I Feel Bad
“My Kid Has to Grow Up” (Episode 104)
October 11, 2018
Catch up on last week’s episode recap here! SPOILERS AHEAD for this week’s episode!
The episode starts off with Emet at the mall with her kids. Louie is in the kiddie play area on a ride that is clearly too small for him. Emet starts to wonder if the needs to grow up. Back at the house, she asks David if they coddle their son. Her parents are at the house and they offer their input, even though they weren’t asked. They feel Louie needs to be a kid and let him grow up when he is ready.
When Emet goes into work the next day, she asks her co-workers when their moms stopped coddling them. As they are going through their stories of how their moms still treat them today, Emet realizes they are still being coddled.
“If I don’t stop coddling Louie, he’s going to turn into some sort of adult baby man like you guys.”
She does not want that to happen to Louie, so she starts Operation: Grow Louie the Eff Up. Their plan was to bribe Louie with cash to get him to do what they want. First step, taking a shower. He almost completes this well, except that he missed a huge soap spot on his back. Second step, dressing himself for school. For this task, he chooses an outfit that completely doesn’t match. Emet wants him to change, but David says no. Third step, using the restroom without cheerios in the toilet. This task he completely fails at, but he still gets paid. The last task, riding a bike without training wheels. He wobbles few feet, but then falls over. Again, he still gets paid.
Inspiring her co-workers to be less dependent on their mothers, the guys decide to “Mom cleanse.” They vow not to have contact with their moms for a week.
“I can quit anything for a week.”
After two weeks, Louie is finally getting the hang of riding his bike without training wheels, eating meals that his parents are eating, and aiming in the toilet without a mess. When he gets to go to the mall to spend his money, he goes over to the kiddie rides again. David realizes why he likes the rides so much…they are right in front of the women’s lingerie store.
Wondering if they have the right thought on why Louie is on the kiddie rides, Emet and David go to talk to him. Trying to sound like they are okay with this, they remind him that it’s totally natural as he grows up. As they are stumbling through their words, they decide to regroup later to discuss this again.
Later that night, Emet and David try to figure out how to have a sex talk with their son. David suggests his “sex song” but Emet offers another suggestion. She wants to bring him to work to teach him that women can be smart and creative.
“I can mold Louie before society gets to him.”
While at work, Emet and Louie discuss how the fictional character in one of the video games that Emet and her team created is complex, capable and deserves to be treated with respect. Her co-workers join the discussion, and add that women contribute a lot to the world. Norman realizes that he misses his moms (yes, plural). Can the guys make it a whole week?
David is at home practicing the song for Louie. Sonny comes in and asks to listen to it. As David starts singing about erections, Sonny is not impressed and leaves the room.
“I can’t tell if you’re a worse guitar player or father.”
Emet takes Louie to lunch and suggests that when he meets a girl that he likes and respects, they can talk about the next step with him. When he already tells his mom that he knows about sex, she is surprised and asks who told him. Hesitant at first, Louie reveals that it was his grandmother.
Emet and David are furious with her parents. Maya and Sonny shouldn’t have inflicted their views about sex to Louie (I also think Emet is a little jealous that she never got a sex talk from her parents). David goes ahead with the song he wrote and Emet joins in with posters of highlighted points in the song. Louie is taking notes. Later that night, Louie asks (as David’s song suggested) if it’s okay to love anyone. When his parents agree, Louie tells them that he loves the mannequin in the store. Maya picks up the guitar and sings a verse “You thought you knew it all, now your son’s in love with a doll.” Emet agrees, “Well-played.”
“My parents were right.”
Searching through parenting books, Emet and David are trying to find an answer on how to help Louie. David suggests that it is just a phase and gives an example of what he went through when he was young. Patiently, Emet listens and agrees to take Louie to the mall to talk to the mannequin.
Back at the office, Emet’s co-workers are having a difficult time not talking to their moms. Chewey has shrunk his sweater. He and Norman want to call the “mom cleanse” off, but Griff doesn’t want to give up just yet.
“I’m always proud when our kids hit a milestone, but this feels like we are saying good-bye to something.”
At the mall, Louie realizes they changed out the mannequins in the store window. His parents take him to the dumpster and there he finds the one he loved (he named her Georgina.) As he is reading her a love letter he wrote, Emet and David are thinking back to when getting him to take a shower was a much easier time. They realize he is growing up and he is not their baby anymore. After Louie finishes his letter, he tells his parents that there is a girl at school that he likes. Emet is thrilled that he is having this rite of passage moment with them.
When Emet gets back to the house, her mother comes over to sit with her. Very sarcastically, in an “I told you so” manner, Maya asks how the conversation with the mannequin went. Emet replies that it was fine and Louie likes Tasha now. Maya says that she wants to have that sex talk with Emet now and tells her that when a man and a women love each other, they have an ungrateful child who never lets them forget their mistakes.
“I make these choices every day and I never know if they’re going to be right.”
Going into the conference room at work, Emet is met with some very angry mothers. Chewey, Griff and Norman’s moms are all in the conference giving Emet a hard time about their boys avoiding them. When the guys arrive, they all hug their moms, and Emet realizes why the guys are the way they are.
End Credits.
Thoughts.
This was another hilarious episode dealing with that ever difficult topic of the “sex talk.” The most entertaining moments came from Emet and her parents with the “I told you so” looks and the thoughts of not wanting to be like your parents (reminiscent of the first episode.) I would love to know how many takes of playing the song it took for them to film the complete scene. I don’t think I would have been able to keep a straight face through it. It was really well done and I love the way Sarayu Blue and Paul Adelstein played off each other in that scene.
Overall Score: I give this episode a 4 out of 5 Casey’s.