So to answer the question left dangling at the end of the last episode, it looks like Fiona and Mr. Chris are going to date for a bit. Although Mr. Chris did have the natural concern that it might be overstepping to date the parent of a student, Fiona was fine with it, and even cried with confusion and happiness when he said he’d plan the whole thing out. In order to prevent further odd situations, Fiona invited Dakota (and therefore Will) to accompany her on the date. Will and Fiona set guidelines to ensure the success of their respective dates, though of course those two couldn’t resist pressing each other’s buttons.
You can tell that Dakota’s romantic life usually involves people more like Will than Mr. Chris, based on the advice she gave to Fiona. She told her to just agree with everything, and not to uke on the first date. Actually, not to uke on any date. Dakota encourages her to be what she thinks her date wants, basically, instead of herself. This might explain why Dakota gets jerked around and manipulated by idiots like Will. Because when he’s in lady-killer mode, he can really be a “vapid walking haircut,” as Fiona so gently put it. But Fiona is the kind of person who has her ukulele on her at all times! And she plays it a lot. And she doesn’t eat meat, and she doesn’t know anything about basketball, but she knows a lot about yoga. That’s who Fiona is. And the reason that her and Mr. Chris are interested in each other, is because they’re both interesting people! After all, their first meeting ended with Shakespearean insults.
Fiona’s self-repression only worked for so long -- right up until the point that the titular duck made his, or her, appearance. Fiona eventually snapped, with plenty of added pressure from Will, and threw the duck into the bushes. The conversation that followed between Will and Fiona was a really sweet breakdown of their relationship. Fiona was upset because Will can, and will, just sleep with any pretty girl, whereas she doesn’t find herself in a romantic situation very often, especially with someone she actually likes. Although Will isn’t into Fiona, he knows that she’s awesome and really wants her to find someone equally awesome who does like her. His analogy was perfect: “Like, you know, when you see a movie and you’re totally not into it, but you understand that it’s an awesome movie. Like The English Patient! I think you’re my English Patient. And I think you deserve to win all the awards.” And it looks like she won one “award,” as she performs “The Circle Game” on uke with Mr. Chris on the flute, or some such thing.
Since so much time in this episode was dedicated to Fiona and Will’s relationship drama, the Marcus/Andy/Laurie story was just a few beats long. Marcus, with his usual lack of social awareness, brought up some tense subjects for the oft-troubled couple, including Andy secretly hanging with Will instead of running errands, and his “letting” Laurie have a career. Luckily he managed to patch it up fairly easily with a game of “I’ve Always Wondered,” forcing Andy and Laurie to reflect on how they met. Even though I thought Laurie mentioned something last year about seeing Andy perform as a magician and feeling that she had to rescue him, their story about Andy taking pre-law because he had a crush on Laurie was sweet. Although this may be the only time it’s come across in the show, it seemed like they actually loved each other. They’ve already got what everyone else in this episode is looking for -- it’s just tucked away, and often forgotten about. Props to Annie Mumolo for a really nice performance.
The episode wrapped up with Marcus musing about family, and being glad that his was just him and his mom -- right as Mr. Chris sent her a text. Obviously their new relationship will come out to Marcus soon, and it’s still unclear how he’ll take it. Excited that his cool teacher is dating his mom, or mortified that his teacher is dating his mom? Not to mention they have a very close bond, and Marcus isn’t used to his mom dating anyone. Except that plumber last year, which, if I remember, didn’t end very well.
Fiona wins the line of the episode with: "I kept thinking, 'don't talk about hookworms, don't talk about hookworms,' and then somehow I'm talking about hookworms!"
Final thought for the day -- I'm glad Will is finally starting to take his financial situation seriously, and self-distress his jeans. That's always the first step.
What did you think of the episode? Has Fiona found someone that appreciates her for The English Patient that she is? Will their shared eccentricities lead to a happy lifetime of Joni Mitchell sing-alongs? Why does Dakota always lower her standards for Will? And will Will ever actually woo her? Also, is Marcus going to become a relationship therapist? Let us know your thoughts below!
I enjoyed the episode ... up until I noticed that Chris Diamantopoulos didn't even take the time to learn how to hold a flute ... or that director Michael Weaver didn't notice.
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