Welcome to the finale of Mrs. Fletcher where everyone is disappointed and unsure about what they want. No, wait! It’ll be good! Let’s find out where we end up with the Fletcher family in Mrs. Fletcher S1:E07 Welcome Back.
We open with Chloe (Jasmine Cephas Jones) regrouping with friends after her disastrous study date with Brendan Fletcher (Jackson White), she didn’t know what she was thinking! Neither did Brendan’s roommate Zach (Cameron Boyce), but he and his boo Harrison (Brett Temple) and Chloe’s friend Kat (Erica Nicole Lance) are there for hot-plate oatmeal and support.
Eve Fletcher (Kathryn Hahn) carefully picks out food in a giant deli that isn’t big enough. Her ex-husband Ted (Josh Hamilton) is there and he’d like her to sit with him. Turns out he and his second wife are expecting their second child out of the blue, he doesn’t know how to feel about having two kids at this point in his life. Erm, three, corrects Eve, let’s include their son Brendan in that roll call.
She declines his invitation to dine, instead going home to look through her baby box. It’s full of pictures of her pregnant and mixtapes Ted made for her while they were together. Wow, she’s much more sentimental than a lot of people, who would have maybe set that stuff on fire when they broke up. There’s a letter in there from Eve’s mom, what’s that?
The aforementioned third child Brendan is at college getting some bad news, he’s failing a lot of courses. Like, a lot. He didn’t use his time wisely at all, and his counselor Devin (Neil Casey) tried to warn him but Brendan was too arrogant to listen. He’ll have to workshop this issue with both his parents.
Eve’s at the DMV, changing her name. She’s no longer Mrs. Fletcher and holy shite, she got divorced 10 years ago?? And she’s just changing it now?? It’s only $12.50!
It’s Independence Day! Wooooo!! She’s having a party to celebrate! She calls Margo Fairchild (Jen Richards) from her Personal Essay class to invite her and the rest of the class, but a sighting of the totally-dead Roy Rafferty (Bill Raymond) derails her and her phone is kilt as she falls on the pavement.
Well now, that’s weird, what is that associated with? Is this whole show about giving up roles that used to define us? Wife? Mother? Can we be more than that? Can we be less than that, just be? I’m asking too many questions. Let’s just see what happens.
Brendan is NOT working on the schoolwork he’s supposed to be completing to not fail, instead he’s standing outside Chloe’s residence performing some kind of rom-com ritual where persistence legitimizes making someone feel unsafe. Zach comes out and asks Brendan to leave, which is awkward for lots of reasons.
- Zach is Brendan’s roommate
- Zach is Chloe’s best friend
- Brendan thinks “bro code” exists
Eve gets home with a cast on her foot to a decorated party, yay! Amanda Olney (Katie Kershaw) from work is there, she did all the work! I wonder if they’re going to end up together…I know Eve is interested, but Amanda didn’t respond positively immediately.
Eve’s on painkillers, which Amanda asks to share, which makes me and Eve wince just a tiny bit. Amanda’s looking to make new friends, just like Eve is, yay! Party’s here!
The entire Personal Essay class is there; Curtis (Rashad Demond Edwards aka Ifádansi Rashad), Margo, Barry (Josh Pais) and Julian Spitzer (Owen Teague), Eve’s crush. Eve’s bestie Jane (Casey Owen) has reconciled with her husband Dave (Michael Torpey) after dealing with his recent trips to a massage parlour.
Julian actually shows up late and the interplay between Amanda, Eve and Julian is very interesting. Which one will Eve choose? Julian asks why they’re having a party anyway, Eve explains that she’s no longer Mrs. Fletcher but rather Eve Mackie. Mackey? Mackee?
He really is lovely.
Brendan’s been trying to distract himself to deal, but running’s not helping and he maybe doesn’t feel comfortable in his dormroom with Zach, so residence neighbour Sanjay (Cheech Manohar) finds him crying in the shower. Sanjay is going to drive him home!
Wait. Eve is having a party and may even be getting one in tonight, you can’t come home tonight!
Eve and Julian have this great talk when they’re finally alone; she rejected him the last time they saw each other so he’s a little raw. She’s extra friendly, he mentions the girl at work he’s dating and there’s this beautiful seesaw of emotions between them. She pretends encouragement but plumbs for reassurance that he still likes her, which he provides. So many complex emotions expressed gorgeously without any of them articulated verbally. That was glorious.
Amanda interrupts, she’s taking Julian on a liquor run for tequila.
What?
Eve, Julian and I are confused. What is Amanda doing? Ohhhh I forgot that Amanda is high from the pain meds plus alcohol. Maybe nothing is planned, exactly.
Eve waits and waits for her people to come back. Brendan texts his mom, but her phone was murdered earlier and she’s not getting that!
She asks Margo if she had a similar celebration when she changed her name, but it was more than a divorce for trans Margo.
But she didn’t celebrate, no. Then she and Curtis are gone while Julian and Amanda are STILL gone. Amanda brings up Julian’s crush on Eve at the liquor store as everyone else leaves the party. That’s going to leave just the three of them there shortly and I have all the trepidation.
Brendan tries to explain his side of the story to Sanjay, but dude: you can’t complain about Chloe punching you in the balls when you were SUFFOCATING HER WITH YOUR JUNK. Nope. No can do. Only one person at fault here and it is you. I still don’t know that Brendan understands that.
Tequila shots back at Eve’s house with Julian and Amanda, now we’re vaping and I’m not sure where to look. Eve is eye-humping Amanda AND Julian but Brendan is on the way home and I am approaching Uncut Gems levels of anxiety now.
Amanda talks the cast-booted Eve into dancing, but she’s dancing closer than Eve is comfortable with in front of Julian, so Amanda motions him to join them.
Amanda kisses Julian and I forget how to breathe. Then she kisses Eve while Julian watches and Julian’s eyes are the size of the moon. Then Eve and Julian are kissing, then they all are and Brendan is almost home!!
One romantic threesome later, everyone looks pensive except Brendan, who’s happy to be home. He hears some noises…
Stay away from the noises, Brendan!! You can’t unsee such things!
What did I just say??
We were in this situation in the beginning, Eve overhearing her son in a sexual encounter with a girl then waiting on the porch to give some semblance of privacy. Now it’s Brendan out there, his mom’s co-worker and the dude he bullied in high school about to do the walk of No Shame past him into the night.
We’re out with Eve standing silently behind her son, no words to say. And we’re out for this season. Was this it for this series? I haven’t heard about a second season being commissioned, so we’ll have to assume we’re done for right now.
Hm. So we have to talk about a couple of things, one that’s been percolating in my brain for a little while. Eve has been treating people very similarly to how her son treats his partners, like objects. She wasn’t as emotionally invested in Julian as he was in her, it seemed he was sort of a mirror to reflect back her own desirability. As for Amanda, Eve’s initial attraction was physical but when she became aware of Amanda’s sexual fluidity, she made a move. When her pass was rejected, she moved right along to hilariously bad sex with others and the scouting of sex workers, not realising that Amanda was now ready to accept her sexual attention. I don’t know that she looked at Amanda as other than a receptacle. Am I overthinking this? Absolutely.
This story is about pushing past the invisible fence of societal boundaries as well as understanding how you affect others. Brendan’s story is entwined with his mom’s, there’s no way to look at this without the push/pull of how we treat others and how we ourselves are treated/seen. Brendan enjoys his place in the world until he realises the world is much bigger than him. He hurts Chloe by doing what he’s always done, how is it wrong? Except that it is. Just like it’s wrong for Eve to put herself on a shelf and hide from what she wants. 10 years is an insanely long time to keep the name of a person you loathe, but is that hanging on to that persona as well? Is that what hanging on to being Brendan’s mom was about?
**********MREEP MREEP************ OVERTHINKING ALERT***
This was an interesting show to watch and recap, I hope you enjoyed our journey. Until next time, cheers!
