The elusive Barbara deserves the whole story, the truth, so here’s Jon to give it to us — or some of it, anyway.
Rather than intermittent flashbacks, this whole episode is set in the past. In fact, it all takes place the day before…(It tells us so on the screen and in the episode’s title!)
The day before his death, Jon wakes up in his home with Delilah. He immediately grabs his phone and goes to the bathroom to listen to voicemail from Constance Zimmer’s character, whoever she might be. “I’m sorry, I can’t do what you want me to do,” she tells him in the recorded message. Jon is noticeably distressed by this but then D wakes up and reminds him they have a dinner reservation that night. She’s adamant he’s there because they really need to talk. I’m assuming she wants to break the news of her affair with Eddie. She’s also mad about the smoke detector beeping in their ensuite bathroom — this must be coming back later in the episode, otherwise, it’s a completely arbitrary plot point. Jon leaves and Delilah calls Eddie to tell him they’re really ending their marriages that night.
Elsewhere, Maggie is moving into her Boston apartment. She’s on the phone with her doctor’s office and we learn she’s been in remission for 6 months at this point but, on realizing her cancer is back, she’s now looking for a new doctor. Just then, her dad shows up to help her unpack so she abruptly ends the call. He puts on R.E.M.’s “Shiny, Happy People” on the record player and they get to it — apparently, it’s a tradition of theirs.
While they’re unpacking, Maggie’s dad comes across her stuffed-toy panda and gets emotional. They share a sweet moment reminiscing about the day at the carnival when Maggie’s brother stole is for her when she couldn’t win it for herself. He then tells her not to be too hard on her mom, because everyone copes in different ways. There must’ve been a rift there since her bother’s death. When he’s leaving, he tells her to make friends and join a support group. She wanders back inside, takes one look at her beautifully-set up apartment and flashes back to her dad telling her she can’t keep running away and that he’s so happy she’s better now. Maggie can’t face telling him her cancer is back after that. Instead, she grabs her panda, puts on her record and starts repacking everything into boxes again?? How exhausting.
Over at Gary’s, he wakes up next to a woman who has presumably been part of his life for a while, considering she does something as audacious as try to leave a spare phone charger at his place. She makes plans to see a movie with him that Saturday, but having spotted the moved-in charger, Gary breaks up with her. He goes to meet the guys to play ball and they rib him for being a commitment-phobe. Jon gets worked up, yelling at Gary that he wants him to live his life now that he’s survived cancer. “What’s the point of living if you’re not going to live,” he tells Gary. This is all hitting a little too close to home. Gary tells Jon to go to hell.
Rome has a big pitch meeting for a super bowl commercial that advertises Hidden Valley ranch dressing. He pitches a narrative of a girl drinking her ranch dressing rather than give it up at airport security and everyone in the room is just like, “Wow, genius! Game changer! Who is this man? Give him all the free cheese baskets.” And if the premise of that commercial sounds familiar, that’s because it is! Yes, it’s a real Hidden Valley commercial and yes, it was the first ad to run during the next break. Somebody over at H.V. is a marketing genius! I’d wondered why there was such blatant product placement up until this point. Anyway, here’s the commercial, because why not? I may as well join in this massive ranch dressing push. (Honestly, though, doesn’t it kinda put you off the stuff?)
Anyway, I digress! The Hidden Valley got me. While Rome is playing commercial king, Regina is having a far less enjoyable day at work. She’s working a catering job, when a douchey guy grabs her ass. But that’s not even the worst part; when Gina goes to tell her boss about it, he’s all, he’s a big client, suck it up and don’t make a scene like that again. Lovely. Gina calls Jon to talk her down and, realizing that she can’t go on feeling unsafe at work, tells her she needs to get her own place again. He then starts negotiations for the restaurant we already know he bought for her.
Later at home, Rome is surrounded by cheese baskets and ready to celebrate his ranch-y genius. Then Gina reads a note that tells him to savor this moment because it doesn’t get better than this. The message gives Rome pause as he pops champagne. You can see the thought process on his face as he realizes none of this is actually going to make him happy. The next day, Gina wants to celebrate some more, but Rome isn’t feeling it. He pretends he’s just hungover from last night’s champagne, and Gina tells him to take two Ibuprofen and get ready for a night to remember. Oh, boy. (Recap continued on page 2.)
from Top Viral News Blog http://bit.ly/2B7hTq1
0 Comments