Grace and Frankie: The Credit Cards
May 9, 2015 3:17 PM - Season 1, Episode 2 - Subscribe

Next step on the Divorce Express: the ladies find out the hard way that their husbands have cut off their credit cards. Sucks to be divorcing divorce lawyers....

(Note: this is as far as I've gotten in watching before I have to go deal with Mother's Day, so if anyone else sees the remaining episodes before I do, they're fair game!)

The men are able to breathe for the first time in 20 years. Their wives, not so much. “Just because we’re out now doesn’t mean we’re gonna be gay with a vengeance.”

Frankie will journal her disappointment later and refuses to answer the phones. She's blowing smoke allllll over the place. Grace bangs her head against the wall. When Frankie finally answers the phone, it's friends of hers calling to check on her. Grace wants them to go away, or at least notify you ahead of time. Don't we need space? "No, we need people who know what we need because we don't know," Frankie says. Looks like Frankie's friends have found out from Sol and the guy friend is also gay? The friends are Jason and Amanda, and anyway, they want to take them all to lunch. Amanda knows every lawyer in the state because she's used most of them. The Irish lawyer named Shirley should really scare Robert.

For the record: Grace's daughters are Mallory (the uptight clone of her mom one with a husband and kids) and Brianna (presumably the rebel one). Mallory calls Grace. While this is happening, she is building a Lego Death Star and refusing to let the kids touch it. Brianna has only texted her mom "sup biatch" so far, which got a response of "Wrong biatch."

Frankie wants to know if everyone knew that her husband was gay. Amanda didn't, Jason seems to have but won't say--he just says he thinks everyone's gay. Uh-oh, Grace's credit card was declined. He wouldn't! (It's just what you do to freeze the assets.) Robert has talked Sol into doing the same and Sol feels bad, he should have warned Frankie--but she wouldn't answer the phone. "So which is better, terrible with me or terrible without me?" Robert says to that. Sol answers, terrible with. Then trust me! Clearly Robert is the leader in this relationship.

Amanda advises them to take possession of their homes and Grace only wants the beach house. Frankie wants hers though.. Go take back your house! And put your shoes on!

The menfolks debate hostile acts--credit card cutoff vs. phone not answer. Frankie has a history of impulsive spending, like buying a yurt and an alpaca when depressed. Bud (the black, sane, sober son) seems to work with them. The other son with the drug problem is named Coyote, apparently. Frankie calls back finally to cuss Sol out and hangs up on him, then heads back with Grace--Grace is two drinks in. Grace calls Mallory to pick up her stuff.

The daughters show up at Grace and Robert's house. Briana gripes that mom never calls her--doesn't a heart shaped eye text count? They find the leftover breakfast. French toast. So? Dad can't cook. Sol must have stayed here last night.

This is Coyote and Bud on the phone:
"I spent half the day wearing a Post-It note saying all my dreams are dead."
"Well, it's nice they got to know you."
Bud can't leave work and deputizes Coyote to go help their mother. Remembering that Coyote has been politely asked by the DMV to not drive for 214 more days, Bud calls a Lyft for him.

The husbands go to Frankie's house, where Frankie ignores Sol's presence: "I reject your presence here. You are invisible to me.” Also: "Oh, btw, you got a box from Zappo's. I ran over it." "I saw it."

Robert talks with Grace--he's been a divorce lawyer for 40 years, she should know how this goes. She threatens him with Shirley and asks him how does he want to handle this--is he going to treat her like "the enemy" like he does everyone else? He doesn't know. On a similar note, Sol tells Frankie she'll get temporary spousal support once the papers are served, and urges her to get a lawyer that will set his hair on fire.

The kids all arrive at Frankie's house--first the girls and then Coyote in his stashecar. Mallory is horrified to find out that Coyote's out of rehab after he "went all Stanley Kowalski" on her lawn. We don't quite figure out why. She doesn't want to talk to him, and he says he doesn't know what he did that night except that cops were involved and there was a car "mishap." Coyote and Brianna debate the proper terminology for this latest drama: Gaymageddon? Armagaydon? Bud didn't trust Coyote--rightly--so he came over last. The kids debate whether or not they should or want to go in there. Mallory's husband Mitch shows up with the kids and Mallory gives him shit for not figuring out "take them to THEIR home, not THIS one." Brianna proposes that everyone who's not an alcoholic go get a drink, so Coyote is sent inside the house alone.

Grace negotiates with Robert, who even says, "God, I'm an asshole." They agree that she gets the beach house and he takes the regular house.

Frankie is ticked that the boys have been discussing how to do this for a long, vague time. She kicks him out to go live with Robert even though Sol says he wasn't ready to shack up yet. "Oh boo hoo hoo, sleep in the yurt for all I care." Robert says it's all his fault to Frankie and he's an asshole. She laughs.

Grace and Coyote are loading up Frankie's fridge with food and Grace is saying nice things about Frankie. "There's a strong woman under all that soft fabric. Some people don't realize that," Coyote says. She has to be after all you put her through, Grace says. Yeah, Coyote agrees. Grace spots the bag of pot in the fridge, so Frankie should be all set. Coyote wishes she hadn't mentioned the pot. Frankie is on the floor, looking at photos and wondering, was any of this real? Grace tries to leave and hesitates.
Cut to them back at the beach house together. Frankie's on the table meditating. Or attempting to, loudly. "I hate my life," Grace says.
posted by jenfullmoon (5 comments total)
 
It occurred to me that I've seen Sheen and Waterston in commercials, movies, and tv as they've aged but after a certain point Fonda and Tomlin just disappeared. Age-appropriate older couples on TV are a good thing. Good on Hollywood for taking a page from the Brits.

I liked that Waterston and Sheen shared a kiss. Sheen looked like he corpsed immediately after. I liked that the guys actually talked about how much leaving meant to them and made them happy. I don't buy them as a couple but that's mainly because Sheen really isn't selling it. Though I suppose the casting is purposefully not what one would expect. The kids are written pretty well, I'm looking forward to more of their backstory.
posted by Ik ben afgesneden at 5:01 PM on May 9, 2015


If nothing to else the interiors of homes on this show are like, perfect monied Malibu lawyer of a certain age.

The show isn't hooking me yet but I'm just kind of amazed it exists.
posted by The Whelk at 11:52 PM on May 9, 2015


It occurred to me that I've seen Sheen and Waterston in commercials, movies, and tv as they've aged but after a certain point Fonda and Tomlin just disappeared.

Interesting. I haven't seen much of any of them except for Jane Fonda, who popped up unexpectedly in a French film a few years back (Si on vivait tous ensemble ... ).

I'm with you in that I don't buy the men as a couple. I liked that they kissed, but beyond that I don't feel the spark, or the gayness. It's too bad - I think there's a wealth of potential material here!

I think the kids had the strongest scenes by far in this episode.
posted by kanewai at 1:31 PM on May 12, 2015


Fonda and Waterston were in The Newsroom together. Sheen and Tomlin were in The West Wing together.
posted by zarq at 2:57 PM on May 18, 2015 [2 favorites]


I like the way the opening scene with Grace and Frankie, deciding what to do and how to do it, are speaking like they're each other's inner voice.
posted by tracicle at 12:19 PM on May 19, 2015


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