After Christy and Bonnie get Jodi, a recovering drug addict, back on her feet, they find themselves addicted to the rush of helping others and take on a new "project," Michelle (Judy Greer).
"Mozzarella Sticks and a Gay Piano Bar" is a somewhat disjointed episode of Mom. The first half continues to focus on Christy and Bonnie trying to help Jodi, their teen addict from last week's episode. That story comes to its resolution at the halfway point of the episode. After that, Christy and Bonnie transition to their new story of needing to find a new project to help. That just leads to a lot of wacky hijinks with Judy Greer as a presumably drunk woman named Michelle. Both of these story ideas do make sense for the show and where the characters are right now. But it's just slightly weird that they play out in the same episode.Jodi's introduction to the show last week was very emotionally brutal. She was a teen addict coming to terms with getting clean and needing support from the rest of the group in order to do it. She couldn't rely on her drug dealing boyfriend to help her with it. That only led to more pain. Bonnie and Christy are there for her. They took her in during a time when she needed that support. In this episode, they are still just trying to get her back on her feet. Jodi accepts that help. She cherishes that advice - even though Bonnie and Christy say things differently than the rest of the group. They know the difficulties of finding a job after getting sober. That kind of honest money is the first step towards getting back on track in life. It's difficult because employers can be so judgmental. That's why they tell Jodi it's okay to lie on her job application. She needs to learn the job while on the job. That's the only way she is going to get the experience she needs to go further on this path. It's such a celebratory moment when Jodi walks in and declares that she is now a barista. It's not her dream job - which is just getting famous on YouTube. But it's a start to a better path.
Christy and Bonnie really do offer good advice to Jodi. They are both horrible parents but they seem to know just what to saw to this young addict. It's because of that drug connection that they feel so comfortable being so harsh with her. They understand Jodi's struggle because they went through the same thing. Now, they are the ones giving back. Jodi is so appreciative of that. They parent her with a firm hand. When Jodi gets her first paycheck, Christy tells her she needs to give some of the money to her sister in order to repay her for all that she stole from her. It's a harsh reality. She just made her first real and honest money. But that's just a first step. She needs her sister back in her life. Repaying her is the only way to rebuild that trust. It's a strategy that takes time but is eventually successful.
It's interesting that this episode feels comfortable undergoing a three month time jump in the middle of it. It shows just how far Jodi has progressed as a sober person and how much Christy and Bonnie have grown as her sponsors. But it's still largely just telling the audience about that and not really showing it. It happens in order to advance the story forward. It drops these characters at the end of their journey for now already. The time jump happens and Christy and Bonnie are dropping Jodi off at her sister's place. The sister is finally ready to let her live with her again. That's a huge step that the episode was building towards. It's a big moment for all three characters. Jodi only got to this point because of all the help and support Christy and Bonnie gave her. And yet, the episode also treats it as the last time they will ever see each other. Christy and Bonnie are passing Jodi off onto her sister because that's the relationship she needs the most right now. It's an emotional moment. But it's also weird that the story is over so soon.
That quick resolution happens because the show needs to introduce what all of this means for Christy and Bonnie. They were able to take Jodi in because they are in the right time in their lives where they can give back in the program. They've embraced the help from the system. And now, they are trying to pass that knowledge along to the new people who need it the most. In fact, they become addicted to helping people through AA. They got so much joy out of helping Jodi get back to this point in her life. It's such a cathartic moment for them as they say goodbye to her. It's an emotional high they haven't experienced in a while. They did something right and it felt great. But now, they desperately want more of it because they don't want this feeling to go away. So, it's basically an addiction that's centered on helping people. That's much more noble than their past substance abuse. But it's also much tricker than they thought it was going to be.
That point is made especially clear when Christy and Bonnie try to find a new project to help get back on the path of recovery. They don't go looking at a meeting though. They want to change someone's life even though they haven't taken that first step towards admitting they have a problem. They just enter a bar and walk straight up to the woman who is the most drunk, Michelle. They don't know her story. They want to force a narrative on her. They want her to be an alcoholic more than they want to listen to what is actually going on with her. It leads to a pretty fun and eventful night. Michelle hijacks the AA meeting to play "Bohemian Rhapsody" on the piano. It's amusing. Christy and Bonnie see a problem that needs to be addressed while Marjorie doesn't think they know enough about Michelle to force themselves on her in such a way. Of course, Marjorie is right. All of it has been one huge misunderstanding. This was only the second time Michelle got drunk in her entire life. Christy and Bonnie kidnapping her lead to her affair with her boss being revealed and thus destroying her marriage.
So even though, Christy and Bonnie's hearts are in the right places. They can't force this into happening. They are talking about opening their own rehab so that they can continue to help people. But they still haven't learned the lesson that people need to want that help. They can't just force it on people. Some aren't ready to take that step. And some just don't need it. Christy and Bonnie go to ridiculous proportions in order to feed this addiction. It didn't work out for them and that sucks. It's a crushing blow that not even Jill and Wendy's supportive words can heal. Hopefully, this one misstep doesn't keep them from helping people through the program though. There are still people out there who could benefit from their help. Next time, they just have to think more clearly before signing up for that project.
Some more thoughts:
- "Mozzarella Sticks and a Gay Piano Bar" was directed by James Widdoes with story by Chuck Lorre, Nick Bakay & Marco Pennette and teleplay by Gemma Baker, Sheldon Bull & Adam Chase.
- Christy and Bonnie both joke about being great at parenting when it comes to children they aren't related to. And yet, Violet and Roscoe aren't seen at all in this episode. Soon Christy will need to step up as their parent again.
- Once again, Bonnie is shown to be a pretty bad manager of the apartment complex. She doesn't fix a blind man's heater for three weeks. Though why does he need a heater if he lives in California?
- Another running joke is Bonnie used to sell her eggs in order to make money. That could be setting up a half-sibling twist in the future. Or it could just be something fun for this episode and be completely forgotten about in the future.
- Jill and Wendy have become such a comedic couple this season. They only appear alongside each other. They have personalities that only exist opposite each other. That is amusing. But it largely amounts to just a handful of jokes in each episode.
