Workin Moms Review: A Solid But Not Spectacular Outing

Note: There are some spoilers for Season of 5 of Workin’ Moms.

As a whole, Workin’ Moms Season 5 is a solid addition to the series.

It’s not the funniest or most raw season of the Workin’ Moms canon, and some twists seem easy to call a mile away (Kate’s clearly going to send the raunchy photo to the wrong person and the finale twist surrounding Nathan’s progeny is similarly signaled).

However, it maintains the general irreverence it’s become known for over the years while allowing for a more serious and somber tone than it’s traditionally had before. It’s an enjoyable, but imperfect 4 hours of binge-watching.

The season is carried by Anne (Dani Kind), even kicking off with a bottle episode focused entirely on her and Lionel’s transition to their new town. This choice feels like a jarring way to start the season, but it’s indicative of how rough of adjustment the family is having, so it works on a meta-level.

As the season continues, Anne’s frustration with her life is palpable but that doesn’t make her coping mechanism of relying on sedatives any less unsettling. 

Anne’s anger, simmering for so much of the season, comes to a full boil on Workin’ Moms Season 5 Episode 6, “Finger in the Butt” when Anne slaps judgy fellow parent Alicia (Kat Barrell). 

It’s a delightful moment for Earpers everywhere and a moment of wish-fulfillment. Who at some point hasn’t wanted to let loose and slap somebody but never actually followed through on the impulse?

Anne’s scramble to regain her footing is all too relatable and watching her rely on and cling to Kate (Catherine Reitman) is important because as much as this show is about parenthood, it’s also about friendship and love.

Anne and Kate’s friendship is the true love story of the show and watching them find each other again and work together professionally for the first time reveals new shades to the depth of their friendship. More than ever, it’s clear that that friendship brings out the best in both of them.

The same can’t be said for Jenny (Jessalyn Wanlim), who exists almost entirely on a separate show and seems barely integrated into the group. Never a particularly great character, part of the reason Jenny’s presence on the show has been tolerable is because she represents a rare perspective on parenthood.

Generally ambivalent about being a parent and deeply self-centered, Jenny’s not willing to fill the martyr role that so many women call fall into; no, Jenny’s first priority is Jenny, and even at her worst (and there are many of these moments to choose from), there is something to admire about someone who’s so focused on achieving their open happiness. Plenty of women are simply socialized to be the opposite.

However, with each passing season, the list of Jenny’s redeeming characteristics shrinks. This season, on top of her myriad of other bad behavior, she acts homophobic/biphobic and as the cherry on top, lies to her partner about being pregnant (though in a double whammy, she’s surprised to find she actually is pregnant).

It’s altogether disgusting behavior, made even worse by her partner Malcolm (Alex Mallari Jr.). While Jenny is generally terrible to him, he has a streak of meanness too, which is on full display on Workin’ Moms Season 5 Episode 9, “Blue Angel” and Episode 10, “FACK.” 

Making underhanded comments about her weight and her intelligence and trying to corner her into confessing she’s faking her pregnancy rather than confronting her directly: these are not the choices of a good man and combined with Jenny’s already absurd behavior, makes this the weakest subplot/storyline of the season (and someone literally dies in Frankie’s story).

A suggestion for next season: unless there’s something truly new to do with Jenny’s character, throw that screen time to Sloane (Enuka Okuma), who provides an exciting new perspective to this season (plus some major Cher I-am-a-rich-man energy).

Sloane is complicated, and I mean that in the best way.

At varying parts of the season, she’s the antagonist, comic relief, and completely vulnerable, trying to process and understand her relationship with the child she physically carried for her sister. She demands reaction, and she demands respect.

She’s a fascinating foil and complement for Kate, pushing her in a way few characters have through the series (and judging from how the season ended, this push-pull seems bound to continue).

Plus, through Sloane, the show gets to explore a different kind of mother: one without her child. It’s fertile ground for storytelling.

As I alluded to above, through the years, Workin’ Moms has felt like Anne and Kate’s show. This isn’t inherently a bad thing. Catherine Reitman makes for an accessible lead and Dani Kind, I’d wager, is the acting MVP of the show. 

However, as white, wealthy, cisgender mothers, Anne and Kate represent a very specific experience of motherhood and womanhood, which is why the inclusion of Sloane feels so thrilling.

The other characters that have slightly different backgrounds and experiences, particularly lead characters Jenny and Frankie (Juno Rinaldi), will occasionally get a meaty storyline but they don’t consistently get great material every season (and that’s not even addressing the reality that Jenny as a character is a mess).

Case in point: while Frankie’s postpartum depression storyline early in the series was incredibly effective, her story in Season 5 barely registers.

It’s admirable that Workin’ Moms wants to explore struggling to connect with a child for whom you serve as a parental figure, but too much of Frankie’s story feels like an afterthought and gets muffled by a bizarre plot about the death of one of Frankie’s employees.

As much as I love the central love story/friendship of Anne and Kate, characters like Sloane and Frankie are vital and the show is better and richer when it doesn’t shortchange them and gives everyone stories of equal weight.

If anything, that’s the weakness of this season. As solid and funny as it is, when half of your lead characters’ stories are unsavory or easily forgettable, that weighs everything down and can make things feel imbalanced. 

Real life working moms benefit from balance, and so would this show.

Stray observations:

• The teenagers in Cochrane are deeply obnoxious but you have to give them credit for the spot-on Handmaid’s Tale burn some of them fling at Bennett on Workin’ Moms Season 5 Episode 3, “Pleasure Yourself.” That punk deserves it.
• Is Juniper (Aviva Mongillo) actually the MVP of this entire show? She arguably has the best line delivery of the season as she advises Frankie she needs to reach out to her friends to deal with her depression: “you’re just like at the bottom of a well but you’ve got nothing but fancy friends and shit who’ve got rope who can pull you out so mural of the story, call one of them up.” Genius.
• It’s understandable that the show wouldn’t want to dwell too much in the pandemic. However, it is odd that it mentions this being the largest test for Anne and Lionel’s marriage and a nightmare start for their move to Cochrane, but doesn’t really show us much of what happens. We see some the aftermath but we don’t fully understand what transpired that caused the spiraling.

What did you think of this season of Workin’ Moms? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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Workin’ Moms is streaming on Netflix.

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