A couple of weeks ago, Linda was desperate to be a part of Tina’s life. She even got kicked out of a hotel in an effort to make herself look cool in front of Tina. It’s not a surprise that the twist for this week’s episode involves Linda once again going against Mr. Frond to give one of her kids something fun to do.
At first, it doesn’t look like the plot is going that way (unless you read the title of the episode). When Linda is called down to the school, she agrees with Mr. Frond that Louise deserves an in-school suspension for pantsing one of the O’Brien brothers. Louise’s protestations that she only did it to stop the O’Briens from messing with Pocket-Sized Rudy falls on deaf ears. Linda needs to be on Mr. Frond’s good side to remain in charge of the upcoming school bake sale. Three years earlier, her rival Coleen sabotaged her bake sale, and Linda (and Teddy) haven’t gotten over it. This is Linda’s one chance for revenge and she looks like she’s willing to sell out her daughter to do so.
Except Linda is a cooler mom than that. She immediately springs Louise out of suspension and takes her out for ice cream instead. She’s not about to punish Louise for doing something good for people. The two have ice cream on the peer and Linda bonds with her youngest child by telling her about all the bad things she used to do as a kid. Linda wasn’t always sticking up for people, but she really enjoyed pulling pranks.
Unfortunately, their mother-daughter time is ruined by Mr. Frond catching a glimpse of the two of them while driving his mother around. The two run into Wonder Wharf to get away from the nosy guidance counselor. Mr. Frond chases after his truant student, with his wheelchair-bound mother serving as the siren.
Linda’s lesson to Louise backfires. She tried to do something nice for Louise, but it ends up messing up her life. Louise doesn’t want to do anything nice for someone ever again. Linda tells her that it doesn’t matter, and that she’ll take the fall for Louise. Louise is instead inspired to take the fall for Linda, so she can keep the bake sale and laugh in Coleen’s conventionally attractive face.
Louise’s and Linda’s relationship may be strengthened by their day off, but Tina and Gene are worried about their little sister. They heard through the Rudy grapevine that Louise had gotten suspended and have been slipping her notes under the door. When she doesn’t answer (because she isn’t there) they fret that she resents them for their freedom. The benevolent janitor guarding the door allows them to keep slipping Louise notes of interesting pictures and inspirational haikus.
It is Tina’s and Gene’s coincidental intervention that gives Louise the time to slide through the window. She hands in the siblings’ notes as her essay on what she did wrong and cons Mr. Frond into thinking it’s deep and meaningful. Louise doesn’t get in trouble and Linda gets to keep the bake sale (and get her face painted as a cat).
Meanwhile, Bob and Teddy are dealing with something very unexpected at the restaurant: an influx of customers. Bob is legitimately rattled when a group of cyclists come in, fill up the restaurant, and order a ton of food. It just happens to be on the one day Linda has decided to play hooky with Louise. Bob is forced to enlist Teddy for help. At first, I wondered if Teddy has his food handler’s license, but assumed that in his over-enthusiastic service to the Belcher family, he’s probably been keeping himself certified for years.
Teddy has his own system for keeping track of the orders, and it does not work well. When he gets jalapeno juice in his eyes and goes blind, he tries to rely on his other senses to complete his orders. That also doesn’t work so well. They still manage to fill everyone’s orders and Bob rewards Teddy with a jalapeno burger of his very own. All’s well that ends well.
What did you think of tonight’s episode? Let me know in the comments!
