Grown-ish Review: Drunk in Love (Season 4 Episode 2)
After getting arrested by the Mexican police, Zoey and Aaron are held at the police station on Grown-ish Season 4 Episode 2, “Drunk in Love.”
In an episode that is a slight improvement from the premiere, mostly because of the humor packed into it, the lack of action harms it.
The fact that Zoey and Aaron are in jail and can’t go anywhere leaves much to be desired in terms of action scenes, but the flashbacks to the evening that put them there at the very least make up for some of the missing action.
They should be celebrating their first night as newlyweds, but instead, they’re celebrating in jail for soliciting a guard and stealing a piñata. The latter being the reason they were arrested initially.
Although, the real question is, what’s in that piñata? Because how are they getting jail time for stealing it? It better have been filled to the brim with drugs or diamonds!
In any stressful scenario, every relationship is tested. As Aaron and Zoey start throwing jabs and fault, they come to the conclusion that their spontaneous wedding may have been the wrong choice.
Zoey’s voiceovers talk about fate and what it means and how to take hold of it. While being arrested might not have been their destiny, it is an event that forces them to revaluate their relationship and its trajectory.
They’ve known each other for three years, and there has certainly been sexual tension in those three years even as they dated other people.
It’s true, they do bring out the worst in each other. Hey, they said it first! They’re not a bad couple, it’s just that they’ve never dated long enough to make it out of the honeymoon phase. So, they’ve only ever been impulsive together.
But it seems a night apart is exactly what their relationship needed. Zoey took the fall for the petty theft and spent the night in jail and Aaron spent the night sleeping on the bench outside of the jail.
Finally coming to their senses, they decided to unmarry each other. Now they can pursue a healthy relationship and choose to be together rather than having a contract bind them together.
Meanwhile, half of the group is sitting together in solidarity with Ana after her blow-up with Javier, and Luca and Doug are the only two truly enjoying their vacation.
Ana’s situation with Javier almost contracting Chlamydia is entirely confusing and overreactive.
They both have their issues with trust and communication, so until those are sorted out they won’t have a successful relationship.
Retrospectively, the amount of time in this episode split between Zoey and Aaron and the rest of the group is extremely uneven.
The additional storylines are merely throwaways, and it’s hard to focus or truly grasp the gravity of the issues with Ana and Javier when they only received a handful of screentime to truly unpack their problems.
However, with Zoey as the titular character, it makes sense to have the focus on her. Otherwise, it would’ve made the episode hard to follow with an equivalent ratio of storylines to characters.
Until they’re all back at school and out of vacationland, then they’ll have more pressing drama and more equal screentime. If they return to school that is.
The final kicker of the episode is that COVID is making its way to the U.S. So, as they’re are toasting to their epic upcoming senior year, little do they know it’s going to be wrecked as soon as they get back.
Seeing as the friend group can’t really be in the same room together for more than a few hours without jumping down each other’s throats, their quarantine time might lead to some unfond memories.
So, for now, let them stay in bliss as long as they can. Before they realize their fate isn’t up to them, it’s at the hands of a deadly virus.
Stray Musings:
- Aaron’s line about not being an American, but an African American is so cringy. Isn’t he supposed to be woke and aware? Wasn’t he the guy who protested his university’s private funding of prisons?
- Why didn’t anyone teach Aaron that it’s señor, not señor-o?!
- “Trust is the real Chlamydia in this relationship and it needs to get treated.” Mic drop.
What did you think of this episode of Grown-ish? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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Grown-ish airs Thursdays at 8/7c on Freeform.
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Inga Parkel
Inga is an avid TV watcher and critic, some of her favorites include The Bold Type, Sex Education, and How I Met Your Mother. She focuses a majority of her articles on LGBTQ+ representation in the media.