Mom – A Dark Closet and Therapy with Horses

The episode opens with Bonnie (Allison Janney) watching Christy (Anna Faris) study. Bonnie comments on how she is on her way to becoming a lawyer and Christy says that if she is looking for money she doesn’t have any. In fact, she just got a slurpee with her Discover card.

Bonnie says she is proud of her and if it weren’t for her ADD she could have been something too…. a doctor, lawyer, doctor-lawyer without borders. Christy knows where this is going, but before she can say anything else Adam (William Fichtner) comes in with Gus the dog. He says things went well at the bar thanks to March Madness and wishes it could be like that all the time. Christy quips that then it would just be madness. Bonnie says “yeah alcohol” in response to Adam’s successful night. Christy says she she open with that for her next share.  Bonnie says that is how she opened with her first share.

Adam says Tammy is not the best waitress, but a good bouncer who actually made some guy bounce when she tossed him out. He also said that Gus made eighty-five dollars.  Tammy made five times that and Adam offers to give Christy some shifts. Now it is her turn to cheer for alcohol and Bonnie to go into her next “if only I didn’t have ADD” speech. Christy tells her to talk to the therapist Wendy recommended and she wonders why she should take advice from someone who wears Crocs and giant undies. She argues and finally agrees to go, causing Adam to say that he might jump up and down for the first time in years.

Bonnie goes to her first therapy session and spends time looking around, being tempted to steal a tree and pushing the button to alert the therapist she is there. The latter gives her the most joy. She sees some guy leave in tears and thinks it is the universe telling her to run.

The doctor (Rainn Wilson) comes to see her and she says she doesn’t want him to say what he said to the crying guy. The doctor says he was already crying. He promises her this is free and there are no vitamins because he doesn’t believe in them and also has a swallowing problem. She says she can hack his WiFi and he offers her a thousand dollars to guess the password. She is alarmingly close.

Christy and Tammy (Kristen Johnston) are working in the bar. Adam is very grateful for their help. Christy jokes that she is making stripper level tips only showing her elbows. Tammy tells customers she isn’t a computer and to slow down with the orders.

As Christy serves Mike (Larry Joe Campbell) and his friend their drinks she notices that they are betting on the game. They tell her about the app they used and she asks if they can use it in a dark closet. Mike admits he has and Christy becomes tempted.

At the therapy session Bonnie talks about her ADD and keeps getting distracted. Trevor the therapist offers her options to help her and she says there is no way she is using pills or having her brain wired. She is also glad that this isn’t her fault. She wants to work with therapy horses and he says that if this was an option he would open with that. She says no horses should go on their Yelp page. Trevor thinks she is holding on to her ADD as a crutch and she leaves in a huff…but not before pushing the button.

The bar is slammed and Tammy is freaking out. Adam tells her to calm down and wonders where Christy is. She freaks out again when she realizes that that don’t serve pizza and complains that she already made pepperoni promises. Christy is with the gambling guys, who thinks of her as their lucky charm. Michael gives her money. She says she can’t take it because she can’t gamble, but he says it is a tip. If it were gambling money it would be ten times that amount. Tammy tries serving drinks and falls, taking the drinks with her.

Christy goes to a GA meeting. It is crowded due to March Madness and she goes to sit with her sponsor (Sam McMurray). She talks about the app and what happened at the bar. He warns her about how dangerous this is and makes her promise to call before and after her shift. Lucy (Susan Rutten), the woman next to her, downloaded the app. Christy’s sponsor takes it away and says she can have it back in April.

Adam is giving Christy, Gus and Tammy a pep talk before the next March Madness session and they get ready to let them all in.

Bonnie goes to another therapy session and she tells him to do his thing. He wonders how she knows he hasn’t already started.

Christy serves the guys food and Mike asks for her help. She says no, but after he pressures her she agrees for one time. However, she gets suckered into the game and gambling again.

Bonnie tells Trevor her life story and he says that ADD may have saved her from her traumatic life…and may have actually been a coping mechanism. He says she can allow her feelings out now. She says she is pissed and he tells her to let those feelings out until it is her turn to leave in tears.

Adam yells at Christy to do her work and she says Tammy has it. Tammy says for people to grab their drinks.

Christy’s sponsor shows up and is upset that she didn’t call. She makes excuses and he calls her out on it and says she slipped. She thinks she is pathetic, but he reminds her that she wasn’t tempted to drink at the bar. He says quitting gambling will get easier as long as she takes it one day at a time. She thinks she will be okay, but the guys might be mad. She offers for her sponsor to come in, but he says there isn’t enough Prilosec in the world to help him handle wings.

The episode ends with Bonnie, Tammy and Christy at the bistro with Wendy (Beth Hall), Marjorie (Mimi Kennedy) and Jill (Jaime Pressly). Bonnie fills them in on the therapy and Marjorie hopes she can deal with her anger in a healthy way.