wasn't funny and didn't work. How are they supposed to get up and down the stairs if it's filled and wrapped like that? Maybe if you're concerned about where your kid is growing up, pick an easier place to make safe? 

[heisenberg]

4 hours ago, backformore said:

But they just seem like a bunch of assholes and morons.

 

Yep that is a good description.

[ItCouldBeWorse]

I couldn't help but think how filthy that house would be with dust alone, and how the piñata would likely have disintegrated, or at least looked less pristine than it did. That's why people use drop cloths if they shut up a house for half a year.

I know; I should suspend disbelief along with the still-liquid gasoline and the many bags of non-stale chips.

Edited November 6, 2017 by ItCouldBeWorse

[backformore]

Quote

With regard to Dawn, if a 2-week old baby is crying non-stop, perhaps try taking her out of the car seat to see if she wants to nurse, needs to burp, have her diaper changed.  If none of those work, then hold her, sing to her, walk around with her, pass her off to someone else in the group, but don't leave her miserable bundled up in her car seat.

Yes, thanks for bringing up the other clueless parenting thing that drove me crazy.  Babies don't develop properly if the spend their lives in carseats.  Even non-human mammals know to hold and cuddle a crying baby.

Again, morons.

[chaifan]

3 hours ago, ItCouldBeWorse said:

I couldn't help but think how filthy that house would be with dust alone, and how the piñata would likely have disintegrated, or at least looked less pristine than it did. That's why people use drop cloths if they shut up a house for half a year.

I know; I should suspend disbelief along with the still-liquid gasoline and the many bags of non-stale chips.

I think pinatas have a pretty long shelf life, but that one did look awfully pretty for being in the middle of a gun fight and then sitting around for ... how many years has it been?  Now the candy inside the pinata?   That's a different story.  (Have all the insects also died off?  If not, ew.)

But don't forget about all the still functioning gas station pumps.  Yeah, I know, we shouldn't go down this road. 

[ottoDbusdriver]

It's pretty sad that we have more back story on the house they are currently living in that we do on Jasper.

And the candy in that pinata would be long stale.

[Big Mother]

I just wanted to pick up that poor crying baby!

Holding and rocking a baby should be parental instinct... it makes no sense that Erica was just sitting and staring mournfully at her crying baby instead of holding her.

Oh well, that's why it's a farcical comedy show.

[babs]

9 hours ago, Big Mother said:

I just wanted to pick up that poor crying baby!

Holding and rocking a baby should be parental instinct... it makes no sense that Erica was just sitting and staring mournfully at her crying baby instead of holding her.

Oh well, that's why it's a farcical comedy show.

Ugh, this really annoyed me. I get that it's just TV, it's a comedy, etc... but COME. ON. Show Erica frantically pacing around rocking her, trying to feed her, trying to sing or shush her... same effect of "baby won't stop crying", none of the parent-viewers screaming at the TV "PICK HER UP!!!!!!"

I'm getting really tired of this show. The concept was good and there's some really interesting territory to be mined in the "everyone is dead, we can go anywhere and do anything" world, but they just don't do anything with it. They spend entire seasons sitting in the same house, doing "wacky" things with people's leftover belongings, but none of it makes any sense. Like this season, when they get to Zihuatanejo and it's horrible; the blonde one (damn, normally I am not a forgetter of names, but obv this show isn't holding my attention) says that they filmed the Zihuatanejo scenes in the USVI, oops, guess we're stuck here now, let's make the best of it. Argh! You have a boat! Go to the USVI, or literally ANYWHERE ELSE in the world! 

[Mulva]

I'm still trying to figure out why they aren't even trying to grow food.  You'd think that they'd plant crops that don't need insect pollination like potatoes or corn.

[Rockstar99435]

Didn't Carol have a tomato garden in the first season? If anything, trying to grow a garden would be one way to deal with the boredom of having nothing to do.