In our second episode, we’re digging into all things Mary Jo. How did season 6 treat her? Is she up or down?
We’ll discuss our picks for her best and worst episodes, as well as her cringiest and funniest moments. We’re also trying out a new segment “Technology Takedown” where we upend a plot by simply adding one magic ingredient: a smart phone.
Come back on Thursday for an “Extra Sugar” inspired by Mary Jo’s rant over the outcome of Anita Hill’s testimony back in 1991.
Come on y’all, let’s get into it!
Or listen on Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music.
Transcript
Hey, Nikki.
Hey, Salina.
And welcome back, y'all, to Sweet Tea and tv. Just an editorial reminder up here at the top.
I can't even. It sounds like you're giving the announcements on an airplane.
Oh, that's nice.
And your exits are to the front, the back, and the middle.
I have some hand gestures going on right now. They're all appropriate. Thank you so much.
This week, we focus on a different character each week on the show
But I did want to give, like, an editorial reminder that now we are here in season six, we've had a switch up. So if you've come in here thinking that you're going to hear season six, episode two, lo, you will not.
You're wrong.
You're wrong. we're going to focus on a different character each week. If you missed last week, we did, our general reactions and not so general reactions to season six. And please go back and listen to that if you're wanting that overarching feel for the season. Otherwise, we're going to dive right on into Mary. Jo, this time.
I feel like this is going to be a favorite episode for you, Selina. Yeah, Big Mary Jo. Stan.
I love Mary Jo. so. And I think this is, ah. I think this is a good. We'll get into it. We'll get into it. But I, just want to remind everyone that because we're doing character specific, this is a shorter season that is also on the hills of us just not knowing if we're going to do this one or not. So Mondays, Thursdays, we shall be with you for the next seven weeks, probably, and maybe mostly. And, well, you can find us there anytime. That's the beauty of the digital age.
We'll talk about the episodes that were Mary Jo focused this season
In addition to that, would you like to take us into our very special Mary Jo episode? I would.
So the first thing we're going to do is talk about the episodes that were Mary Jo focused. Just so we sort of know what's in play here, what are we talking about? and then sort of interrelated to that, I realized as I was putting together my notes is her major plot points and what is she going through this season. So I'll run through what I have here. I'm going to pause after each one and kind of look at you. If you want to weigh in on something that I'm leaving out, please do.
Mary Jo gets pregnant, then gets unpregnant in one episode
Okay.
All right. So the first episode I have that was Mary Jo focused was episode six, Picking a Winner. So in the span of this episode, Mary Jo begins visiting a sperm bank, gets pregnant, then gets unpregnant. Meanwhile, Julia gives Allison one week to collect an Overdue payment from a client before she rips the curtains off their windows. Then I have write that. I think so.
It's hard to know, isn't it?
I think so. I'm pretty sure I did. That doesn't sound like Designing Women online.
No.
episode eight, the Strange Case of Clarence and Anita. this was one of the few episodes this season. I feel like we talked about this in the, main episode that made me feel like we were watching some of the old, like, lbt, like, produced episodes.
She wrote it, right.
So it felt like old Designing Women. So this one centered around a debate over the Clarence Thomas Anita Hill sexual harassment hearings. in an unusual twist, that debate is happening while Julia and Mary Jo are preparing for a stage adaptation of Whatever Happened to Baby Jane. Carlene also threw a birthday party for Allison.
We're going to talk about the aftermath of Anita Hill
You want to talk about your extra sugar real quick? Sort of tee it up for folks?
Yeah, absolutely. So, in honor of that episode, I'm going to have a very moody extra sugar.
She has thoughts to share, folks.
Yeah, we're. We're going to talk about the aftermath of Anita Hill and kind of tie that into where we are today.
Okay. That was something to look forward to.
You don't think that I do.
I'm excited to hear what you think. The more I watched. So I told you, the first time I watched this episode, I was just like, I don't really care for this one. Second time I watched it, it hit me a little harder, and I thought, Salina's gonna have thoughts.
LBT likes repurposing old Hollywood movies into plot lines
on this one, though, I wanted to mention real quick because as I was watching this, something was pinging in the back of my head. Previous episode and in episode one of season four, the Proxy Pig, one thing we talked about, this is the one where Suzanne took over responsibilities for caring for Anthony after he hurt his back. One thing I pointed out then was that LBT really likes the device of repurposing like, an old Hollywood movie into a plot line. This is the second time she's used Whatever happened to Baby Jane? and then, of course, I'll be seeing you in season two was set up like an old time Hollywood movie. there's some black people coming to dinner in season two was largely a riff on Guess who's coming to Dinner. and then, of course, in this episode, she used the characters from Baby Jane to give Mary Jo a character to pull from at the end of her rant. so, just a general observation. It's a theme I'm noticing in the LBT authored episodes.
Right on. Yeah, she's definitely a, study of, Hollywood.
Yeah.
Did I miss any major Mary Jo focused episodes you wanted to talk about
so next up, we have episode nine, Just say do. This was our first call back. No, I think I just got to name my. No, just say do. No, I'm good. It is truly Just say do. This one's our first inclination of. Mary Jo's family struggles when her brother Clay comes to take Quint on a hunting trip and then takes a shine to Allison. we have another. And the reason I say that, I'll just go ahead and do episode 14. I'm gonna go out of order. I hope it doesn't throw you too much. Episode 14, Driving My Mama back Home. This was the episode where Mary Jo's mother came to atlant for bunion surgery, which is a real thing. And I think everybody should understand what a bunion is. And it is not the same as a wart, and it is not the same as a corn. And some people have bunions.
Some people are born with them, so there's that.
Her mom comes for surgery, though, which my doctor won't do on my bunion, incidentally. And she needed a chaperone back to her home in South Carolina. Mary Jo needed a buffer for her chaperone duties in the form of a, Julia. Meanwhile, Carleen, Anthony, and Allison stayed back at Sugar Baker's. It started with a fight over who was in charge, and it ended with them being locked in the storeroom and never actually completing the inventory. Those two episodes are the first time I feel like we've ever gotten any backstory on Mary Jo's family beyond the fact that her parents live.
Yeah. minus mentioning it. Just in generalities, mentions. Yeah. Or like, these really concrete stories, but never talking about family.
Right.
Like, I had a headband made of rabbit. Like that kind of thing.
Exactly. Okay. And then the last Mary Jo focused episode I have on my list is Julia and Mary Jo get stuck under a bed. this was one of Salina's favorite episodes where they're decorating for a yuletide house and get wind that a competitor stealing their ideas. So the crew, aided and abetted by Rusty the electrician, sneak in to check things out. Then they get trapped under a bed when the owner, who is a Playboy TV anchorman, returns home unexpectedly with a lady friend. Fortunately, Anthony and Carlene team up to save the day. And it goes swimmingly, of course.
I was just picturing them running out of the house with those blankets over their head.
Extraterrestrials. Did I miss any major Mary Jo focused episodes you wanted to talk about?
No, I think that takes care of all of it. I think. What? Okay.
One thing that is not necessarily in her episodes, but is like this major theme throughout
One thing that is not necessarily in her episodes, but is like this major theme throughout is Brownie.
I have that in the major plot points.
Okay.
Okay.
So we both picked up on that.
I have a. I have a Brownie count. A Brownie reference count.
Oh, wonderful.
How many times she referenced Brownie.
A limerick in the last episode.
I just. I'm surprised you're counting in this episode.
I love it.
You give me a little bit of flexibility.
Give you five months, and you're writing poetry.
Come up with ideas. So this is.
Mary Jo shifted from single mom to mentor this season on the show
I think let's talk about her plot points. Because Brownie, whether we like it or not, Brownie becomes one. And whether it was intentional or not, Brownie becomes one. So for me this season, I think what I observed of Mary Jo is maybe the completion of her character arc as married, young, then divorced, young, single mother of two this season. And I mentioned this in our last episode, she shifted into mentor. so she's not so much young, single mom living life on her own and figuring it out. Now she's actually mentoring Carleen in her single woman life in Atlanta. And to me, that was sort of a completion of a character arc that we've been watching. her speech on the Strange Case of Clarence and Anita, which was super inspiring. It was also kind of a Terminator tirade of her own. So, in season one, I think it was killing all the right people. Or was that season two? So season two, killing all the right people, we get a passionate plea and speech from Mary Jo.
Yes.
But it wasn't to this level.
Yeah. Sweeter.
yeah, definitely. And it tracked with the Mary Jo that we knew at that point in time.
Yes.
even a little bashful to be sharing her opinion. This was different.
Did it land for you, the.
Clarence and Anita speech? Yeah, I think when I got undistracted by the. Either Bette Davis or Betty Davis. when I got undistracted by that, the words were there.
I kind of loved that she did it as Bette Davis.
I feel like it's a reference that's lost on me.
I don't. So I could be wrong. I don't know. It is. I think it's just, like, I have two thoughts about it. One is, the high drama that is Bette Davis is nice for that. I think channeling that energy feels right for, like, the way that so many women felt. I imagine I was Six.
But how I felt very strongly about my breakfast cereal.
Yeah, exactly. you know, I think it kind of captured that mood in a really interesting way. Like I had mentioned before, I think it has more to do with the fact that they had something else planned. I think.
I think that's a really good observation.
I don't think it was my observation. I think I read it somewhere so I won't steal someone else's. but I also think that there's this interesting side that maybe she had to be in character to really let it out.
Because she has grown a lot. But I think that was a tough thing to like, get on camera for, like the news or whatever and say those things that was built in.
That was kind of baked into the plot too. Right. Like they wanted to be in character to go to Allison's birthday party because that's all that would steal them for this horrific event that was about to come.
It made me want to be Betty Danis.
Well, so it definitely. Whether it was or was not Mary Jo as a person, the character really sort of came full circle, I think.
Salina struggled a lot with family relationships this season
for me, the other plot point I wanted to mention is that we had a continuation of the season five sperm donation storyline. I think interrelated to that storyline. And this is one that you pointed out. Salina, she's struggling a little bit with like, quasi Emptiness syndrome because Claudia has now gone off to college. personally, I kind of wonder if she took Carlene under her wing for that reason. Exactly. She has Claudia off to college. She alludes at least one time during the season to Quint not needing her as much anymore.
Right.
So she's got. She's got a lot of love to give. And if she's not giving it to Carleen, then she's going to give it to Brownie.
That's fair.
Who, to your point, came up a lot this season. so my Brownie flea dip references, if we're keeping count, episode one, we had a plaque fighting kit reference. We also had Brownie drinking from the toilet reference. We had episode 10, a followup to the plaque fighting gag. So she says, you remember I gave my dog that plaque tool, whatever thing. I'm gonna have to go do that again. episode 12, another flea dip reference. Episode 16, another flea dip reference. And episode 17, we had two. Brownie was neutered and Mary Jo planned to give her, you guessed it, a flea dip. So let's see. 1, 2, 3, 4. It gets dangerous for them, I think. 7, 7 Brownie references over the course of the season, which is kind of a lot. We don't really talk about Brownie very much otherwise.
Right, Exactly.
she also struggled a lot with family relationships. So again, is this tied in? I don't know. Is it a TV show? Yes. but she struggled with her mom and her brother. so like I said, she had. She alluded in both of these episodes to pretty significant family challenges. I don't know that I ever picked that up from previous seasons. So I was surprised. This became m a big part of her storyline. And, the episode with Skip was not one of my favorites. So I'm, not sure it really.
Not the worst.
Not the worst.
We've covered that.
Covered that.
Annie Potts was actually present pregnant this season
let me see. I have a couple more plot points I wanted to mention. I think it's worth reminding folks. Annie Potts really was actually present pregnant this season.
Present and pregnant.
Present.
Until she wasn't present.
Until she wasn't present. but so was Murphy Brown. And I think we talked about this maybe in the Annie Potts extra sugar. someone somewhere decided there wasn't room for two pregnant people at cbs. So her pregnancy was hidden throughout the season and she missed the last couple of episodes with no explanation because of it.
What a weird time.
What a weird time. So what kind of weird instance? when you watch it, Keeping that in mind. Like, I'm not sure if I were watching it fresh. Not thinking about her being pregnant because the way clothes looked in the 90s and the silhouettes people wore. I'm not sure I would have super noticed it, but there were a couple occasions where it was really obvious.
I don't think I would have noticed it, honestly. They weren't like hiding her behind things.
Yeah.
Not that I could tell, but I also feel like she's so tiny.
Yes.
That I feel like her pregnancy probably looked like.
Sometimes when she turns to the side, especially later in the season, you can.
See she didn't carry any of it here. No.
The rest of her body really hit it. But there were. You just alluded to this that she was missing a little bit. A weird one to me was episode 13, Tales out of School. They sent her away for Christmas, but no one else really did anything even remotely Christmas. Y in that episode, they went to a Halloween with the exception of talking about shopping or something. and then we moved straight into driving my mama back home. So it was weird that she's absent and then suddenly there's an episode about her.
Right.
So who knows? I mean, she could have Been dealing with any number of things at that point in time, but it was just really noticeable. she was also completely absent, from episode 15, pain comes home. And then the final two episodes, a little night music and shades of Vanessa. and then one more thing I wanted to point out. Oh. The Julia and Mary Jo combination. We had a lot more team ups of these two this season than we've ever had before. So Strange case of Anita and Clarence, Julia and Mary Jo get stuck under a bed and driving my mama back home were all about the two of them. I don't know we've ever had an appreciable team up of those two.
Yeah. Because I think if people were going to team up anyone that often involves Suzanne.
Yeah, that's true.
And there was a more likely to be Suzanne Julia team ups.
so.
And then we had Charlene and Mary Jo in previous seasons and really not that much. Not that much that. That pearl one.
I think we missed some rewrites on Mary Jo this season
Did you have any other plot points I didn't mention that you wanted to touch on?
So you know, we've kind of used in this like superlative direction. But before we pop into that, I guess I was. I think it like comes back to this idea of what, you know, this like the relationships kind of came out of nowhere, like grappling with these fam. Familial relationships or whatever. And I just, I want to say that like I liked the idea that we're getting like this confident Mary Jo. Maybe the most confident we've ever seen her. I totally agree that like, we do have a nice character arc for her. I still don't know if this show knows how to let Annie Potts cook. No, the plot either backgrounds her a little or instead of letting her be funny, they lean into the. And that's why I talk about the family episodes. They lean into like the cue the emotional moment music, you know, oh, she needs to have a serious talk with her brother. Oh, she needs to have a serious talk with her mother. You know what I'm saying? And I don't know, I just feel like I still feel like justice for Mary Jo a little bit. Like we just don't know how to give her an episode that she deserves.
Yeah, I can see that. I remember watching the first episode this season and just the first couple of moments of the season, I was like almost taken aback by her character. Like she's always been funny and she's always been a little silly, but there was this whole weird thing happening with a squirt gun and just like Some squirt gun goofiness that, It wasn't not funny. It was just.
The timing was good.
Wacky. Yeah, it was just wacky.
It feels like we missed something off screen.
Yes, and I think we did. I think we missed some rewrites and I don't know what it was they were rewriting, but I would love to see that script.
Mary Jo passes 30 this season; she looks good for 38
But to your point about, Mary Jo maturing and this character arc, wanted to just mention that we're calling her season six adventures Mary Jo pass 30 and not putting up with crap anymore because that is what she's become this season. She's over it.
That's gonna be my appetite.
She's a hit. The same age you and I have.
Well, been past 30 for a while.
Whatever. Whatever.
Hey, we don't have to get into the.
They said she's like 37 or 38 somewhere in this season.
Oh, really? Yeah.
I, couldn't help but think, man, we look good for 38. 9.
I like to think people age differently now, but also, like, I.
We drink a lot of water.
I think. I think the style of that time for sure is what happens. Because like, first of all, Annie Potts in real life is aging beautifully. and she's a beautiful woman. so I don't. But I think for me, I think I get tripped up, because when you're little, everyone seems 100. You know, I'm saying, like, so for me, like, passing this age of people I saw as being so, like, unreachable in terms of their age is like, it's a whole new experience. If you haven't had it yet, just wait.
Highly Recommend. Feels good.
10 out of 10.
Did you want to work us into some of those character superlatives you were talking about?
Yeah. so, you know, we might do a little learning as we go. So this is like a little bit of an interesting exercise after five seasons to switch this up and kind of take things this way. So just, Just roll with us. Okay, y'all?
It's like really disorienting to switch, like to a character perspective versus an episode perspective, but it invigorated Mickey.
We're on our own character arc, you know what I'm saying?
I'm, hoping mine's nearly complete to retirement or.
How's that? Yes.
When thinking about Mary Jo, what do you think was her best and worst episode
So when thinking about Mary Jo, what do you think was her best and worst overall episode?
So I really struggled with best episode. I really did. And I did in the main episode, in our first episode this season too. I did Thinking because it's a lot of episodes to go through and think what's really your best. And there's a lot of factors that could go into best. I'm leaning on the one that resonated the most with me and that I enjoyed the most because that feels like the fairest way to do it. So I landed on picking a winner, the follow up to last season's maybe Baby. I thought it was a really sweet look at a woman's fertility and sweet might not be the right word. It was like a really on the nose look at a woman's fertility. and maybe Baby was one of my top four from last season. So I think I also kind of like the continuation. I really liked the beautiful moments between Mary Jo and Julia toward the end of the episode where Mary Jo was sort of sharing her fears and the things she was worried about and Julia was sharing sort of the From the perspective of someone who's a little bit older and has experienced something a little bit different. Here's. You know, the only regret I had was this. And it was just this really nice conclusion to the episode. I still haven't fully gotten over the fact that they put Annie Potts through this storyline when she was pregnant, which I feel like couldn't have been easy.
Yeah, that's.
And it just.
I think there, I know there were so many factors at play in making the decision about whether or not her character could be pregnant.
Also you can't be pregnant, but you can have a storyline about pregnancy.
So that's what breaks my brain a little bit. Like it, it was there, it was there like and it's. She's one of five cast members. So like it didn't have to be the story of Designing Women. Murphy Brown is Murphy Brown. Like she was the main character. That was her storyline. But Mary Jo being pregnant could have been a storyline. So I still haven't moved on from that obviously. And so I think that also the, the part of me that gets obstinate when things don't make sense is probably also at play here. So I would say that was the best episode for me.
Salina picks her best and worst episode of the show
Okay, well, in what we'll now call a, pattern, my best is this strange case of Clearance and Anita. And I am saying that because from, from my viewpoint it was her best performance. ah, I mean I've already talked about this enough. I just think that her Julia esque tirade was really well delivered. Especially if you are familiar with Betty Davis being Baby Jane. Like you know what I'm saying there's, like, such multiple layers to that. That I just was really impressed by it. And I also think that it captures a certain fed up in this, that you could say one even feels today. You can say it. I don't know.
You can say it. Safe space and all.
Yeah. Nobody's listening. how about worst episode?
This one was pretty easy for me. It was episode nine. Just say dough. And no, I don't have a cold. Salina. It was just such an odd one. We found out about this kind of, like, almost long lost brother. And also the fact that they have a dicey relationship and we find all.
That out, but there's no real stakes. And the diciness.
No. And it's all this weird, outdoorsy episode, which I told you, for some reason, registered with me this year. We just had a lot of outdoor time, and I just don't think of our ladies as outdoorsy kind of people. So it was just all very out of, like, fish out of water sort of situation, and not in a funny way.
Pam Norris, she's a Girl Scout.
So, was lbt.
Oh.
Which we'll get into in our Girl Scout episode. So thank you for ruining that for me.
Oh. But, yeah, honestly, I just assumed she was a Girl Scout because of Troop Beverly Hills.
It's probably all at play there. But that's even the least important person. Least important part of my criticism about that episode. It was just so strange.
Yeah.
Came out of nowhere.
Well, we did it. We switched best and worse.
Oh, perfect.
So my worst was picking a winner.
Yeah.
I found this episode oddly paced. It just felt like it went on a long
I want to say, though, that the things that you liked about it were the things that I would call the higher points, because I do really appreciate the continuity of her fertility. Fertility. Her fertility journey. I just found it oddly paced, so we spent, like, an inordinate amount of time in some places, like, picking the donor. It just felt like it went on a long. And then again in the waiting room. So at the end, we have to rush through the loss of a pregnancy to wrap up the silver. One of the sillier B plots that I can remember. And I was just sort of then, like, what? So for me, all of these different things taken together, just the in that she's going through, they just needed more time to breathe. And if you're going to do something as emotional as this, then I think the rest of the episode needs to be hilarious because this is a sitcom and it's okay to do emotional tones and moments. But, like, I just feel like you need Something to kind of let the air out a little bit when you're going to talk about someone going through all those different really high emotional spaces.
Well, we had that two part of Charlene, back in season one, her health journey. Now I know we already had a two part episode this season, so you don't want too many two part episodes. And I'm not saying it has to be part one and part two, but I do agree with you. I think they could have spaced it out. Can she just be pregnant for a week or two? Like, would that have killed anybody?
Right. Or just like let it flow? Like it didn't even need to be back to back episodes. Yeah, it could have been like three episodes later. Well, not the way that this shook out, but they could have made it a little bit more serious then and taken it. So I just feel like there was some better ways in the execution. Talking about, actually I think I'm talking about this other part later, so I'll save it.
I feel like Mary Jo really came into herself this season
how about your, top three funniest moments?
So I think I have two. like, oh, excellent, perfect. Maybe they'll be the same too.
Could be.
As I said earlier, I feel like Mary Jo just really came into herself this season. I feel like she was almost equal parts confident and quirky. Her rampages were getting a little more. Rampages isn't the right word, but like when she would get on a soapbox about something, it was getting a little more over the top and physical, making for some pretty funny little outbursts that she was having. I also think maybe some of her funniest parts were the understated bits. but maybe because I could relate to them a little bit more because I'm not a, like jump on a soapbox and yell it from the rooftops like Baby Jane kind of gal, but I'm more of a, like death by a thousand cuts kind of gal. So episode 14, driving my mama back Home. There were just funny little moments like Mary Jo's impatience with her mother. I just feel like that's identifiable, not necessarily specific to your mother, although it can be, but to the people we love in our lives.
That's right. Gloss it over. Gloss it over.
We love them, we like being around them, but they push every single one of our buttons. we also got, I think, Julia at her finest. Most over the top moment using that restroom. and then there was the major, like, storeroom drama that was happening sort of in the back end. But I just feel like all of these things sort of came together for very funny Mary Jo related moments.
I really liked that. The men's retreat, Even though that was my least favorite episode of the season. She says, men's liberation. What a concept. Oh, we're so tired of making all the big money, having all the great jobs, getting to be president, and never having to stand in line for the restroom. Boohoo.
You know, we have a thing for lines at men's restrooms in this season, in this series, don't we?
You know what? I think about it all the time.
A lot.
Yeah. Every time I'm in a line, for that matter. my second one was her ponderings over the different kinds of erotic entertainment on the way to Carleen's apartment. Also, all I could think was, are they at Cheshire Bridge? She says, what's the difference between live nude? Because she does get really southern when she. So totally nude and completely nude.
Questions we've all asked ourselves. If we're being honest.
If we're being honest. I mean, I figure, you know, with all of them, you're pretty much nude. Then, of course, there is exotic nude. I guess that means you get to put a flower someplace. I just really enjoyed that.
Mary Jo takes her mom back to South Carolina to be with another man
how about your up to three cringiest or most obnoxious moments from Mary Jo?
I am so curious to hear your thoughts on this, because I have zero.
Okay. It's like that interaction on the bus where, with her mom. She says, her mom goes, oh, honey, that's much too heavy. Why don't you ask that gentleman to help you? Which gentleman? That one right there. The one who's black. What? The one who's black. Mother. It's okay. You can say it. He's black. It's okay to say that out loud. He's black. He knows he's black. He is a black man. and then the guy turns around, says, can I help you? Oh, yeah, thanks. And he goes, I actually prefer the term lawn jockey.
Oh, no.
And all that was just. I don't know, I think I was cringy for her, who had, at that point gotten so fed up with her mom. And her mom was the one that was being weird, but it made her weirder.
Made her weird by trying to react to the weirdness.
That's right. And then this poor man on top of it all.
What do you want from me?
Yeah, okay.
That's a good one. I kept thinking I had. I kept watching episodes thinking, cringe, obnoxious.
And getting us up. two. Yeah, three is ambitious.
Had zero for our Sick girl.
It's fine. Oh, you know what? I did have some general befuddlements, though, that I'll share, but these aren't really cringy. So one is like, it's all. It's all about the family. To your point, we haven't ever really talked about the family members so much. Her brother came down from Kentucky. She took her mom back to South Carolina. South Carolina. I could swear in previous seasons, we've learned that Mary Jo was raised in Tennessee. Okay, look, I get that people move, but the way she talked about them in the past was if they were still there. And they kind of struck me as lifers. So I, was a little surprised by that. It feels like they lost their own thread.
Were you caught by surprise that, or do you know that her parents are divorced? Somewhere in things that I was reading, something was coming up about how her mom is divorced from her dad, because I remember thinking it was unusual that Mary Jo was taking her back to South Carolina to be with an. An aunt or a cousin or something. There was no mention of Pops, and I didn't know Mary Jo's pops was dead, so I just assumed he's still alive. But something I read said they're divorced. So I don't know if it was in the script of previous seasons that would have explained this. All that to say. Yes, that's very confusing. I think they've lost the thread.
Yeah. And then my second.
M. Is the word befuddlement.
It is Girl Scouts in that episode. She never mentions Claudia or a Claudia anecdote or anything. Isn't that kind of weird?
Yeah.
To have a little girl be around a bunch of little girls and not think about your own.
I think it's, weird. We just dropped Claudia all together for the most part. And Quinn, she has an actual son living with her, and she's out painting the town red with Carlene, so.
Well, there you go, trying to have.
A new baby, replace the other two.
What did you think was the most socially or culturally important relevant plot
What did you think was the most socially or culturally important relevant plot?
This one was so easy to identify the two. for me, I'm picking a winner. And. Ah, the strange case of Clarence and Anita. I think we've already kind of talked about my personal preference toward picking a winner, but I just think it, like, taps into a concept that I think a lot of women deal with, and it feels like they must have tapped into a hot topic at this time of IVF and this idea of sperm donation. I googled a little bit just to sort of See where we were in time and if there was something really big happening at this point in time. And this was really when we start getting into some of the, like, mega pregnancies. So people are having, like, triplets and quadruplets and quintuplets because they're transferring so many eggs and. Or embryos and talking about the ethics behind that and the, just the sort of the everything behind that. So I think they must have tapped into something. But I think for me, in the perspective I'm watching through, it just hit differently. I've shared that Clarence and Anita wasn't my favorite episode. The same way you had pacing issues with this one. I felt like this one just carried too much. It was just so bloated. There were so many things we were trying to cover. The meta sort of storytelling was just a lot to take in. It was just. But it was a very culturally important storyline. And ultimately her rant, like, tells you everything you need to know about where Mary Jo stands, where the show stands, and then it just happens to align with what I think. So it hits a different sort of way. so it's. It's hard to say both, but. Both.
Yeah. I have two, because I'm. And I'm not going to talk about the Anita Hill episode again because it's already been, like, four of my M categories. So what I will say is, on the fertility episode, for me, I. I do think that that was a really significant thing to showcase at the time, to talk about something that was still relatively new. I think we need more of this kind of honesty about being the person who brings life M. are there some people who know, who have always known they were meant to be mothers? Absolutely. But there are also other types of people. That's not everyone's journey. And so I think it's very brave for the time to show that humans don't always know what they want. She wanted it, then she wasn't sure, then she wanted it to get. You know what I'm saying? And I think showing that there's a little bit of a roller coaster. It's not always a straight line. I think that's important because I think women and people who want babies, I think they need to feel seen. I think they deserve to feel seen. And I think people need to know that it's okay. It is okay to want. It is okay to change your mind. All of those things are fine. That's what makes us human.
And we don't talk about this in the episode. And it's Only mildly related, but that's true. Also, after you have kids, like to have the multitude of roller coaster emotion.
I've only seen only her parents afterwards, be like, I didn't even want these.
Never wanted these.
These. You give me these. I also like the episode with her mom. I mean, you were touching on this already, but I think that's also touching on something that's really important. I think it's. If you talk about, like, I don't know, we get a fertility, episode today, you know, 91. Yes. Now, I. I don't know. But, I mean, not in the in vitro.
Might get an abortion episode.
I don't know. Maybe. but I do think that there's something that's absolutely timeless about the relationship between a mother and a daughter.
One can relate.
Yeah. I mean, you. You were kind of saying something similar, so. But like, you know, you love them, you want their approval. They do things that drive you nuts. That's it, you know? And sometimes you need a Julia in your life to let you know that you're now the crazy one.
That was wild. It's a total reframing. And I was telling my mom this earlier this summer. I saw someone say, when you're tempted to be hard on your parents for not having all the answers or not doing all the right things, all the things you think they should know better, just remember they're going through life the first time, too, and they're experiencing the same, like, things in the universe that you're experiencing for the first time. So you do sort of hit this point, especially at our age where we feel like we've lived enough life to make reasonable choices. And when our parents do something that feels unreasonable, we're like, what are you thinking? They can make mistakes, too, or make their own choices that we don't agree with. That's fine.
That's right.
It's mind blowing.
Unless your mom thinks that she's been through past lives, so. Oh, she tells you how she's not how she's been here before, so that's different. I'm just saying there's. We all contain multitudes.
A unique experience only some can relate.
To in multiple lives.
This new segment is called Technology Takedown
Okay, are you ready for a new segment, Salina? I don't have any great music this time. I'm sorry. That didn't come together.
Just play like, elo telephone line. They'll love it.
By the time we have this, maybe I'll have something. This new segment is called Technology Takedown. So buckle up, folks. Whole new segment for the uninitiated, this will be more or less our take on which plots or storylines wouldn't exist today or would need to be dramatically changed if our gals had, well, say, a smartphone.
Salina: I feel like some tweaks would go into Mary Jo's sperm search
So before we dive in, Salina, I gotta say, generally, and I think I maybe said this in our first episode this season, didn't feel quite so stuck in the 80s to me. there was one point where, Carlene and Bernice were working on a will on a laptop. You see that they're on a straight up laptop. M. New age sort of stuff. 21st century sort of stuff. You know. That said, I do think there were still some obvious gaps. And actually the one that struck me, and I want to hear which one or ones caught you. It was. It was again, episode six picking a winner. It's not a massive overhaul of the plot necessarily, but I feel like some tweaks would go into her sperm search in the modern era. This point of whether or not an episode like this would happen today notwithstanding, if it did happen today. I was thinking maybe rather than all those books of donors that she's leafing through at the beginning.
Yeah, probably wouldn't have that.
She goes to spermsearch.com.
And she can go through thousands of donors just at, like, with two clicks. She could even filter her search. Maybe she could avoid something like obgyn. Good for nothings who will cheat on you when they go out of town to conferences despite the fact that you sacrificed your twenties to put them through college specific.
Yes.
Or she could filter out professional baseball scouts who don't want kids. You know, like, she can just avoid certain types of donors. she might also turn to a Facebook group for support in her search and her decision making. There would no doubt be some hot takes in that group that she'd then have to wrestle through. Or maybe she'd host Zoom. interviews with some of the donors, leading to some really funny interactions about their appearance or maybe the words they use. I just feel like I could imagine Annie Potts playing out Mary Jo's anxieties while on a conference call with a potential potential donor. With, like, some of the other cast members sort of like, lurking in the background.
Sure, Yeah, I like that.
So, in general, the plot remains the same, but Mary Jo is navigating fertility and ivf, but doing it with the added lens of technology in the web.
I'm into that.
Julia and Mary Jo could have left their phones behind on this episode
So what did you have?
Well, I mean, I just was, thinking about Julia and Mary Jo stuck under the bed or under a bed. And you know, they wouldn't have been stuck under their lawn if they had a cell phone, because they could have just texted Anthony and been like, hey, we're here. Come find a way. We could have still gotten the funny to like, extraction scene.
Sure. It just doesn't change.
Yeah. also, though, they could have just left their phone.
Which I think you could have played that up.
Yeah.
In an interesting way.
People in their late 30s forget their phones all the time.
Do they?
I do.
Oh.
I'm old.
I refuse to say it.
I'm. You know, the other thing is, I am very much like, I don't need technology. I'm a woman of the old school, and so sometimes I'll leave my phone just to prove that I don't need it.
No.
Does that happen to you?
No.
It's a safety concern for sure.
I just go on a long road trip, leave that phone behind. The kids, they don't know where I'm at. But it's okay because mom's out there making her own way.
Did I mention that's what I did this summer? I just disappeared for two weeks. No one knew where I went. That didn't really happen. But I fantasized.
You don't. You don't say. don't lie. You fantasize that about that at least once a week.
I'm thinking about it right now.
At least Sunday night.
What if I just don't go back home? I'm just kidding.
the other thing is, like, the phone could, like, cause the problem. So it could have rang while they were under the bed or the notifications gone off or something. You might have, even been able to thread that through the episode by having it happen in the cold open or something like, I can't get these notifications to turn off. Also means your late 30s.
Why is everything buzzing? Also, there could be something interesting, like a, social media recording gone wild. Because this is kind of a. This guy's a local, local celebrity. So maybe they film a little something or take a not the something, but a little something, show that he's with this local weather girl, and send it to all the Jessicas and Pams and whoever else are calling.
Nice douche.
He was. He was.
That's all I really have for this one.
Salina: The technology takedown was my idea. And it was a good one
Okay.
is there anything else that you want to talk about? I'll go ahead and take this one on. The technology takedown was my idea.
And it was a good one. Salina.
it's like we may not have it every episode if somebody doesn't go through a situation where we could, you know, have this kind of conversation, it may not come up, but it. There's just been a few times in the season where I've been like, okay, but if you just had a smartphone. We get to Carlene's like, I've got some in that one as well.
So you want to rate this one? Yes. I also don't have a rating scale
So you want to rate this one?
Yes. I also don't have a rating scale.
Oh, you can borrow mine.
Okay. Thank you.
So I'll go ahead and go then, if that's okay.
I guess it's fine.
On a scale of 1 to 5, how good or bad was this season for Mary Jo
Just so everyone knows how, we're kind of thinking of this one. On a scale of 1 to 5, how good or bad of a season was this for in this case, our Mary Jo? We'll do this for every character moving forward. Are they up? Are they down? You get the idea. So I gave it three out of five brownie flea dips.
Why didn't that occur to me?
It doesn't matter. You can have it anyway. You didn't even have to think of it. That's.
It's my favorite kind of work.
It's the most beautiful thing that could ever happen. I think it was a mixed bag season for Mary Jo. She's on her fertility journey. But I think we, as we as in the audience are in the dark after episode 14. When she tells her. Her mom, it kind of just drops off, so it's hard to say where that really is. She had some breakthroughs with her mom and her brother, so that's a good thing. You know, she's got a new bestie in Carleen. She and Julia seem closer than ever. That's good, too. Not, that this is the most important thing, but there's a part of me, I just want to see her find someone. You know, it's been a long time since J.D. there were a lot of brownie anecdotes this season. Let's get that lady a date. You know, I'm not saying she's got to get. Can she just have a good time? Oh, yeah. Or a cat. Frankly, I'm not sure if I can answer if she's up or down, because she's not even in the last two episodes. I don't know. You know, I think she may be middling a little bit, which only justifies my middle of the road score.
Yeah. So I gave it a solid four. I, think she was definitely underutilized this season, but, when I think about the season as a whole, it's not like there's a huge Mary Jo gap. Like last season. When we would think about the season, sometimes we'd be like, but Suzanne was, like, not in episodes. Or there was one where you pointed out that didn't even occur to me. She's standing in a parking lot, like, literally and physically away from everyone. So, yeah, I mean, I think of this definitely as a season where Mary Jo's there. There's just like that pregnancy thing. I feel like that could have made for some really fun TV to watch. or to your point, a new, a new friend or. Because I always hate to be like, the. She needs a boyfriend, but a new relationship to explore. Dating, just in general dating.
She can.
Maybe they're self aware.
Mary Jo is pregnant on the show, but she misses two episodes
Maybe they're self aware. Maybe they know how badly they write men on this show.
They're not, though, because they keep doing.
They keep doing it, but they only do it once a season.
That's true. Just one time a season that we have to look at each other and go, really?
So I just think it's really hard to reconcile this idea that two women couldn't be pregnant on TV in 1991 with what ends up happening with Mary Jo's character, which is real life pregnancy, but she has to miss two episodes of the show because she's delivering.
Can I counter.
Maybe the. Can I jump across the counter?
I do think they would have to get like, then we have a baby, and then what do we do with that baby? And do we send her down the same trajectory as Charlene? Just go to England, you know?
Yeah.
Oh, she just follow her. Well, that's what we do with you. You have a baby, we send you to England. You're done.
Motherland, metaphorically, all the ways. Yeah, No, I think. I mean, I think that's a good point. And I think TV shows have really dealt with that, interestingly, over decades where you have this baby and the babies are super not interesting, so you'll have that weird thing happen.
How dare you?
Babies on tv. Love my own babies. I love your babies for you. But, like, they're not.
This diaper changes.
They're not interesting. Did not say that. But. So they do interesting things where they fast forward a little bit. And if this show is already so, like, scrambling to find new cast members and new plot lines and whatever, it feels like they could overcome some of that. And Charlene's baby sure didn't get in the way. She found her way out in the world not taking care of a baby, so.
Right. That's True. And then one season later, she was gone. But it happens.
How is Jean Smart? Wanting to spread her wings.
That's true.
Anyhow, anything else to say about the Mary Jo of it all?
Love her.
I thought you'd say that at some point.
I really like her hair. No reason.
So next episode, we'll talk about Julia Season 6 essay escapades. We'd love everyone to follow along with us and engage Instagram and Facebook. At Sweet TNTV, we're on tick tock. At Sweet TTVPod, we're on YouTube. Sweet TV7371. Email address is sweet ttvpod, gmail.com and our website is wweettv.com. you can go to that website to find several ways to support the show, or you could just rate and review us wherever you listen to podcasts and tell your family and friends about us.
Salina talks about this week's extra sugar just one more time
Salina, can you tell us about this week's extra sugar just one more time?
Just one more time. We are going to dig into the inspiration behind episode 8, the Strange Case of Clarence and Anita, which I feel like is now emblazed, blazoned, blazed, whatever it is on my forehead at this point. You know, said those words a lot. And you know what that means.
What does it mean, Salina?
It means we're gonna see you in two, days.
Bye.
Comments