Shifting Gears Season 1 Episode 8 Recap: Career

Self-love and self-worth are essential lessons for each Parker family member on Shifting Gears Season 1 Episode 8, “Career.”

Finally fulfilling his promise to Carter, Matt brings his grandson to the shop to start working on the car he got for his birthday. The only problem? Matt quickly loses patience when he notices Carter paying more attention to his phone than helping.

Remembering how tough it was to have Matt as a mentor when he was a kid, Gabriel steps in to defuse Matt’s rising frustration with Carter’s lack of interest. Unfortunately, this backfires when Matt “quits” mentoring Carter and hands the job to Gabriel instead.

After several failed attempts to get Carter to look away from his phone for more than a minute, Gabriel finally loses patience and confronts him about his rude behavior.

Realizing he’s in the wrong, Carter quickly apologizes and explains to Gabriel and Stitch that he’s been texting a girl named Lilly, who he has a crush on.

Gabriel and Stitch immediately forget about fixing the car and shift into gossip and relationship advice mode. Looking back at their own love lives, they encourage Carter to be confident, trust his feelings, and ask her out.

Taking their advice, Carter asks Lilly if she wants to hang out. She responds quickly, inviting him over later—but what seems like progress turns into the friend zone when he realizes it’s a group hangout, not one-on-one.

Frustrated, Carter tells Gabriel that even if he wants to go, he’s too anxious to put himself out there, make new friends, or risk ruining things with Lilly.

Having flashbacks to his own high school days, Gabriel relates to Carter, admitting that he felt the same way and ended up going through school alone. But he quickly reminds Carter that he’s not alone now; Stitch and Gabriel have brought him into their friend group.

Feeling seen and understood, Carter decides to step out of his comfort zone and attend the group hangout, taking a chance on Lilly.

Back at the house, Georgia uses her stellar debate skills to convince Matt to present at her class’s career day. Confused but impressed by her sweet-talking, Matt agrees to go and talk about his shop.

Things get awkward when Riley comes home from work and tells Georgia she also signed up for career day. Now, Georgia has two family members presenting—what could go wrong?

At the school, Matt presents first, ultimately winning over the adoring kids by giving away gifts and talking about how he built a car for Robert Downey Jr. Georgia basks in the spotlight, soaking in her newfound popularity.

That is until Riley gets up to present—only to realize Georgia lied to the class, telling them Riley is a celebrity dance choreographer instead of a receptionist at a dance studio.

Wanting to teach Georgia a lesson about honesty, Riley delivers a short presentation about her real work history and how she’s had many different jobs before her current one.

What seemed like a decent career day takes a turn when Matt, Riley, and Georgia get home, and Georgia reveals her bratty side. She tells Riley she never wanted her there in the first place because her job is “lame and embarrassing.”

Hurt by Georgia’s words, Riley argues that she doesn’t always do jobs she loves; she does them to put a roof over her kids’ heads and buy them nice things, like iPhones.

Seeing that neither of them is willing to apologize, Matt steps in to “save the day,” even if it means making himself the villain.

Giving Georgia and Riley a common enemy, Matt launches into a blatantly sexist rant about how women are too emotional. As expected, this immediately gets Georgia and Riley to team up against him, passionately arguing about how wrong he is.

Once Matt leaves the room, Georgia and Riley are silent, reflecting on everything that happened. They quickly reconcile, realizing they do better when they stick together.

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What did you think of this episode of Shifting Gears? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

Shifting Gears airs Wednesdays at 8/7c on ABC.

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