Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage Season 2 Episode 9 Review: Payback and a Partial Shebang

Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage, Season 2 Episode 9 “Payback and a Partial Shebang,” brings back Fred Fagenbacher, and he’s out for revenge.

Georgie’s sabotage in Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage Season 2, Episode 4, “Dirty Hands and a Barbed-Wire Fence,” finally comes back to bite him. Fred is coming for the store at full force, and it’s putting quite the strain on Georgie’s relationships.

As a reminder, in that episode, Georgie and Ruben sabotaged Fred’s tow trucks by putting bleach in them. Now he’s making good on his promise to get back at them. Fred’s made false tow requests, he sent snow tires despite them being in Texas, and refuses to admit to any of it when Georgie calls to confront him.

This is all annoying, of course, but where things get interesting is when Fred starts going for Georgie’s relationships. Specifically, he causes issues with Mandy and with Ruben.

Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage does very well when it focuses on interpersonal relationships, so having Fred go after those is a very good move narratively.

What makes it even better is that Georgie, more or less, brought this upon himself. It’s nice to see impulsive actions have consequences as opposed to just punishing him for things out of his control.

It’s  also nice to see Mandy figure out what exactly Georgie had been hiding from her. Fred might be a scumbag, but he tells her the truth, and she’s very understandably angry.

Fred is interesting in this episode because, at several points, he’s not doing anything wrong. For starters, he isn’t in the wrong for telling Mandy the truth about Georgie literally breaking the law. Additionally, it’s also hard to say his offer to Ruben isn’t bad either.

Ruben is under a lot of stress caused by Georgie, so it wouldn’t be unreasonable for Ruben to take Fred up on his offer. Fred might be doing the right thing for the wrong reasons, but Georgie hasn’t exactly been doing much better.

This episode really puts Georgie’s worst traits in the spotlight, and fortunately, it does work. This is most obvious when Ruben decides to walk out for a bit.

It’s so clear that Georgie does not actually appreciate Ruben’s input, nor does he put much thought into the impact his choices have had on Ruben’s life. It’s actually a bit disappointing, but not at all surprising, this has been pretty consistent with Georgie’s character.  

Thankfully, Mandy calls him out, and he actually listens and apologizes to Ruben.

We get to meet Ruben’s Abuela, who is easily the comedic highlight of the episode. Portrayed by Lidia Porto, she doesn’t have much screentime, but the time she does have is golden. Ruben has apparently told her all about Georgie, so she hates him immediately.

The immediate and vicious unbridled disdain for someone she has never even met is fantastic. She almost feels like a stand-in for the audience at that particular moment.  

Ruben and Georgie do manage to make up, but the resolution feels a little unstable. This is likely not the end of this. “Payback and a Partial Shebang” isn’t the strongest episode comedy-wise, but it is an interesting one for the narrative.

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Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage airs Thursdays at 8/7c on CBS.

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