Fresh Off the Boat - Review - Mommy and Me

As we head towards FoTB's final outing, they give us one of the strongest episodes of the last couple seasons complete with an end to one of my biggest pet peeves. Let's jump right into the end of ... "Mommy."

FoTB has given me the greatest gift of all right before the show goes off the air - the "Mommy" is no more!!! Years after growth spurts and voice changes made Evan's use of the word just this side of creepy and upsettingly codependent, the show has finally set us free. Well, set me free, and I hope one of the writers stumbles across this review someday to know how grateful I am. I can't explain why I hated it so much but it's okay. It's over now. I'm safe.

So, anyway, back to the actual review. I'm sad that the end of Cecily and Evan happened off screen. That poor little girl went through so much thanks to Jessica (the crossbow, AKA another pet peeve of mine) and I wish she could have seen she got a little bit of revenge by sending a broken hearted Evan to annoy his mom with his clinginess. After all the times Jessica freaked out because she felt like Evan didn't need her as much anymore recently, all it took was for Evan to revert to being needy for attention again to remind her why kids growing up and becoming independent is a good thing. I mean, how else will she be able to find the time to record the audio version of her novel? The more we hear about ACOAKTTB, the more I think that if it were real, it would land somewhere in the Cats arena of inexplicably bad fiction that's somehow wonderful for how bad it is. The number-by-number coffee description gave me Rebecca Black's Friday vibes, too. I'm gonna miss this weird, likely terrible book I never read. In the end, Jessica gets pushed too far and accidentally lets Evan know how annoying he's being, Evan realizes she's right and moves on from Mommy (FREEDOM!!!!), and they record her terrible writing together.

Man, this episode made me grateful for the rise of Impossible and Beyond burgers. Admittedly, it's not the most inventive B-story the show's ever had, but I liked the idea that Louis got frustrated at Emery's turn to veganism because of how proud he is of his steakhouse. Given how important the restaurant has been to the Huang family and Louis in particular, the entire impetus behind their move to Florida, of course he'd take it a little personally that Emery decided to swear off meat. Having to actually try that early 2000s era attempt at a veggie burger probably didn't help matters. It was sweet that Eddie and Louis tried to make a better fake burger for Emery, even if it wasn't any better.

The running theme of Jenny being Florida's biggest player had it's best twist this episode when the spurned Burger Boys hopeful Chestnut decides to date her to get revenge on Louis. It's disturbing but also makes so much sense somehow? He's exactly the kind of desperate that Jenny likes to prey on and he's single, it's kinda surprising that it took this long.

Best Quote: "As he knelt over his lover's pale, lifeless body, he took her pale, lifeless hands in his darker, alive hands."

2000s Stuff: Send Me On My Way, although it's technically actually a 90s thing