ABC's Fresh Off the Boat - Episode 5.03 "Workin' the 'Ween"
Honey and Marvin ask Jessica and Louis to be baby Maria's godparents, and Jessica offers to babysit her on Halloween night. But the Huangs are in for a spooky evening when they agree to help wean the baby off of her pacifier. Eddie is hired by mattress store owner Harv for a job to make some extra money so that he can buy himself a car and ends up having to work in the creepy store all by himself on Halloween.
In 2018, it has become very difficult to keep up with every television show out there. It's even more difficult to provide adequate coverage on this site about the episodes that air every week. Not every show can get full coverage because of my busy and hectic viewing schedule. As such, some reviews will now be condensed to give only some summary thoughts. But it also affords a space for me to jot down my thoughts on the various episodes. And so, here are my thoughts on this week's episode of ABC's Fresh Off the Boat.
"Workin' the 'Ween" was written by Laura McCreary and directed by Jay Chandrasekhar
Fresh Off the Boat has produced some delightful Halloween episodes in the past. It's always fascinating to see who gets caught up in the holiday and who would rather be concerned with something else. Evan and Emery always have a memorable costume as a pair. The show doesn't disappoint this year either with the two dressing up as Mulder and Scully from The X-Files. It's a joke that works both for the time the show is set in and for today's audience that have been introduced to those characters again. Plus, their story of handing out candy is so simple and yet so funny. It was always going to build to Evan believing they are seeing the same girl four different times. And yet, it also has a classic X-Files twist with the suggestion that there may be something more actually going on. In this case, there really are four girls. Elsewhere, it's nice to see Eddie maturing and really trying to step up with being responsible. It has been a nice development as the show has gone on. Now, he is looking for a job himself so that he can pay for a car. Sure, it once again seems curious why Nicole didn't just hand over hers to Eddie when she moved to New York. There was an obvious line about her selling it to someone the day that she left. It would be just like Jessica and Louis to expect Eddie to pay for it as well. That could still fuel his own incentive to get a job. That's not what occurs though. However, there is the suspicion that this will be a major story for Eddie throughout the season simply because of the casting of George Wendt as his boss at the mattress store. Sure, it's ridiculous to think of a teenager actually selling mattresses on the main floor. It's much more reasonable to expect him doing the behind-the-scenes work. But it should also be fascinating to see how all of this develops for him over the season. It will be so rewarding when he is able to afford a car himself. It too may prove that Jessica and Louis are doing right by their kids as parents. That is once again called into question because they learn they did things behind the other's back when the kids were babies. They thought they were perfect parents because they could easily get all three boys to sleep through the night without the pacifier. Over the course of Halloween, they slowly learn that that wasn't true at all. Even when they believe that Evan has always been perfect, it's revealed that the rest of the family stepped up to help. That proves how supportive this family has always been of one another. Even when Evan was a baby, Eddie felt the need to protect him as a big brother. Moreover, this story with Maria allows for some fantastic costumes from Louis. He can't just settle on one throughout the night either. Sure, Jessica doesn't understand most of them. She just thinks it's ridiculous for Louis to still be dressing up for this holiday. And yet, she is completely open to the ideas that he has for how to help Maria sleep without the pacifier. Sure, it goes to the ridiculous place of the two of them dressing up as Honey and Marvin. But that too makes the new parents feel better about what they are doing. Jessica and Louis seem perfect and it's refreshing to get this reminder that they aren't. They still trust them completely even though it made things a little difficult to get Maria to sleep.
