One Day at a Time Review: Perfect (Season 4 Episode 5)

The Alvarez family continues to bring us some much-needed joy with One Day at a Time Season 4 Episode 5, “Perfect.”

The episode centers on the theme of perfect, as its title suggests. For Alex, it’s about the pressure of trying to be perfect in a family of successful women.

Alex has grown up surrounded by powerful women — women who’ve overcome impossible obstacles. Living up to those standards means he’s under a lot of pressure.

His mother’s support when she finds out why Alex is asking for $500 adds to that immediately. She’s more than willing to give him the money. Even though Penelope’s immediate support is endearing, she’s actually too enthusiastic.

She calls it an “investment” and automatically assumes he’ll be successful. Unknowingly, she’s adding to insecurities he already has.

Alex doesn’t even want to say what the money is for at first because he’s afraid his family will laugh at him. Once he starts the class and realizes he’s not very good, he’s worried about failure. 

When he comes up with store-bought shorts, claiming that he made them himself, it feels like this has all been some teenage-scheme. After all, asking for that kind of money could have meant Alex was up to all sorts of trouble. But it’s no scheme — it’s just that he quits after the first class because he’d rather not try than to try and fail. He’s afraid of not being perfect.

Alex reveals those feelings to his mother, and it’s a learning moment for both of him. For Penelope, it’s a bit of a punch to the gut — she had no idea her son had been feeling that kind of pressure. But she helps Alex understand that if he wants something, he has to try. “Dare to suck!” she exclaims.

It’s a message that resonates in a profound way. Plenty of people can identify with the kind of pressure Alex is feeling, and it’s worth it to have a reminder that it’s okay to fail. More than that, Penelope is willing to let Alex quit the class if he hated it, but knowing that he loved it? She’s not willing to let him give up on something he cares about.

This is all paralleled, by the way, with Elena’s stress over applying to college. She’s applying to Yale and working on her college essay, and in true Elena fashion, there’s a color-coded board with all of her options. Is she too interesting? 

She’s frazzled, yet focused, and it’s a reminder that she’s struggled with wanting to be perfect too. We’ve seen her crack under that pressure, though for her, it’s always been largely self-induced. 

We’ve even seen Penelope under this pressure. She struggled with school when she first went back, initially with the hope of becoming a doctor. Her family rallied around her and supported her, and she eventually decided she wanted a slightly different path. They all supported her through that too. Now she’s learned a little something from that experience.

I’m actually slightly worried about Elena. She’s as overconfident at this point as she is sleep-deprived. Like her mother, she’s also prone to anxiety. But also like her mother, she’s learned a lot about herself since we first met her in Season 1. 

Meanwhile, Schneider and Avery are struggling with their own ideas of perfection. Dr. Berkowitz shows up to their apartment with the world’s creepiest baby gift — a giant clown doll — and when he does, he also notes how his marriage went downhill after having a baby.

That gets to the happy couple, who have yet to even have their first fight. There’s a silliness to the clown that’s a bit over-the-top, but under the surface, the reason Schneider is attached is that he’s recalling his own lonely childhood.

And somehow the suggestion of their relationship falling apart — of it not being perfect — makes them start fighting.

I do think it’s worth noting that their relationship hasn’t always been perfect. Schneider and Avery hit a bump when he started drinking again last season. That was resolved fairly quickly, but I’m eager for some reference to that part of the past. Though in a lot of ways, this new season, now on a new network, feels like a fresh start. 

Sweetly, the fighting between Schneider and Avery stops as soon as they get the world’s fastest ultrasound and have a chance to see their baby. The best part of all of this is their reactions, which are so perfectly genuine and heartwarming. It’s a lovely moment.  

What did you think of this episode of One Day at a Time? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

Critic Rating:

User Rating:

 

One Day at a Time airs Tuesdays at 9:30/8:30c on Pop TV.

 Follow us on Twitter and on Instagram!

Want more from Tell-Tale TV? Subscribe to our newsletter here!

20 Terrific TV Sibling Relationships