By: Atiya Irvin-Mitchell
Bobbie (Reba McEntire) compliments the Ofrenda that Isabella (Belissa Escobedo) is making. Even though Bobbie doesn’t actually know what an Ofrenda is. Isabella explains that an Ofrenda is an offering/alter built to honor the dead during Día de los Muertos, an annual Mexican celebration that takes place a few days after Halloween. Altars include pictures and offerings so that they can be welcomed back for the holiday. Bobbie likes the altar, but she isn’t so wild about the idea of ghosts, so much so that she persuades Isabella to move the Ofrenda to the tavern. Given the choice, Bobbie would much rather opt out of the ghost part of Día de los Muertos, but inviting the ghosts to the tavern instead of her house is preferable.
The next day, when Isabella was setting up the Ofrenda at Happy’s Place, she pats herself on the back, and Steve (Pablo Castelblanco) tells her that he wishes that his own family celebrated the holiday. But death is a somber occasion back where he’s from, and so is life the way his father handles things. Isabella also tells Steve her mom always arranges the photos on the ofrenda in order of favorite to least favorite relatives. Steve respects the petty aspect of the holiday. Bobbie comes in and when Isabella inquires about Bobbie’s emotional state, she shares that she took Isabella’s advice and watched “Coco.” She loved it and understands Día de los Muertos, even if she struggles to pronounce some of the Spanish words correctly. Fun fact though, we’re reminded that Steve is from Colombia.
Once Steve leaves, Isabella tells Bobbie she’s glad she enjoyed the movie but there was a lot about Día de los Muertos that they couldn’t fit in the movie. Bobbie wonders if that means there will be a Coco 2. Before Isabella can answer, Isabella’s mother, Maritza, arrives to greet Isabella. Isabella hugs Maritza, and Bobbie does too, which seems surprising to both mother and daughter, but Bobbie says if they’re celebrating dead family together, they should hug. Maritza says it’s good to see Bobbie, and Bobbie acknowledges the elephant in the room by saying she’s glad she can be friends with her Daddy’s mistress. Maritza (Justina Machado) says she can’t believe it either and jokingly says she can’t wait to tell her mistress friends.
Isabella explains that Bobbie went to therapy with her and now she’s choosing to acknowledge the uncomfortable parts of her life. Maritza says nice try, but she’s never going to therapy with her. When she spots the Ofrenda, she tells Isabella she did a beautiful job, but starts moving pictures to the back. Maritza wonders where Happy is, but Isabella explains they hadn’t discussed it yet. But Isabella acknowledges that now they probably should talk about. Bobbie says that this is something she should deal with and awkwardly takes a picture of Happy and puts it on the Ofrenda. Maritza starts to move it, but Isabella stops her.
Away from the family drama, Gabby (Melissa Pearlman) is struggling to open the fridge door. Emmett says nice try, and when Gabby’s confused, Emmett (Rex Linn) says it’s still Halloween, and during Halloween, Gabby likes pulling pranks. He believes that the fridge is rigged and he won’t risk it. He runs down the list of pranks she’s pulled over the years and says she won’t get him this year. But Gabby says she doesn’t plan to do any pranking this year. Why? Because Isabella set up her Ofrenda and Gabby doesn’t want to upstage her. Emmett doesn’t buy it, though, and still has his guard up. As Emmett leaves, Takoda arrives and asks for table seven’s order, but Gabby says no because Emmett’s a coward.
An unspecified amount of time later, Bobbie and Isabella are putting food on the Ofrenda. We learn Happy loved tater tots, and Maritza arrives with a few gifts, including cologne for Happy. Bobbie shares that he didn’t start wearing it until later in life. Maritza added that at first Happy thought it was unmanly, but he changed his mind when she gifted him some. Bobbie didn’t know that, and Isabella didn’t know Maritza and Happy were so close. But Bobbie says she isn’t sure that giving someone cologne classifies them as close because she gave her mailman cologne once. Isabella thinks this is probably different, and she leaves with Maritza to talk.
When they’re gone, Steve asks Bobbie what’s wrong, and she doesn’t seem to want to share but is pretty fixated on the bottle of cologne. Steve says it makes sense that the cologne makes Bobbie uncomfortable. Happy, Steve says, changed his routine for Maritza. Plus, now Steve wonders if Happy really loved Maritza and wanted to leave Bobbie’s mother to be with her. This makes Bobbie angry, so Steve agrees that it’s just cologne like Bobbie said.
Takoda (Takola Black Elk) goes to the kitchen and says Gabby needs clean glasses. Emmett asks about the tone of her voice, because he’s still paranoid about being pranked. Takoda says her tone was normal. He goes to get the glasses, but very slowly. When Gabby asks what’s taking so long, Takoda shares that Emmett is taking his time because he’s worried about being scared. Gabby says she already told Emmett there will be no pranks this year, so why doesn’t he believe her? Takoda says it’s probably connected to how often she lies and tricks people. At any rate, Takoda says right now Emmett is more freaked out than if Gabby had actually scared him, which Gabby seems to enjoy. Emmett brings the glasses, and Gabby messes with his head. This causes Emmett to do the opposite of what Gabby asks out of caution. Emmett declares that he hates Halloween. Takoda tells Gabby to quit torturing Emmett, and Gabby says she can’t because it’s bigger than all of them now.
Isabella comes into Bobbie’s office and is very excited about the cologne revelation. Timeline-wise, Isabella points out that Happy wore the perfume after they stopped seeing each other up until he died. For years, Isabella says, she assumed Happy barely thought of her and her mother, but wearing the cologne means he had them with him every day. Bobbie doesn’t share that interpretation, and she thinks that, like Steve, Isabella is making a lot out of cologne.
Isabella wonders if Bobbie is threatened because she worries that if Happy loved her mother, it might mean Happy loved Bobbie’s mother less. Bobbie says she doesn’t believe that, but Isabella doesn’t believe her, and Isabella decides they should hear it directly from the source. She goes out to where Maritza is with Bobbie trailing behind her, and asks Maritza if Happy loved her. Maritza laughs and surprises them both by saying, “Hell, if I know.”
We learn that Happy wasn’t an “I love you” guy to anyone. He didn’t tell Maritza, and Bobbie says she showed her with actions. Maritza says Happy wore the cologne, so maybe he did. But Bobbie points out her mailman wore the cologne too. Maritza says she doesn’t know if Happy loved her, but she knows she loves Isabella, so she should start saying it more. If nothing else, it’ll avoid angst like this when she’s gone. Isabella points out they could’ve gotten to all that sooner in therapy, and Maritza says again that it’s never happening.
Elsewhere, Gabby continues torturing Emmett, so much that he’s enlisted Takoda to be his personal Gabby-centric alarm system. Gabby pretends it’s all in Emmett’s head. Emmett starts getting upset and angry chops the vegetables. He appears to cut his finger and sprays blood all over Gabby’s shirt. Gabby screams in horror, and Emmett laughs because the blood was fake and his finger is fine. Now drenched in fake blood, Gabby realizes that she’s been pranked and says she can’t believe Emmett. But Emmett reminds her that he asked her repeatedly to knock it off. When Emmett says he bets being pranked didn’t feel good, Gabby surprises him by saying it feels great. The reason, according to Gabby, is because high-and-mighty Emmett lowered himself and pulled a prank like her. Emmett insists it’s different, and Gabby declares it’s the best Halloween ever. Takoda comes over for an order, sees all the fake blood, and faints to Gabby and Emmett’s amusement.
Later, Steve and Bobbie see Isabella at the Ofrenda, and Steve says she’s talking to Happy. Steve tells Bobbie he’s a little worried about Isabella. We zoom in on Isabella, and she admits that the reason’s she’s been so emotional about Happy is because when she learned the truth about him and her mother, she felt like a mistake, but she’d really like to believe that she came from love. Steve and Bobbie are listening, and Steve says she’s getting a lot from the bottle of cologne. Then Isabella scolds Happy for the mess he made regarding his affair and decades of lies, because it’s still hurting Bobbie. Isabella thinks Bobbie needs closure, so she asks him to give Bobbie something. Steve says he wants this, so he’s goin going to build an Ofrenda for his father. Bobbie reminds Steve that his father is alive, and Steve admits it’s more aspirational.
Emmett is still laughing about the prank he pulled, and he and Gabby argue about who is going to get whom next year. Takoda says they both need to stop, because pranks are only effective when they come from someone you don’t expect. Neither of them takes him seriously, and when he asks them to empty the trash can, they become suspicious of him.
At the end of the night, Bobbie talks to Happy, and she points out that for a dead man, he causes a lot of problems. Long story short, the cologne made her uncomfortable because it made Isabella so happy. Bobbie explains that Happy never said he loved her, but he showed her in a million little ways. But it makes her sad that the only example of his love Isabella has is one bottle. So, she acknowledges she needs to start telling and showing Isabella so that when she makes an Ofrenda for Bobbie, there’s more than Cologne. Isabella overhears, and she and Bobbie talk, and Isabella hopes that Bobbie has closure.