One Day at a Time Review: Boundaries (Season 4 Episode 3)
On One Day at a Time Season 4 Episode 3, “Boundaries,” Penelope has to figure out how to have a whole different kind of “talk” with her son. It’s a funny, brilliant, and bold episode that proves why the show is so special.
We’ve all seen the story of a family addressing masturbation when it comes to a teenage son, but One Day at a Time takes a different approach in discussing the topic. It’s not Penelope who walks in on Alex; it’s the other way around.
Not only is the entire setup comedy gold, but it opens up a dialogue around something we don’t hear as much about — female masturbation. This episode seeks to normalize that conversation in the way that One Day at a Time knows how to do so well.
This is a topic that’s usually yet another double standard for women — which Lydia exemplifies perfectly. She’s horrified when she learns her daughter has been masturbating. Men can’t help themselves, she says, but women are supposed to be “civilized.”
Lydia: Sex is between people who are married! It is Adam and Eve, not “Bzzz” and Eve!
Lydia’s purpose in being upset at the idea is important, though, because without it the discussion wouldn’t be as significant. There must be a naysayer, and she’s it.
She also shows the difference in the generations. She’s old fashioned, Penelope is more modern and open, and Elena wants to turn it into a cause.
But the real point of this episode isn’t the masturbation discussion at all. It’s about boundaries in families. If you’re close family, can you really have strict boundaries with one another? Or does the meddling and the oversharing help keep you close?
The episode opens with Penelope asking her therapy group how to talk to her son about what he saw, and they all agree she shouldn’t talk to him at all. But that goes against everything Penelope feels about her family and how to be a mother.
She can only avoid talking to him for a few moments before she finally has to sit him down and have a whole new kind of talk.
Marcel Ruiz nails the comedic timing, and his facial expressions through all of this are perfect, by the way — especially as more members of the family pile in to make it all a more complicated conversation.
Alex may be traumatized, but his mother’s openness with him about the subject is ultimately healthy. What Penelope has to learn, though, is that her mother is always going to want to mother her, just as she’s always going to want to mother her children.
Leave it to Schneider to offer such a clear piece of wisdom.
Since the beginning of the season, Lydia has been focused on Penelope’s love life — or lack thereof. Finding out about what Alex saw has her that much more concerned. She’s so concerned, in fact, that she sets up a fake Tinder account to help her daughter find a man.
If that’s not crossing a boundary, I don’t know what is. It’s all so over the top but perfectly fitting with Lydia’s character. Regardless of how she goes about it, it comes from a place of love, which Penelope realizes and admits.
And Lydia’s meddling does wind up having some positive consequences. She ran into the perfect man in the grocery store.
There is nothing more satisfying than seeing Max show up at Penelope’s door. She’s nearly speechless, and it feels like these two might just be finding their way back to another.
Their kiss seems to suggest that, anyway! The height difference only makes it sweeter when Max scoops her up.
Cue Schneider bursting through the door with some AA batteries, not even noticing at first what’s taking place.
The look of joy on his face when he finally sees that Max is back is among the funniest moments of the episode. It’s topped, though, when he goes in for a group hug with Penelope and Max are making out.
Schneider is part of this family too, and this family doesn’t need many boundaries.
What did you think of this episode of One Day at a Time? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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One Day at a Time airs Tuesdays at 9:30/8:30c on Pop TV.
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Ashley Bissette Sumerel
Ashley Bissette Sumerel is a television and film critic living in Wilmington, North Carolina. She is editor-in-chief of Tell-Tale TV as well as Eulalie Magazine. Ashley has also written for outlets such as Rolling Stone, Paste Magazine, and Insider. Ashley has been a member of the Critics Choice Association since 2017 and is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic. In addition to her work as an editor and critic, Ashley teaches Entertainment Journalism, Composition, and Literature at the University of North Carolina Wilmington.