Well, Thanksgiving is now underway at the Dana Fairbanks Memorial Tavern and it is going really well for all of the extras and less well for the main characters. Mrs Finley meets Sophie and immediately asks what happened to her head and by that she means “her undercut.”
Maribel: “If you made us come here just so you can sleep with Finley, I swear to God—”
Sophie: “We’re just friends!”
Micah’s high as a kite and debating the pronunciation of “puffed pastry,” Sophie’s eyeing Finley speaking to other human women with abstract jealousy, and Mari doesn’t want Sophie to take away the mashed potatoes because reasons.
We then return to the Food Bank where Angie’s explaining her relationship with Hendirx Fitz to Shane — they met at the gallery opening, they were “barely together” and he said he’d wait for her til the end of the semester. At no point does she add that he’s her teacher, or say or do anything to indicate that she’s intentionally obscuring the fact that he’s her teacher. Nor does Shane ask why this is a semester-related relationship. I am left to simply sit here and scream into a pillow.
Instead of digging into the juicy topic of this inappropriate relationship or confessing that they boned prior to their breakup, we now have Angie, a very smart 18-year-old, talking about how she wants to find love ASAP like what her Moms have? And like what Shane and Tess have?
Shane: “Angie, you’re 18. Remember that. I promise you it is gonna happen but even when it does, it’s gonna take work. Everyone has problems.”
Shane confesses that Tess isn’t in Vegas, she finished up the stuff with her Mom last week and is back in Los Angeles but they’ve yet to see each other ’cause Tess wants some space from Shane.
Again I Must! Ask! What! Is! Going! On! Why are they having this conversation instead of a far more interesting conversation about dating her professor? Why did she date her professor at all if him being her professor was not going to be actually addressed or reckoned with? We’ve waited all season for Shane to learn of this affair and destroy this man! And instead we get Angie idealizing her Moms’ relationship — which involved Bette cheating on Tina with the carpenter while Tina was mourning a miscarriage, Tina having cybersex with Daddyof2 while Bette bought expensive caftans, Tina leaving Bette for a gross man named Henry who clipped his toenails on the living room table, and then Bette cheating on Jodi for months with Tina, and then apparently the two of them getting married and then Tina leaving Bette and moving to Toronto and also skipping Kit’s funeral and — I’m sorry BUT WHAT IS GOING ON
Then Angie spots Hendrix Fitz entering the room with his new girlfriend, seemingly… surveying the canned goods? What are they doing here and why is he dressed like a 7-11 employee?
Back at the Dana Fairbanks Memorial Tavern, Sophie introduces a fun Suarez family Thanksgiving tradition — everybody writes down what they’re thankful for, they put their scrap of gratitude into a bowl, and then they pass the bowl around and take turns reading them out loud and guessing who’s gratitude it is!
Mrs Finley opens by disregarding the rules of the game in a manner I personally find unacceptable and offensive, declaring out loud that she’s so thankful for her daughter Sarah Finley. Finley remarks that she’s never heard that before, and Mrs. Finley says Finley could hear it more if she went home to visit, and also by the way she’s leaving Papa Finley!
Mrs Finley: I’ve been unhappy for quite some time but you know that—
Finley: I absolutely did not know that.
We did get a minor set-up for this in the second episode of the first season, when Finley and Sophie were talking about their inability to envision a healthy marriage — Sophie sharing that her Dad left when she was 12, and Finley sharing that her parents kicked her out and also sleep in separate beds.
Mrs. Finley says she got married young and felt trapped. Finley is understandably shocked and confused, and Mrs. Finley scolds Finley’s tone. Finley’s trying so hard here, to keep it chill, to keep her own emotions steady — and then her Mom comes out with this:
Mrs Finley: You’re the only person I know who ever left Kansas City and did anything. You created your own life. I came here because I thought — never mind.
This is an inaccurate description of migration patterns to and from the Kansas City area but it’s also a fascinating motivation for Mrs. Finley to have arrived in Los Angeles — that despite Finley’s assumption otherwise, her Mom actually admires and possibly even envies Finley for leaving and building a life for herself, that she’s here for guidance and reassurance and to spread her own wings. But I guess the script was passed off to a new writer after this scene ’cause this one line is the only sentiment of this nature we hear all episode!
There’s an ongoing bit here involving the mashed potatoes and Micah that I truly adored, it’s cute and funny and in-character. It’s also entertaining to just focus on Micah in all the group scenes! But I did wish they’d done a little bit more with the opportunity presented by getting their most anxious character super-high.
In the backroom of the Dana Fairbanks Memorial Tavern, Finley assembles her support team: her sponsor/boss Tess and her ex-girlfriend Sophie. Finley says her Mom always does this — finds the perfect thing to say to make Finley spin out!
Finley: I just don’t know what she wants me to do. Give her a guidebook to leaving my Dad, who I like more than her?
Sophie: You don’t owe her anything.
Finley: No, I know but-
Tess: You can’t control her, that’s the main thing. You can only control yourself.
Tess asks Finley to consider how she can take back control of the situation and Finley ponders for a moment before suggesting she take this opportunity to do her amends. Sophie correctly suggests that this is not the best time for such a thing, but Tess barrels right over Sophie’s warranted concern, insisting Finley take some time to write ’em down and then go for it. As we discussed in the first episode of the season, amends should only be delivered to people who have agreed to receive them at a mutually agreeable place and time!
Can’t anyone smell the liquor emanating from Tess and her go-cup in this small unventilated room?
“You know, I’m just trying to make sure she doesn’t get hurt,” Sophie says to Tess, who tells Sophie that she doesn’t have to worry about Finley anymore because “she’s a big girl.” What? Is… going… on?
Back at the Thanksgiving Charity Situation, Shane’s doing her lesbian uncle duty, escorting Angie off the premises to avoid an encounter with her professor who she’s definitely going to be encountering in class next week.
A highlight of the episode is Hendrix intersecting Shane’s pathway:
Hendrix: Hey, can I steal one of those?
Shane: They’re for charity!
Under the cart, Angie laughs.
We then return to the Turkey Trot, where Misty’s still booking it and Carrie’s chasing her tail, apologizing, saying that she hasn’t really worked out since that Jane Fonda tape got stuck in her VCR.
Carrie: “Anyway, I just wanted to say I’m really sorry, I’m sorry about saying that you were my girlfriend, I happened to catch your facial expression and — my boss, you know, he always puts me on the spot and he makes me feel like an idiot even when he asks me mundane things, you know? He says what did you do on the weekend, and I have to make something up, what am I gonna tell him? I stayed home and watched 90 Day Fiancee and cooked a frozen pizza?”
No sweat, says a very sweaty Misty — it’s actually not the girlfriend thing that inspired her sudden interest in light jogging, it’s that the drink Finley gave her earlier! She’s gotta turkey trot herself into a bathroom ASAP. Carrie takes charge and again I would die for this woman.
Cut to Dani’s, where Dre and Dani’s Romantic Thanksgiving For Two is continuing apace, with Dre getting the details on Dani’s life. Specifically, Dani reveals that Roxy is her “Bre” (Dani’s hometown ex-girlfriend). In fact, Dani and Roxy went to daycare together and also made out in high school. When Dre asks why they’re not together, Dani says Roxy’s in Costa Rica and anyhow, she’s the flightiest person Dani has ever met. Obviously Dani has never met Supergirl, that bitch can fly.
Also, Roxy and Dani’s Moms were best friends, which prompts Dre to ask about Dani’s Mom —
Dani: My Mon died of cancer when I was ten.
Dre: Oh shit.
Dani: And my Dad’s in prison.
Dre: Fuck!
Dani: Cheers!
Dre: Okay.
Dani: It’s sort of tough to work into like an easy conversation, you know?
I find this deeply relateable! People just wanna ask nice light questions about your life and your family and you have to respond to these light questions with DEATH and then that person knows that you are deeply traumatized and will probably be mentally unwell for your entire life and it’s super weird.
Dani remembers lovely little Thanksgivings she had with her Mom who could cook. Dre says her family Thanksgivings were actually quite loud, much louder than this little Thanksgiving in the castle in the sky. Dani says okay! You wanna get loud? Let’s get loud!!
In the backroom of the Dana Fairbanks Memorial Tavern, Finley’s pondering this very intense essay test question but it’s not going well and I would like to fire Tess. The house music swells: You just gotta keep going, baby don’t back down, and again I would like to ask… must we?
Back at the table, Sophie’s doing a land acknowledgment and Mrs Finley hates it!
Mrs Finley: “Whatever happened to the Mayflower and the first Thanksgiving?”
And then Finley pops a squat next to her dear Mother to begin to deliver her amends at a crowded dinner table.
Squabble #13: C U Next Tuesday
In the Ring: Finley vs. Mom
Firstly, the opening line of Finley’s amends is pure gold, no notes:
Finley: I’m sorry for getting so drunk at Faith’s wedding and calling you a cunt in front of Grandma—
But Mrs. Finley is one of those Moms who believes it is uncouth to express emotions while also constantly subjecting her family to irrational, overly emotional behavior, so she cuts Finley off, insisting they need not get all emotional now!
Finley: I’m trying to open up to you about some hard shit.
Mrs Finley: You don’t need to curse to make your point, you’re smarter than that.
Finley: I’m just saying I’m sorry for embarrassing you —
Mrs Finley: You’ve embarrassed me your whole life, Sarah, what is the point of apologizing for one thing when [turns to the table] she just can’t remember all the others? [laughs]
And it is at this moment that Dre and Dani arrive and are met with the sound of silence. Dre leans in to Dani: “Okay, so this is actually pretty quiet.”
And Finley heads into the backroom. And Sophie stops Tess from following her back there. “I’ve got this,” Sophie says.
Who Wins? Finley
There’s a meaningful contrast on display here, between Finley’s upbringing and Sophie’s, and it’s a thread that’s been needling its way through their story from the start — in the Season One finale, Finley called Sophie “the world’s worst Catholic” because she wanted to know how Finley felt in her body about Sophie marrying Dani in Hawaii and Finley asked “Don’t you know how to shove it down? Just like, way down and never talk about it?” And no, Sophie doesn’t know how to do that because Sophie’s family simply expresses their feelings when they have them (which makes her allegation that she was “twisting herself” for Finley two episodes ago all the more incongruous) — her family is the one assaulting the mashed potatoes to find Mari’s engagement ring and making bets on #Sinley’s reunion while Finley’s Mom is over here complaining that Finley said a swear word and implying that simply being gay is embarrassing. But Mrs Finley isn’t just a bigot, she’s also mean and manipulative, obsessed with the superficial surface of things rather than the meat beneath it all. So of course Finley never learned how to regulate or handle her own emotions, of course she’s desperate for belonging and companionship.
I talk about this more in the podcast but I think a smarter story choice here would’ve been to have Mrs Finley being the drunk one, not Tess — it’d add context to Finley’s relationship with alcohol and explain why an appearances-focused Catholic Mom is acting so unhinged in public. But it’d also serve to complicate and justify the shifting dynamic between them throughout the episode — Mrs Finley leads with mild admiration for her daughter, but her resentment over Finley getting sober and doing so with the help of Alice-financed super-fancy rehab quickly shifts her attitude towards Finley. Because Finley got sober and she never will, and Mrs. Finley wasn’t prepared for that power shift. Maybe she’s offended because drinking together was the only thing they’d had in common as a mother/child duo, maybe she’s frustrated that Finley’s resisting a devolution into the toxic way they fought when they were both drunk. And then, later, she resents Carrie for being the sober, emotionally regulated Mom that she’ll never be.
But alas, instead we have the story we have and I’m still truly not sure why this woman came to Los Angeles. Maybe she wanted to go to the Hollywood Wax Museum and stand in line for a hot dog at Pink’s.
