It’s Valentine’s Day on an all-new American Housewife and love is in the air for some members of the Otto family. Oliver is excited about giving Alice a keychain, Greg is planning a big surprise for Katie, and Katie’s just trying to make it through this holiday without trying to kill someone.
It’s not a big surprise that down-to-earth Katie would be against the big declarations of love that Valentine’s Day inspires. It’s also not surprising that Greg is one of those romantics who loves big declarations. Katie hates it, especially because she’s usually the one cleaning up the explosion of confetti. Still, she knows that it would hurt Greg’s feelings if she tells him the truth. She reserves that for Doris and Angela at their daily brunch.
Angela is looking forward to Valentine’s Day and snagging a newly-single Westport woman at one of the local bars downtown. Doris calls her a love vulture and it’s a name Angela is proud to have. Doris tells her to stop being so predatory and tells Katie to just tell Greg how she feels. Katie declines.
Her anxiety about Greg’s big surprise seems all for naught when she finds him busy with his book proposal. Sure, there’s a weird stray leaf-blower in the house, but there’s no signs of confetti or any of the usual Valentine’s nonsense. Despite all of her protestations, Katie feels let down when Greg gives her a simple cake (at least, I think it was a cake?) instead of a cake with a surprise inside that leads to a spectacular Valentine’s Day scavenger hunt.
Oliver too gets his heart broken when Alice goes out of her way to avoid him. Meanwhile, Taylor is trying to get the go ahead to attend Casey Otis’s big party. She assures Katie that Greg already called Casey’s moms. Katie, for once, is too distracted to see this blatant lie. It looks like everyone is going to have a bad Valentine’s Day. Then things get weird.
It took me a second to get the concept of the back half of this episode. Katie had already brought up Groundhog Day as a more acceptable holiday and I thought for a second Katie would be stuck in a horrible loop of drugstore cards and confetti (would there be a worse holiday for a time loop?) The show actually takes us a step back to see the entire day again from a few different perspectives. Instead of Katie and Oliver and their Valentine’s Day disappointments, we see what the other members of the Otto family are up to.
Alice’s weirdness now has a clear cause. Anna-Kat saw her flirting with someone else in the hallway and tells her to stay away from Oliver. If she doesn’t, she just might find poison in her water bottle. We also get the full story about Taylor’s scam to go to a party. She plays both parents against each other and counts on their Valentine’s Day weirdness to stop them from communicating to each other about the party. It’s a pretty smart plan for Taylor.
We also learn that Greg did have a big surprise planned for Katie, including a gospel choir, but Doris told him not to go ahead with it. Greg is crushed to find out that Katie doesn’t like his surprises and, after shooing out the choir, starts acting snippy about the holiday. The two get into a fight, just as Oliver and Anna-Kat fight after she steals the keychain meant for Alice.
Anna-Kat explains why she is trying to keep Alice away from him, and Oliver thanks her for looking out for him.
When Taylor calls from the emergency room, Katie and Greg immediately put their fight on hold to look after her. Taylor just wanted to go to a party and wear Katie’s high heels, but she sprained her ankle and is now out for the entire volleyball season. While lecturing their daughter on being selfish and making the day all about her, both Katie and Greg realize that they need to compromise and talk to each other from now on. Will this newfound resolve solve all their communication issues? If it did, there wouldn’t be a show!
What did you think of tonight’s episode? Let me know in the comments!
