Katie faces her biggest challenge yet this week - learning to be friends with Chloe Brown-Mueller!
Anna-Kat's finally starting to make close friends. Unfortunately, one of them is Penny Brown-Mueller. Penny's been coming over for play-dates and Katie has been strategically avoiding being around when Chloe picks her up. This obviously isn't a perfect solution though. But, when she vents to Angela and Doris about it, Doris brings up one that does seem perfect. She suggests that Anna-Kat and Penny just be allowed to be "school-friends," not "home-friends." This way, Katie won't be forced to break apart their friendship, but she'll also never have to see Chloe!
While also dealing with Chloe, Katie resolves to clean out the basement to create a "mom-cave," something which she gets the whole family involved in. While going through stuff, Greg finds Oliver's ballet shoes hidden amidst the rest of the junk. Apparently, Oliver's been hiding them whenever his new girlfriend comes around because he thinks the fact that he does ballet is embarrassing. Greg encourages him to tell Bri the truth, and even goes as far as to share his embarrassing hobby to prove a point. Greg's hobby is a little more embarrassing then ballet though. It's ventriloquism! This definitely does not inspire Oliver to tell Bri the truth!
Katie comes home from avoiding Chloe to find that Penny hasn't been picked up yet. And who does she end up face-to-face with? Chloe! The two hash out a plan that the girls will only be "school friends." Chloe doesn't want Penny being around the Westport "poors" and Katie, of course, just doesn't want Chloe anywhere near her! While the adults may like this plan, Anna-Kat and Penny are not happy to hear about it, and desperate to save their friendship, they do something drastic, and lock Chloe and Katie in the basement!
With a guarantee that they won't be let out until they resolve their differences, Katie and Chloe get desperate. Anna-Kat and Penny come back an hour later to see if they've become friends, and administer a series of questions like "what's the other one's favorite animal, color, etc?" Although they try to fake their way through it, it's obvious to the girls that they still hate each other. And no one else is particularly giddy to let them out either. With Katie locked in the basement, Greg's got time to hide all the old junk she wants to donate that he doesn't want to get rid of. Taylor also strikes a deal with the girls - while Katie's locked in the basement, they'll help her finish the history presentation that she told Katie she already did if she'll play with them afterward.
Bri comes over and while helping Oliver move stuff out of the basement, she discovers stuff from both his "Harry Potter Phase" and his "Label-making Phase." Even though he thinks she'll think it's dorky, Bri says that she'd never think that about stuff he liked. Inspired by hearing this, Oliver goes to get his ballet shoes to show her. He runs into Greg and tells him he's going to tell her. If Katie can accept that Greg's into ventriloquism, then Bri will definitely be cool with Oliver doing ballet, right? Yeah - Katie doesn't actually know about the ventriloquism. Greg never told her because he knew she'd make fun of it. Hearing this, Oliver changes his mind about telling Bri.
Still trapped, Katie and Chloe find themselves sharing stories over ice cream and booze. Chloe reveals that she has a serious medical appointment she's going to miss if they can't figure out a way out of the basement. And against Katie's better judgment - she empathizes! The two decide to team up and break out of the basement. But busting through a basement door is harder said than done, even with old hockey sticks and a giant Santa decoration to use as weapons! Chloe and Katie aren't having any luck, and Katie's sympathy runs out when she finds out what Chloe's "important medical appointment" is really for - Botox! They're still stuck, and they're back to hating each other. But again, Katie's realizes she's not completely ice-cold when it comes to Chloe. Apparently, the reason she's getting Botox is that she has to go to her ex-husband's wedding - to a 30-year-old! Katie realizes that as stupid as she thinks Botox is, Chloe's just trying to gain confidence in a difficult situation. Again, they decide to try and bust out.Just as they get ready to both run at the door, they're sprung! Greg comes down and lets them out, ventriloquist dummy in hand. He's realized Oliver's right about him being a hypocrite for not telling Katie about his ventriloquism, and he's decided it's time to tell her. Predictability, Katie thinks it's extremely dorky and tells him she totally would have broken up with him if she'd known about it when they dating. At this, Greg's advice to Oliver changes. He advises he maybe wait until he and Bri are married with three kids before springing the ballet hobby on her!
Once finally let out, Katie offers to call Chloe an Uber so she can get to her appointment on time - until she sees a better idea. The ice cream truck rolls by and Katie buys Chloe a scoop. She only eats a few bites before dropping it, but it's still progress. Katie and Chloe agree to a truce until Anna-Kat and Penny are away at college. (And then they'll go back to trying to kill each other!)
Random Thoughts:
-I just about rolled when Anna-Kat told Taylor that her teacher wouldn't be able to tell the difference between her real work and the work of a couple of nine-year-olds!
-Best line goes to Greg, when talking to Oliver about sharing his hobby with Bri - "Dancing is part of
Were you surprised that Katie and Chloe finally found some common ground? Will Oliver ever tell Bri about ballet? Let me know what you think!
