S02.E16: Self Care

[ElectricBoogaloo]

S2.E16 Self Care

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Zoey and her girls head to the Johnson family home for a weekend of self-care and detoxing, but Zoey soon learns that her idea of relaxation may not align with what they all really need; Aaron reconnects with his passion for activism.

Original air date: 7/3/19

[ItCouldBeWorse]

So Nomi takes a full course load, has had an extremely active social life and is a straight "A" student? The twins spend many hours practicing for meets and presumably are keeping up with their work, or they would lose their athletic scholarships. Zoey only had 3 classes (after she dropped her fashion course), was not working, and couldn't keep her head above water. A "C-" in chemistry is certainly better than an "F", but she seems awfully complacent about her grades. I guess she thinks her GPA won't matter in her chosen career.

Interesting that Dre gave her back her car so quickly.

Edited July 4, 2019 by ItCouldBeWorse

[AnimeMania]

14 minutes ago, ItCouldBeWorse said:

Interesting that Dre gave her back her car so quickly.

I really don't think Dre did, I think it was a writer's error.

[ItCouldBeWorse]

8 hours ago, AnimeMania said:

I really don't think Dre did, I think it was a writer's error.

Well, if it was still under a lease, he was paying for it whether or not she had access to it, so he might have given it back as a "reward" for her bookstore job.

When the girls were talking about pasta and wine, I assumed they would use the supplies in Zoey's kitchen, since pasta is so inexpensive and easy to make, but it looks like they ordered in. Unless Nomi and Anna treated, it doesn't look as though Zoey has learned too much. 

Good news for Sky: 

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/disney-finds-little-mermaid-star-singer-halle-bailey-1220951

Edited July 4, 2019 by ItCouldBeWorse

[tennisgurl]

Let us know how things are under the sea, Sky!

The show jokes about Junior being his brothers only parents but...how wrong is that? Dre and Bow arent exactly the most attentive parents in the world. 

Nice to see Aaron acknowledge that he has been putting his activism on the back burner, even if I am still a bit miffed at him over the Ana situation. Vivek giving him a ton of money was pretty sweet, especially from him. Generally Vivek is the character we get the least depth from, so it was nice to give him a nice moment, even if its money coming from drug dealing to college kids. 

Aaron throwing that ball at the kid and it hitting him and the kid wandering off swearing got a pretty big giggle from me.

[Dee]

2 hours ago, ItCouldBeWorse said:

 Zoey only had 3 classes (after she dropped her fashion course), was not working, and couldn't keep her head above water. A "C+" in chemistry is certainly better than an "F", but she seems awfully complacent about her grades. I guess she thinks her GPA won't matter in her chosen career.

Zoey said she had to pass chemistry because she dropped design lab.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

6 hours ago, ItCouldBeWorse said:

Interesting that Dre gave her back her car so quickly.

6 hours ago, AnimeMania said:

I really don't think Dre did, I think it was a writer's error.

5 hours ago, ItCouldBeWorse said:

Well, if it was still bbn under a lease, he was paying for it whether or not she had access to it, so he might have given it back as a "reward" for her bookstore job.

Zoey said, "After all the hard work it took to get my life back on track, not to mention getting my car back from dad, I decided it was time to reward myself with a weekend devoted to self care."

Whatever the actual reason (whether Dre was rewarding her for appearing to have her shit together or he just caved because he can't NOT spoil his Zoe-Zoe), she specifically said that he gave her car back.

I was rolling my eyes at Zoey patting herself on the back for her amazing work ethic. She's worked at the bookstore for all of two weeks and she's "only" called in sick twice.

[Empress1]

6 hours ago, tennisgurl said:

Aaron throwing that ball at the kid and it hitting him and the kid wandering off swearing got a pretty big giggle from me.

I cracked up. The episode was fairly boring but that was a funny moment.

1 hour ago, ElectricBoogaloo said:

I was rolling my eyes at Zoey patting herself on the back for her amazing work ethic. She's worked at the bookstore for all of two weeks and she's "only" called in sick twice.

Zoe comes across as really lazy to me. She's not even taking a full course load and she's barely scraping by in one (a C- is better than an F but it's not a good grade). She called in sick twice in two weeks to her part-time job. Come on, Zoe.

Edited July 4, 2019 by Empress1

[ItCouldBeWorse]

7 hours ago, Dee said:

Zoey said she had to pass chemistry because she dropped design lab.

Meaning if she had stayed in design lab she could get a failing grade in chemistry and not be on academic probation because she would still have 3 decent grades? Who wants to fail a course and tank their GPA? An honors student in a competitive HS might have had 6-8 courses, many of them AP's, plus a commute, plus participation in numerous extra-curricular clubs to help get into college. A college student who lives on campus with no job should be able to pass 3 courses, especially when she can afford tutoring, although free office hour help is available for those who cannot.

I'm not saying she's bad, just incredibly complacent about the importance of trying to do well in college. Until she was forced to take the bookstore job, attending a few classes and doing homework was her only job. Maybe she was spoiled by a presumably easy "A" in Charlie's class freshman year. Are Vivek and Nomi really that much smarter then she is? They spend lots of time socializing and apparently both do really well.

Counterintuitively, the busiest people often do the best in school because they learn how to be efficient.  Zoey appears to have no extracurricular activities that would demonstrate her interest in fashion to potential employees.  She should start some sort of club. Aaron's an RA and is involved with lots of social causes, Luca creates art, and the twins have their sport, but we haven't seen Nomi, Ana or Vivek doing anything extracurricular, either (dating/drinking with your friends/ dealing doesn't count.)

I'd like to see Vivek or Nomi being a grader or undergraduate TA for a large survey course one of them excelled in, which would be realistic. Then we would have the inevitable story about one of their friends being enrolled in the course they are grading and how they will handle the conflict. 

Edited July 4, 2019 by ItCouldBeWorse

[ItCouldBeWorse]

7 hours ago, tennisgurl said:

Nice to see Aaron acknowledge that he has been putting his activism on the back burner, even if I am still a bit miffed at him over the Ana situation. Vivek giving him a ton of money was pretty sweet, especially from him. Generally Vivek is the character we get the least depth from, so it was nice to give him a nice moment, even if its money coming from drug dealing to college kids. 

Yeah, I think Aaron should be very conflicted about accepting drug money. I really don't get why the others are friends with a drug dealer. The twins should be especially worried about being caught up in some associated scandal and losing their athletic scholarships. Aaron should be modeling good behavior for his freshman advisees.

Edited July 4, 2019 by ItCouldBeWorse

[ItCouldBeWorse]

3 hours ago, ElectricBoogaloo said:

Whatever the actual reason (whether Dre was rewarding her for appearing to have her shit together or he just caved because he can't NOT spoil his Zoe-Zoe), she specifically said that he gave her car back.

She was driving the car home for the weekend, so she obviously had it back.

I was surprised the show didn't take the opportunity to turn it into an advertisement for the car or its superior navigation system.

Edited July 4, 2019 by ItCouldBeWorse

[AnimeMania]

3 hours ago, ItCouldBeWorse said:

Are Vivek and Nomi really that much smarter then she is?

Vivek is supposed to be a genius in some subject, I think they said Chemistry.

Nomi sleeping with the professor.

3 hours ago, ItCouldBeWorse said:

Yeah, I think Aaron should be very conflicted about accepting drug money.

Aaron has let his activism slide, you noticed Aaron was more interested in how great his video was than the cause it was representing. His main concern was that the basketball rims didn't have any nets. Aaron's solution is to only offer the kids money when a better solution would have been to have people donate money or sign-up to physically go to the park and help clean it up. This would have been a great option since some students might not have tons of money, but might have some free time since the parks were really close by. I am guessing the $10.00 each student paid to get into the party went to cover Aaron's expenses to throw the charity event.

[ItCouldBeWorse]

4 hours ago, AnimeMania said:

Nomi sleeping with the professor.

Sure, but a straight A student is earning A's in every subject and one of the girls said she was a straight A student. 

[Dee]

9 hours ago, ItCouldBeWorse said:

Meaning if she had stayed in design lab she could get a failing grade in chemistry and not be on academic probation because she would still have 3 decent grades?

Meaning that passing chemistry, a class WAY out of her chosen major, was a necessity if she didn't want to end the scholastic year with an incomplete.

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An honors student in a competitive HS might have had 6-8 courses, many of them AP's, plus a commute, plus participation in numerous extra-curricular clubs to help get into college.

Zoey was a great student in high school and continues to be one in college. She simply made a HUGE (and very mature) decision, at a bad time in the scholastic year, and it's unfortunately had a domino effect.

The fact that she's handling it relatively well (despite the misogynistic writing) speaks to her resiliency.

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A college student who lives on campus with no job should be able to pass 3 courses, especially when she can afford tutoring, although free office hour help is available for those who cannot.

Except she dropped design lab fairly late into the semester. She was taking a full course load prior to that, and her chosen major was taking up most of her time.

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Zoey appears to have no extracurricular activities that would demonstrate her interest in fashion to potential employees. 

She was working as a stylist but the writers dropped it to return to their usual well of misogyny.

Edited July 4, 2019 by Dee

[ljenkins782]

On 7/4/2019 at 6:41 PM, Dee said:

Meaning that passing chemistry, a class WAY out of her chosen major, was a necessity if she didn't want to end the scholastic year with an incomplete.

Zoey was a great student in high school and continues to be one in college. She simply made a HUGE (and very mature) decision, at a bad time in the scholastic year, and it's unfortunately had a domino effect.

The fact that she's handling it relatively well (despite the misogynistic writing) speaks to her resiliency.

I don't see any evidence of her being a great student in college. She wound up in a weird midnight class due to missing registration, she had to take Adderall to get a paper done at the very last minute, cheated on an exam and nearly got herself expelled, and needlessly dropped a class at a very late date. There was no pressing need to drop that class past the drop/add stage, she didn't have to be divinely inspired for each project, she just had to complete the assignments, finish out the class, and then take her different path in the next semester. 

Not that it makes her a bad person or even an unusual one, everyone makes mistakes as they try to find their way early on in college. It's a tv show so I expect the focus to be more on the social aspects since watching someone go to class isn't terribly interesting,  but nothing in the show suggests that she's a great student thus far in college.

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She was working as a stylist but the writers dropped it to return to their usual well of misogyny.

Was she? I don't know that picking out clothes for your friends' Instagram pics really counts as "working as a stylist." Nor did she seem to be all that successful at it. The Teen Vogue internship was a potentially huge stepping stone, but she biffed that one too. 

[Dee]

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She wound up in a weird midnight class due to missing registration

Doesn't make her a bad student. Adjusting to college is difficult for lots of 'normal' people, even the best high school students.

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she had to take Adderall to get a paper done at the very last minute

A paper whose topic she was struggling with, and when she saw Vivek's refusal to stop dealing, she made the choice to quit using it altogether.

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cheated on an exam and nearly got herself expelled

Because she had to do well in a class which wasn't related to her major, and not in her wheelhouse, to avoid receiving an incomplete for the year. Could she have studied for the exam harder? Sure. But that isn't a guarantee she would've scored better.

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needlessly dropped a class at a very late date.

She didn't needlessly drop design lab. She was struggling in the class and realized designing from scratch wasn't where her heart was. Zoey dropping the class was an incredibly mature decision.

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she didn't have to be divinely inspired for each project, she just had to complete the assignments, finish out the class, and then take her different path in the next semester.

That's provided she could make her projects work, which she clearly couldn't. So why remain in a class that makes you miserable and essentially wastes your time?

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I don't know that picking out clothes for your friends' Instagram pics really counts as "working as a stylist."

She built her brand via Jaz & Sky's insta-pages, so it definitely counts.

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The Teen Vogue internship was a potentially huge stepping stone, but she biffed that one too.

Teen Vogue liked her enough to hire her twice, so....

[ljenkins782]

On 7/10/2019 at 3:24 PM, Dee said:

Doesn't make her a bad student. Adjusting to college is difficult for lots of 'normal' people, even the best high school students.

A paper whose topic she was struggling with, and when she saw Vivek's refusal to stop dealing, she made the choice to quit using it altogether.

Because she had to do well in a class which wasn't related to her major, and not in her wheelhouse, to avoid receiving an incomplete for the year. Could she have studied for the exam harder? Sure. But that isn't a guarantee she would've scored better.

She didn't needlessly drop design lab. She was struggling in the class and realized designing from scratch wasn't where her heart was. Zoey dropping the class was an incredibly mature decision.

That's provided she could make her projects work, which she clearly couldn't. So why remain in a class that makes you miserable and essentially wastes your time?

She built her brand via Jaz & Sky's insta-pages, so it definitely counts.

Teen Vogue liked her enough to hire her twice, so....

Everyone has to take classes outside of their major and interests, that's part of every college curriculum. In fact, same goes for high school, where she presumably had to pass her classes to even get to college. It's not like studying something outside of fashion is completely foreign. 

And no, it's not a very mature decision to waste thousands of dollars that has already been paid for a class just because it's not coming as easy as you thought or you didn't like it as much as you thought. Adults don't get to quit their jobs or work only on projects that they enjoy, only someone not mature enough to know how the real world works would expect that they only have to put effort into the things that they like to do.

Nor is it excusable to cheat just because you need a passing grade in something. She had the option to study, she didn't and if an incomplete for the year was the consequence, so be it. 

All of the above DOES make her a bad student. Again, not unusual for people to struggle early in college, but it just seems so odd to insist that she's a great student in the face of so much evidence against it. 

[Dee]

20 minutes ago, ljenkins782 said:

 It's not like studying something outside of fashion is completely foreign.

It's not, but if it's not your strong suit it doesn't make you a bad student to struggle in the class. Could Zoey have managed her time better studying for the class after dropping design lab? Sure. But a C- in a class that isn't her strong suit isn't proof that she's a bad student or not committed to her education.

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And no, it's not a very mature decision to waste thousands of dollars that has already been paid for a class just because it's not coming as easy as you thought or you didn't like it as much as you thought.

Actually it is a mature decision when the class is primarily based of creating projects. And college students are allowed to change their minds about their classes and majors if they aren't feeling fulfilled. That's the whole point of college.

Had Zoey had the opportunity to explain her decision to her parents, they likely would've understood. But because Grownish is drenched in misogyny, Zoey must be punished for having something resembling a consistent character arc.

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Nor is it excusable to cheat just because you need a passing grade in something.

Who said that?

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All of the above DOES make her a bad student.

No, it doesn't. There are plenty of kids who study harder & manage time much better than Zoey, who struggle as bad or worse in college. That doesn't make them bad students, just like it doesn't for Zoey. Prior to dropping design lab, she was doing really well academic-wise, so it's not as if she was slacking the whole season. Sure, Zoey was partying a lot, but it wasn't partying that initially caused her to struggle academically.

[possibilities]

RE Vivek as a drug dealer: I think they're not conflicted about it, because they also use. I'm not sure the extent of what Vivek is selling, but when I was in college, the place was rolling in drugs of a variety of types. I was never interested (I don't even drink), but it was very hard to avoid people who used or sold, unless maybe you lived off campus and kept to yourself.

If Vivek is selling pot and Adderall, I find it totally credible that he's not considered a scary dude according to his peers.

Maybe he's also dealing other things, but I can't remember if we've seen that or not.