The Mick Review: The Mess (Season 1 Episode 9)

The Mick Season 1 Episode 9, “The Mess” goes over some very well-worn territory.

On “The Mess” the kids are disrespectful and sloppy.  Beers and burritos litter the house and strange kids are milling about.  No one is willing to clean up, but Mickey snaps when even Ben turns on her.

She’s used to being disrespected by Chip and Sabrina but Ben is all she has left. Alba advises that she drop the hammer or they’ll never learn, but Mickey does not know how to be the adult.

Her first attempt at a punishment backfires spectacularly when she blocks the kids from going to school for being dicks. They all happily stay home.

When she finally snaps – and Kaitlin Olson is great at snapping – she threatens to ruin the white trash party the kids were planning to attend, by calling the host’s mom.

She’s conflicted because she’s a party starter, not a party stopper.  But she gets her way and then Mickey and Alba go out for two or six beers while the kids clean.

When they return, the house is spotless – except for the master bedroom.  Mickey and Alba discover that everything had been moved into her room and the children lock them in.

Ben twists the knife when he tells her that the Red Sox lost and the Pembertons head out to the party – with Jimmy as their driver.

The following scenes are the best of the episode, allowing Olson to become delightfully unhinged like some kind of crazed Termintor.

She leaps out of the window and onto Jimmy’s car.  He ditches her (again), leaving her with a road rash that makes her face look like lasagna.

When she gets to the party she picks off her family members one by one, first kicking a chair out from under Jimmy and smashing his Edward Forty Hands. She catches Chip in the bath with his friend Andrew (it’s not what it looks like.), pours tobacco spit into Sabrina’s beer bong and orders Ben to stop dancing on a table.

Things come to a head when the youngest tells her to screw herself and she spanks him in front of everyone.

The drama culminates in a heartfelt speech from Mickey.  She apologizes to the kids for hitting Ben.  She says she’s sorry that their parents left, but that if she’s going to stick around she has to be in charge and that it’s up to them if she stays.

It was a sweet moment – but a moment we already saw back in “The Grandparents.”

It’s typical for shows to re-establish the plot in episode two or three so that viewers who missed the pilot still know what’s going on.  However, nine episodes in, everyone should be pretty much caught up by now.

The jokes in the show are consistently funny and the performers are great.  Kaitlyn Olson delivers each week and there’s always something to love about Carla Jimenez.

But every time the plot progresses on this show, it’s like one step forward and two steps back – character development is lost and plot points are repeated.

“The Master” foreshadows a return of the Pemberton’s parents, so we should be getting to see that soon.  Hopefully, that’ll move things forward a bit.

What did you think of this episode of The Mick?

Did you think Andrew and Chip had enough bubbles? Is Jimmy due to get dumped again?  Does it matter if you wear your lucky shirt to watch a baseball game that’s already been recorded?

Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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The Mick airs Tuesdays at 8:30/7:30c on FOX.

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