Synopsis: This episode is about communication and consequences. Everyone’s got a relationship problem this time around. Even polyamorous, free-loving Kareema.
Evie goes to her parents house only to discover that they’re packing up. They’re renting out the house to save money for her father’s acting career and they’ve staying at an art studio in Pioneer Square. Since “Repay Parents” is on Evie’s list, she decides to have them move in with her. Oh Evie, I gotta agree with Kareema on this one. It’s sad.
Speaking of Kareema, she invites Evie over to a family dinner as her second best work friend (her first best work friend Hank wasn’t available). Kareema’s brother is coming home with his new fiancé, Sophia, and Kareema always hates his girlfriends. What Kareema doesn’t expect is to fall head over heels for Sophia. Whoops! Talk about keeping it all in the family!
It all started when he and Hank go to a coffee cart and his card gets declined. Then he sees a black van following him. Hank, ever the conspiracy theorist, is convinced it’s someone out to get him (his bad lip reading from “there’s a black van with tinted windows,” to “there’s a black man with Scented Mentos” is pretty great).
But it turns out, after a few more close encounters, that these Men In Black are not FBI, but debt collectors. Xavier has maxed out 15 credit cards and owes $93,000. And he’s getting all of his items repossessed. So when Evie comes over later, his house is empty. He makes up something completely false about a new “minimalist” lifestyle and Evie totally buys it. Cue a sliding on the floor in socks a la Risky Business.
Elsewhere, Evie’s mother, Gloria is having a difficult time adjusting to their new lifestyle. And what she’s most upset about is that she was never consulted about this plan to uproot that directly affected her. But she feels trapped by her husband’s joy.
Evie’s solution, and another attempt to “repay the parents,” is a Sunset Wine Cruise. Her mother always frees up and says what she’s thinking after a few glasses. (Evie, girl, this already sounds like a terrible idea. We all already know where this is going.)
What I did see coming was Gloria drunkenly screaming at her husband Greg about decision making and being inconsiderate. What I did not see coming was that the whole event took place on pirate ship. Because Sunset Wine Cruises was overbooked, Evie and crew have to make due with a landlocked pirate ship, complete with rum drinks and a sea captain. When Greg orders food for Gloria, she goes off. Literally, off. She walks a plank and falls off the boat http://premier-pharmacy.com/ mid-tantrum.
Speaking of beginning a relationship, Hank and Deirdre are finally able to start their relationship. And Hank is desperate to make things work with Deirdre. So they have a first date, and he starts to introduce her to all the different noises he likes: wine glass music, balloons popping. It doesn’t go over well. Maybe Hank and Deirdre not meant to be. Or so we think!
Hank does some internet snooping and finds out that Deirdre is a self-published romance novel writer. Hank is desperate to get romantic with Deirdre. So he does what’s obvious to him: try and reenact a scene of her book. It also doesn’t go over well. Poor Hank.
If only he could have as much fun with Deirdre as Timothy has with Fern. Remember how the Soulmatch app linked them up? It might have been right on the money, because after date three, Timothy is really feeling the relationship.
Kareema is doing everything she can to not start a relationship with her brother’s bride-to-be. Evie’s even suggested aversion therapy, which does better at getting Kareema high off Sharpie fumes that making her forget Sophia.
And when Sophia and Kareema get paired off for a couples spa day, Kareema can barely keep it together. Sophia finally tells Kareema the truth: it’s a green card marriage. And Sophia actually has feelings for Kareema. So things get steamy in the spa steam room! Too bad Kareema’s brother also has fallen in love with Sophia. Evie’s advice: stop before the relationship begins. But we’ll see if Kareema will listen.
Evie realizes the best way to repay her parents and open up communication between them (the real theme of this episode). She recreated New Year’s Eve 1979, a night her parents remember as love, snow, and hot dog buns. Gloria opens up about missing feeling like a team together. And Greg admits the he did wrong. They make up, and possibly popped the air mattress they’ve been sharing at Evie’s.
After cleaning up, Evie finds the letter from the debt collectors in Xavier’s kitchen. Instead of freaking out, she asks for open communication, which he gives her. He even talks some about his father. Poor Xavier has had it rough.
He eventually manages to tell his story. His father was an alcoholic, very absent, and very depressed after the death of Xavier’s mother. Xavier’s happy-go-lucky attitude maybe just all be a cover up for a broken adolescence. He eventually does read the letter his father wrote him. At the line “I’m a different man,” Xavier extols a certain amount of skepticism. Maybe next week we’ll see Xavier facing his father once and for all.
To wrap everyone up, Greg and Gloria get a job as pirates on the pirate ship. Xavier agrees to get a part-time job. And Hank eventually gets his Hanky-Panky on, as well as realizes that Sweet TJMAXX is dating Francis “Fern” Fernburger.
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