Mom – Audrey Hepburn and a Jalapeno Pepper

By: Gladys Luna

The first episode of Season 7 opens with Bonnie (Allison Janney) sharing to the AA group that she is a proof that the group sessions actually work as she and her husband Adam (William Fichtner) are soon going to their honeymoon to a lake house for seven whole days. She says she never imagined she could ever do that after everything she has been going through. After her, Christy (Anna Faris) sees the opportunity to also share her story, although unlike her mother, she is extremely single and since her mother and husband will be out of town she will be in charge of the man’s bar. She also confesses that some time ago she wasn’t even trusted to be alone with half of a light beer, but now she considers herself to be in a better state. So, she also sees herself as a proof of the programs ‘good results and feels proud of herself. She even has considered inviting the other women to check on her, but she believes it would be inappropriate given their situation.

As a result of the women good news Jill (Jaime Pressly), who looks visibly jealous, decides to share that she also has a boyfriend and is followed by Tammy (Kristen Johnston) who says that she has recently joined Tinder and found it is really disturbing. She expresses that she has earned a temporary promotion at the bar she is currently working at (Adam’s bar) and that is because of her good work and not because her mother has married the bar owner (in regards Christy’s earlier comments).

Bonnie and Adam arrive to the lake house and she finds it quite amazing. As they enter the place the woman cannot help it but to acknowledge how everything seems to be a full cliché. Adam also appears to be quite content with his new state along with Bonnie.

Back at Napa, Christy is excited to be in charge of the bar while her stepfather and mother are out of town and wants to make sure that everything works as good as it is supposed to be. She tells the other employees that since she wasn’t able to give a proper wedding gift to her mom and Adam due to her financial problems, she has thought that maybe her gift could be to give them back the bar with improvements in profitability and efficiency. Tammy, who is also part of the bar crew, doesn’t seem to be so happy with Christy being in charge and makes sure to express her discontent about it. Christy questions her if she has any problems with her being her new boss, but Tammy backs down and decides not to say anything else. The blonde attempts to show the crew how to prepare not so strong drinks, but Rick (Jim Turner), another crew member,  complains about it and asks her what he has to do in order to make the clients want to come back since he believes her new plan on how drinks are supposed to be served will fail miserably. Tammy gets offended and decides to step up and defend Christy from the man’s comments. Christy thanks her for standing up for her, but Tammy assures her that the reason why she did it was only because she really hates Rick and wanted to annoy him.

In the meantime, at the lake house Bonnie and Adam are spending some time together while relaxing in the deck of the house. Suddenly Bonnie’s thoughts start to betray her. Adam looks completely content while reading a book and wearing very particular sunglasses that his wife seems to dislike very much. She begins to take notice about every single thing that is happening around her. Instead of enjoying it, she gets annoyed. While she is enrolled in her train of thoughts, Adam yells that he is really happy making her reply that he is not as happy as her.

At the bar Christy seems to be having a hard time trying to get Rick to learn her way to serve drinks. On the other side of the room Tammy has mistaken the clients’ orders and served them the wrong ones. Christy approaches her and tries to help her understand the tables distribution and what is the actual food on their menu, but the woman remains reluctant to have her as her new boss.

Back to the lake house Bonnie tells Adam that she is going to take some mountain air so she’ll be outside if he needs her. Instead she calls Marjorie (Mimi Kennedy), her sponsor, and tells her that everything is so perfect that she feels completely miserable and has doubts about if her marriage with Adam would even work at all. Marjorie figures out that Bonnie hasn’t gone to any meeting while she is on vacation and the woman gets offended because she believes there is no place where she could go and thinks that her sponsor is making fun of her. Marjorie explains that she has a disease and the meetings are her medicine, so wherever she goes her alcoholism will always be with her. When she is about to tell her what she could do to cope with what she’s feeling at the time the connection dies leaving a very unsettled Bonnie behind. She starts to scream and throws a table in the lake when she notices Adam is there watching everything. Adam drives Bonnie to her meeting and is thinking about getting a haircut while she is there. They agree to meet for lunch after her meeting and she practically jumps out of the car when she spots the place where the meeting will be held.

Once she is inside Bonnie finds it to be very boring as only a few people are there and they seem to have fallen into a loop of hellos. She cannot help it anymore and asks when the meeting is supposed to start since they don’t seem to care about time at all. A woman named Patty (Kate Micucci) introduces herself to Bonnie and tells her that as it’s only a few of them they start whenever they can. Bonnie, who had had enough already, decides to start the meeting and tells them her story about how her mother left her when she was four years old and that she hasn’t met one good thing that she could not turn it into a bad one. She also says that she is originally from Napa, but she is in town for her honeymoon.

At the bar Christy is surprised to find out that no one in the crew except for Tammy has showed up for work. Apparently no one agrees with her way of managing the things around. Christy questions Tammy about why she stayed and the other woman tells her that she did because she is her friend. At the meeting everyone seems to be pleased with Bonnie’s story and thank her for sharing with them. Patty approaches to her and says that Bonnie’s words have touched her and make her feel that she can actually stay sober. She tells her that she has a daughter that was taken away from her due to her alcoholism and the only thing she cares about is to get her back but is afraid that it is too late for that. The woman uses the same words that Marjorie used on her when she called her and Patty is marveled by Bonnie’s wisdom.

The bar seems to be quite a mess, but lucky for Christy we see Marjorie, Jill and Wendy (Beth Hall) show up to help her thanks to Tammy who had called them for assistance. Christy truly appreciates what the woman has done for her and believes that Adam should have left her in charge instead, something to what Tammy boldly agrees.

When Bonnie meets with Adam again he is surprised to see Patty getting into their car as well and Bonnie explains to him that the girl is joining them for dinner. Patty tells the couple about her story and Adam doesn’t seem to want to deal with it anymore. So, he decides to leave. Patty tells Bonnie that her daughter’s birthday was a week ago and she couldn’t be there with her. Bonnie reflects herself in the young woman but assures her that nothing is actually lost as she has now a very good relationship with her daughter. She says that if she puts her focus on her sobriety things will start to work on their own. Patty asks Bonnie to be her sponsor and the woman happily accepts, but tells her that as her marriage comes first they would have a schedule to follow on. However, she is allowed to call her every day. Later that night Adam and Bonnie are enjoying some time together when the woman tells him that Patty will be showing up later. They still have a few minutes to spend together before she does and when they are about to leave the couch the doorbell rings making Adam complain about it.