S05.E08: Cousin Eddie

[Jaded]

Quote

The battle begins between mother and son when Eddie informs Jessica that he wants to spend Christmas with friend Nicole in New York. But Jessica insists that tradition prevails and he needs to spend the holiday with the family, so he does everything within his power to try and get her to crack and allow him to go. Meanwhile, Louis and Evan do their best to try and help an overwhelmed Emery decide on which one of his numerous friends to invite to the family’s Christmas Eve dinner.

Original Air Date: 12/14/18

Edited December 9, 2018 by Jaded

[biakbiak]

How weird that they didn’t use the character name but rather “friend in NY” which has to be Nicole. 

[Jaded]

45 minutes ago, biakbiak said:

How weird that they didn’t use the character name but rather “friend in NY” which has to be Nicole. 

There's a similar description of the episode on IMDB which names her but it's worded weird. I'll edit my post to add her name since it's obvious who the "friend in NY" is. Rereading the description I used I notice it's worded weirdly too.

Edited December 9, 2018 by Jaded

[Robert Lynch]

Jessica was horrible again in this episode. The tree incident should not have excluded any behavior whatsoever from her. She doesn't deserve sympathy. 

[Snow Apple]

Why do they want us to hate Jessica? She was great in the beginning but is worse and worse as the years go by. Even Evan's been toned down but Jessica's been ramped up.

Eddie's brownies sound delicious. I'm glad he pushed Jessica over the edge even though they made up in the end.

I'm glad they brought back how popular Emory is.

Why haven't Honey and Marvin been on the show lately?

[biakbiak]

Did Eddie really think that Jessica of all people would approve of buying an expensive last minute plane ticket during the holiday season? 

[jmonique]

3 hours ago, Snow Apple said:

Why haven't Honey and Marvin been on the show lately?

My theory is shows get more expensive as they age, and FotB is now in its fifth season, with suboptimal ratings. Add to that, Chelsey Crisp's Instagram confirming that she's actually pregnant IRL, and hence the focus on the family members and less so on the business, Eddie's posse and girl troubles, and really anything outside of ABC thinking it's capitalizing on Constance Wu's movie popularity.

[Camera One]

I actually thought this episode was funnier than the last few.  The first half was good, up until Jessica went crazy again.  Though I was actually thought they did a good job resolving the conflict with Eddie and it was nice to see Jessica reminiscing about Eddie when he was younger.  

For once, the subplot with Evan and Emery actually worked since it was true to Emery's character to be indecisive and popular.  

[lynxfx]

Got a good laugh at the Wild Things ornament. I actually had an 8 foot poster of that image. I knew it well. 

Episode was good except for the tree attack. Just didn't make sense. 

My wife now wants to make those reindeer patties.

[Robert Lynch]

7 hours ago, jmonique said:

My theory is shows get more expensive as they age, and FotB is now in its fifth season, with suboptimal ratings. Add to that, Chelsey Crisp's Instagram confirming that she's actually pregnant IRL, and hence the focus on the family members and less so on the business, Eddie's posse and girl troubles, and really anything outside of ABC thinking it's capitalizing on Constance Wu's movie popularity.

Add that to the sudden timeslot change to Friday and you'll see a difference between this show's original Tuesday slot.

[ClareWalks]

Jessica continues to be awful. The last straw from me was when she couldn't contain her disgust with the (very pleasant) homeless woman.

[biakbiak]

3 hours ago, ClareWalks said:

Jessica continues to be awful. The last straw from me was when she couldn't contain her disgust with the (very pleasant) homeless woman.

For me it was even earlier when she couldn’t remember Trent’s name.

I had issues with how they protrayed Louis and Jessica in the first season because they glossed over and changed them a lot from Eddie’s memoir but realized it was an ABC show and they couldn’t go into some of the more darker themes but I really wish they would go back to that characterization of Jessica because she is now such a hateful asshole that I think I might stop watching. It doesn’t help that I didn’t laugh once.

[Robert Lynch]

31 minutes ago, biakbiak said:

For me it was even earlier when she couldn’t remember Trent’s name.

I had issues with how they protrayed Louis and Jessica in the first season because they glossed over and changed them a lot from Eddie’s memoir but realized it was an ABC show and they couldn’t go into some of the more darker themes but I really wish they would go back to that characterization of Jessica because she is now such a hateful asshole that I think I might stop watching. It doesn’t help that I didn’t laugh once.

But they can't. Eddie left the show after season 1. Now they could make up anything they want.

[biakbiak]

2 minutes ago, Robert Lynch said:

But they can't. Eddie left the show after season 1. Now they could make up anything they want.

They can’t what? As Eddie has been very vocal about pointing out the characterization of season 1 wasn’t a reflection of his parents, he never had control over the show. I just wish they would go back to that equally inaccurate character then this insufferable asshole.

[Robert Lynch]

3 hours ago, biakbiak said:

They can’t what? As Eddie has been very vocal about pointing out the characterization of season 1 wasn’t a reflection of his parents, he never had control over the show. I just wish they would go back to that equally inaccurate character then this insufferable asshole.

I wish that, too. Don't  get me wrong on that. It just the writers did a 180 degree angle on Jessica herself. 

Edited December 15, 2018 by Robert Lynch

[tennisgurl]

As far as Jessica being a jerk goes, I would actually say she was a bit less insufferable this week. At least I could kind of understand where she was coming from, wanting to do the fun stuff that their family always does, even if, as usual, it went WAY too far. 

I admit to laughing at the Wild Things ornament that Nicole sent Eddie. truly, the thing that brings all lesbians and teenage boys together at this time of year.

Edited December 15, 2018 by tennisgurl

[biakbiak]

29 minutes ago, tennisgurl said:

least i could kind of understand where she was coming from, wanting to do the fun stuff that their family always does,

Oh I could completely understand and as mentioned upthread I even thought that Eddie was being completely ridiculous thinking he could go to NYC at the last minute when they live so far away, the problem is they have taken the character to such a place that I don’t root for her to be happy and I actual want her to fail and be miserable.

[possibilities]

I thought that the end of the episode might be an indication that they are trying to course correct with Jessica. She softened a lot and became very reasonable and even fun with Eddie at the end. I hope that was a breakthrough, and won't be forgotten by next episode.

[Camera One]

Unfortunately, Jessica often has this arc in an episode but by the beginning of the next one, she's rewound back and then goes through the same process again.  I've lost all hope that we will escape the cycle.

Edited December 16, 2018 by Camera One

[rmontro]

On 12/8/2018 at 11:52 PM, biakbiak said:

How weird that they didn’t use the character name but rather “friend in NY” which has to be Nicole. 

Maybe they thought it would be a distraction to the plot.  They just wanted Eddie to have other plans for the holiday, and didn't want to deal with explaining how he would be staying with a girl, but their relationship is platonic, and who Nicole is for new viewers.

[Robert Lynch]

6 hours ago, Camera One said:

Unfortunately, Jessica often has this arc in an episode but by the beginning of the next one, she's rewound back and then goes through the same process again.  I've lost all hope that we will escape the cycle.

Yeah, and in the next episode, she is back to hateful Jessica.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

While I understand wanting to hang on to family traditions (even moreso once Jessica explained the origin of some of them to Eddie), there is no reason to force your family into creating a carbon copy of Christmas every freaking year. I know I can be a control freak about some things, but refusing to let someone else make delicious brownies? Oh, Jessica.

What I wish Eddie or someone else had told her was that it's great to ADD new traditions (like reindeer patties!). And when you have kids, you should let them help shape the traditions as they get older. An easy example of that would have been letting the boys pick out a new matching set of pajamas for their annual Christmas photo (although I feel I should also add that as much as Eddie complained about it, I think in 10-15 years when he can look back and see him with his brothers doing the same pose year after year as they get bigger and bigger, he may finally appreciate it!).

Even if Jessica keeps regressing every time she makes the slightest bit of progress, I like that we are getting to see character growth from Eddie. In the earlier seasons he was kind of a brat (which is to be expected from a kid that age). But this season he has realized on more than one occasion when he screwed up and apologized for it on his own.

I do agree that he should have known that frugal Jessica was never going to let him buy a last minute plane ticket to New York.

[possibilities]

Going to NY was not going to happen, and I'm fine with Jessica saying no to that, but at the same time, he's getting old enough that at some point he will be buying his own ticket and that will be okay too.  She should be glad he wants to visit Nicole, actually, because he could be wanting something way more concerning!

[biakbiak]

15 hours ago, rmontro said:

Maybe they thought it would be a distraction to the plot.  They just wanted Eddie to have other plans for the holiday, and didn't want to deal with explaining how he would be staying with a girl, but their relationship is platonic, and who Nicole is for new viewers.

Given that they talked about her by name in the episode I think it was just a poorly written blurb. 

[Snow Apple]

3 hours ago, possibilities said:

She should be glad he wants to visit Nicole, actually, because he could be wanting something way more concerning!

And Honey and Marvin are in NY with Nicole so if he went, his first trip without his parents will at least be with trusted adults. Very good practice.

[ItCouldBeWorse]

On 12/16/2018 at 6:00 PM, Snow Apple said:

And Honey and Marvin are in NY with Nicole so if he went, his first trip without his parents will at least be with trusted adults. Very good practice.

And if Honey and Marvin are visiting so that Nicole can get to know her baby sister, Eddie really doesn't belong there.

[lynxfx]

Followup: we did make some reindeer patties and they were delicious. :)