Grace and Frankie: The Fall
May 17, 2015 7:28 PM - Season 1, Episode 5 - Subscribe

Brianna has no life and comes over to the beach house to get wasted with Frankie and get Grace to sign up for online dating. Then they all go out for fro-yo and I seriously wonder who drove because they all should not be driving. And after that... ????

Brianna has dropped by to "get bonkers with my beautiful mother," i.e. she brought wine because she feels guilty at not giving her mom a job. It's Saturday night, why aren't we having fun? Brianna thinks Grace needs a boyfriend. Frankie walks in, grumbling that Grace acts like she doesn't exist. "I like you," Grace says. "I struggle to believe you," Frankie says, were you in a bunker during the 60's with this man stuff?

Brianna brings up a dating site with "Foxy Dr. Paul" (Corbin Bernsen). Brianna has met some passable guys online, one with a micropenis. "And here you are getting bonkers with your mother on Saturday night." "By choice." I introduced this show to my mother while she was visiting for the weekend and as we saw this, I said to her, "I will never do this to you."

Grace works on a dating profile (user name Gracefully, age 70, La Jolla, intelligent, in shape, cultured) while Frankie and Brianna get stoned on the floor and break the spinning hanging chair. How did you survive growing up with Grace, Frankie asks. This helped, Brianna says, I assume she means the pot. But under that facade, there's an amazing woman in there. Still terrifying, but amazing. They agree that Lydia is awful and no friend of Grace's. Brianna checks on Grace and tells her to say what age she looks like rather than her actual age, and to write down "open mindedness" as her biggest turn on in a man. Is that perverted? Grace doesn't want to hit the send button and come off as a desperate loser, but everyone else there is one too. Frankie looks at it and says, "Cultured? You sound like yogurt," and suddenly everyone wants fro-yo. Who's driving? Grace is drunk and the other two are way too stoned. We never do find out how the hell they got there alive.

Frankie is too wasted to figure out the dispenser on her own. Brianna taste tests and chats with Brian the server. Grace slips on the floor--

An ambulance is called, as is everyone else, and Grace is told she broke her hip. Sexy Dr. Paul Mason is her doctor, and he wants to do surgery. Both women freak out. Grace says she's never had surgery and Frankie is all, really, not even on your face? No! Are you on drugs? No, but Frankie is, Grace says. Frankie can list every drug Grace is on, her last meal, and the wine, because she tends to notice a person when she lives with her. Brianna brings ice and Grace knocks it over and has a blackout.

Next thing Grace knows, she wakes up from surgery, not remembering that Mallory was there. Frankie is making her blow into a ball machine. "Suck that one ball. Now suck the other ball. Come on, two balls! Now suck the third ball." Robert runs in, freaking out. Sol is afraid of hospitals and is out in the car. Brianna comes by with a suitcase of Frankie's hippie clothes since Grace won't be able to wear her usual. Brianna says, "Daddy, can you buy me some food that doesn't smell like decay?"

Grace walkers around with Frankie following. Frankie has also called Dr. Mason because Grace forgot about Mallory visiting. Grace is all, I was on drugs, you should know what that's like. Grace blames Frankie for the accident and says you wonder why Coyote has a drug problem? Go look in a mirror. Frankie tells her to go fuck herself and walks out.

Dr. Mason arrives to check if Grace has a head injury. She can't count backward from ten and he wants to do an MRI, which freaks Grace out. As Grace is about to go in, crying, Frankie runs in to be there for her because she knows Grace is claustrophobic. She was just out getting pudding, she didn't abandon Grace. Grace says she was ay out of line and Frankie is all "No shit."


Oh! it was all a long Daydream Surprise! Grace almost fell but Frankie caught her. WHEW! They hug. Grace is still shaken as they sit down. Grace apologizes for saying she was stuck with Frankie. Yeah, you meant it, Frankie says, but what is worse is how you treat me, like some annoyance. I'm just like you but with a better personality. Why can't you appreciate me, I appreciate you? I wouldn't have even gone to the funeral if it weren't for you. "Like it or not, you're my friend," Frankie finishes. "I like it," Grace says. "Then make me feel it. I don't want to face this crappy part of my life alone."

"Jesus, Brian, how many people have to bite it before you mop the floor?" says manager Heather, also known as Charlotte Lu on the Lizzie Bennet Diaries,.

Brian just friended Brianna on Facebook. "My life is a lot of sad chicken too," Brianna says. She's too stoned to drive and is staying here tonight. You know what we need is a girls' night, Grace says. "I'm never getting a hearing aid. I think I'm better off missing most of what you're saying," Frankie responds. Grace goes back to Sexy Dr. Paul's dating profile and and finds she's a blocked user.

Um, what?! If the fall never actually happened, then she never met the doctor and why the fuck would he have her blocked?! This makes no sense! Seriously, WTF? Anyone else have an explanation for this?
posted by jenfullmoon (8 comments total)
 
I'm not 100% on this, but I'm pretty sure Grace blocks *him* on the dating site, not the other way around. I think she says something to the effect of "he never gave me those drugs," referring to the dream sequence, as her reason for blocking him.
posted by dysh at 8:10 PM on May 17, 2015 [3 favorites]


dysh, that was my read too -- Grace blocked him because of the way he treated her in her dream.

This was a bit of a turning point episode for me, where the friendship between Grace and Frankie became real instead of forced by circumstances. I like where it's leading.
posted by onlyconnect at 8:20 PM on May 17, 2015 [2 favorites]


I hate dream/fantasy sequences, especially when they are presented as reality in the moment. But I didn't hate this one as much.
posted by Etrigan at 10:42 AM on May 19, 2015


I usually hate them too, but I actually sort of liked this one. I think it's because rather than just being a time killer, it provided an accurate window into Grace, who I feel has been a bit superficial up until now (not in a bad way, it's a reflection of how Grace is a reserved and private person) and moves her (and Frankie's relationship with her) forward.

Or maybe I just love Frankie and Grace and don't care if all of this winds up being someone's drug induced hallucination or fever dream as long as it never ends.
posted by ghost phoneme at 4:45 PM on May 19, 2015 [1 favorite]


It had to grow on me but I ended up liking the dream sequence. It's more honest/realistic than the show hence why I initially found it jarring: if you're an elderly person who falls you're going to break a hip and your life expectancy will plummet. Good look successfully dating with a broken hip or while going through recovery. Shit almost got real.

I'm with Grace on this. I've always assumed that when women post about being open-minded on their profiles they do mean perverted (not that there's anything wrong with that).
posted by Ik ben afgesneden at 8:29 PM on May 19, 2015


Season Two!
posted by Etrigan at 5:03 PM on May 27, 2015


Grace isn't even close to drunk; she barely had a glass of wine. I'm betting she drove.

My favorite line was from Tomlin (of course): "Man, my bra is tight! Crap, I'm not wearing one."
posted by LuckySeven~ at 10:33 PM on June 3, 2015


Brianna and Frankie getting high together was one of the highlights of this whole series.
posted by He Is Only The Imposter at 7:19 AM on July 13, 2015 [1 favorite]


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