As the second episode of THE MICK opens, Mickey is calling Poodle to complain about her bad behavior by abandoning her children and leaving the country during her financial troubles. It’s an ironic scene because we know Mick herself is not an upstanding citizen and really good at running out when she thinks she is in trouble. After all, when the Feds showed up at the party, she ran too. But she didn’t get as far as her sister. Now it seems she’s at a Benihana-style restaurant making clichéd and possibly racist jokes about the possibility of getting hepatitis as the chef flips shrimp into customers’ mouths. As Mickey less-than-gracefully drops the news that their parents are not coming back for them, each kid immediately starts acting out before even processing the news as the youngest child tries tasting the hot grill and thus burning his tongue, leaving him a drooling mess in a mask for the rest of the episode.
Obviously, Mickey wants to get out of dodge and back to Rhode Island where she has no responsibilities so she backs up an electric luxury car and heads back to her apartment with Alba, the maid, and her apparent new sidekick. Mickey isn’t entirely irresponsible so before leaving, she’s called the kids’ paternal grandparents to watch over them. The grandparents appear to be extra old to have such grandkids and although the preppy middle child remembers his grandfather as a staunch and strong war hero but at present his grandfather seems to be a vegetable that gets pushed around by grandma. Whatever happened to grandpa must have happened recently. And given the preppy, socially-conscious, financial status of the family, it seems unlikely that grandma would be doing much wheelchair pushing, let alone toenail clipping. Even in less wealthy families, a medical professional, like a nurse, used to caring for stroke victims, takes care of invalids. Despite the obvious flaw in logic, it does seem likely that Grandma would be old-school and into corporal punishment to straighten out the renegade kids. As she slaps the 17-year old teenager upside the head repeatedly, it feels more rewarding than abusive because that kid is so annoying that sometimes you want to slap her too.
Meanwhile, Mickey has returned to Rhode Island to her apartment where the guy that gave her a ride in the first episode before running her over has found time to settle in and get a RIP Mick tattoo in the few days she has been gone. Obviously, the tattoo is inappropriate but Mickey returns to her old life of partying, drinking, drugging Alba, and eventually returning to the kids after she finds it necessary to avoid paying a loan shark that has tracked her down. There are also tired old jokes about eating bad clams and sexist jokes about the exchange of sexual favors and other nonsense from the last century that hasn’t held up as funny through the ages.
THE MICK: (L-R) Kaitlin Olson and Scott MacArthur in the “Condom” episode of THE MICK airing Tuesday, Jan. 17 (8:31-9:01 PM ET/PT on FOX. ©2017 Fox Broadcasting Co. CR: FOX
Once Mickey arrives back at the Greenwich mansion, leaving Alba as collateral for the loan shark, but with Jimmy in tow, she discovers that the kids need her as much as she needs them. Grandma has been giving the 17-year-old as she good as she gets. There’s also a bunch of stuff about how crappy the 17-year old looks without makeup but she looks about the same to me because she’s young and beautiful and her eye circles look to be more makeup than usual. As Mickey makes elaborate plans for throwing the grandparents out of the house, we finally get some humor. It’s slapstick and expected, but still well enough enacted to elicit a laugh. As Grandma rants about staying in the house as long as she has “breath in my body,” she slips on a wet spot, getting the wind knocked out of her and a ride to the hospital. She’s really old, you guys, so she probably broke something.
All in all, the second episode proved better than the first but there still seems to be room for improvement. And given the overall mean humor of the show, it’s a little silly to see the kids acknowledge that they need Mickey to care for them—even as she is open about needing their money.
Season 1, Episode 2 (S01E02)
The Mick airs Tuesdays at 830PM on Fox
Read all of our reviews of The Mick here.
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Carly is a freelance writer that watches too much TV while she writes blogs and articles about lifestyle including travel, food, fashion, beauty, home decor, entertainment, health, fitness and wellness and green living.
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Carly Zinderman | Contributor
