This week, Katie and Greg find themselves on the world's most awkward (and unwanted) double date - with Ablin and Maria!
At Second Breakfast (with Doris over Facetime), Katie lies her way out of another invite for a double date with Maria and Ablin. Apparently, she has to take Doris fishing for her birthday. (I'd love to see that!) Maria insists she'll keep trying to catch her when she has a free moment, and Katie realizes she's going to have to come up with a lot more excuses!
At home, Taylor shows Greg a mean ad his city council opponent put out featuring Greg's ADHD med bender. Realizing he's got to up his game if he stands any chance of winning, Greg does some research and figures out that every city council candidate whose name has been put on the school marquee ends up winning. And since Ablin controls the marquee, he decides the best way to get in his good graces would be to invite him and Maria for a double date! Katie's about as happy as you'd imagine she'd be to find out that she's been roped into the very thing she's been trying to avoid.
At school, Anna-Kat gently tells one of her friends that she has something on her nose - which turns out to be a booger. And since this is tween girl popularity we're talking about, the booger mishap somehow ends up unseating that girl as the "metaphorical queen bee." Since Anna-Kat was the one to point it out, she gets unknowingly pushed into the open spot of the most popular girl. Katie's thrilled to find out Anna-Kat's become popular (and even more thrilled to vicariously relive her glory days through her!)
When Katie and Anna-Kat see all of Anna-Kat's friends and their moms at Second Breakfast, Anna-Kat is bewildered by their sudden desire to have the same flavor ice cream as her, schedule playdates, and take pictures with her. Katie, on the other hand, is thrilled and quickly shifts into snobby popular girl mode and director of Anna-Kat's social life. (Anna-Kat isn't doing pictures right now, thank you very much!)
Back at the house, Oliver struggles to manage his stress levels amidst preparing for the SAT. Taylor volunteers to use her psychology major knowledge to teach him some relaxation techniques. This includes goat yoga (with Luther subbed in as the goat), primal scream therapy, and something that resembles a séance. Unsurprisingly, none of them work for Oliver, and he suggests Taylor consider another major!
Ablin and Maria arrive for dinner, with an 80-ounce tub of margarine for a hostess gift in hand. (Why wouldn't you just bring booze?!?) They're excited to finally have couple friends. Greg's excited to better his chances at winning the election. And Katie...she's just annoyed. So, when Ablin manages to fling both wine and a meatball onto Greg and Katie in quick succession, Katie promptly jumps ship!
Upstairs, Greg follows Katie and begs her to come back down and stick the night out. Although it's a hard sell, Greg finally gets her back downstairs by appealing to her need for popularity. Katie cuts to the chase and tries to talk up Greg for city council. Unfortunately, she makes running for the city council sound so important that Ablin decides he'll run himself! Yeah, I don't think Greg's gonna be getting that endorsement.
While taking calls at Teen Helpline the next day, Oliver connects to a girl in a similar situation. She has a big tennis match coming up that will determine her college scholarship. She feels like it's determining the rest of her life, just like Oliver feels the SATs will determine his. He advises her that the rest of her life doesn't depend on the match, she just feels that way because she's in the middle of it now. He helps her gain perspective about the tennis match. At home, Taylor reveals herself. Turns out she used a voice modification app to call into Teen Helpline. Maybe it's an unconventional scheme - but it's just what Oliver needs to take his own advice and stop putting so much stress on himself.
Katie finds Anna-Kat stressing about what to wear. Now that's she's popular, all the other girls care! Katie realizes how stressed Anna-Kat is and gets her, to tell the truth - that she isn't really enjoying being popular after all. She just didn't want to admit it because of how much Katie was enjoying the new popularity through her. Katie assures Anna-Kat that she doesn't care if she's popular, as long as she stays true to herself. Anna-Kat says she wishes she could undo her new popularity, so Katie calls in the King of the Losers himself to give Anna-Kat advice - Greg!
At school, Anna-Kat intentionally gets toilet paper stuck to her shoe. And just like that, she's able to pass on the metaphorical crown and end her reign as Queen Bee!
Random Thoughts:
-"Most Likely to have a Prom Baby" really isn't a great compliment, Katie!
-Poor Greg, he really thinks he can defend the family with that antique musket. He'd have more luck with a butter knife!
-I hate to say it, but I got serious flashbacks when Greg talked about eating lunch in the media room. I spent a large chunk of high school eating in the English teacher's classroom!
-The best quote goes to Maria when Ablin announces his plan to run for city council - "I'm gonna be the Duchess of Westport!" You have fun with that, Maria!
Were you surprised by Ablin's decision to run for the city council? Does Greg even have a chance? Let me know below!
