One Day at a Time – One Halloween at a Time

By: Gladys Luna

Penelope (Justina Machado) and Max (Ed Quinn) are in bed discussing how much they have evolved in their relationship as well as making plans about the costumes they’ll be wearing for Halloween. In the meantime, at the Alvarez’s house Elena (Isabella Gomez) and Syd (Sheridan Pierce) try to explain Lydia (Rita Moreno) about the costumes they have chosen. They are dressed up as Greta Thunberg and an iceberg and are planning to take advantage of the holiday to raise awareness about climate change and collect some signatures for the campaign they are in, something that Lydia finds to be very boring and suggests them to dress as cats instead.

Right that moment Schneider (Todd Grinnell) and Avery (India de Beaufort) show up wearing costumes that no one could imagine. He imitates a goat while Avery makes a yoga pose, but the only idea that comes to Lydia’s mind is that he is a cow and the woman moves suggest that she has stepped on the cow’s poop. So, Schneider is compelled to explain that together they are a goat yoga, but nobody seems to understand. Avery explains that every year Schneider attends to a Halloween contest at the Beverly Hills country club but never wins. He really wants to get the prize this year. He is convinced that couples costumes always win and also, he truly wants to win the iPad mini as he never wins anything. However, Elena says that he is in a very privileged position so he has practically won at life already. Schneider and Avery are about to leave the apartment when Penelope walks in and believes that they are dressed as “Little Bo Peep and a messed-up sheep,” something that makes Schneider even more upset about his situation. The woman compliments Syd and Elena’s costumes and tells them that they seem better than the ones they wore the previous year when they were disguised as a toxic drinking water and a tumor. Elena and Syd leave the place and when Lydia and Penelope are left alone Lydia teases her daughter by saying she knows she has spent the night with Max and hopes she had a lot of fun. But Penelope tells her that they have only been knitting sweaters and reading The Bible, something that Lydia don’t believe at all. She asks her daughter to place a carved pumpkin outside the apartment and when Penelope opens the door, she finds a young guy with a gray hair and a girl kissing. She asks them to move away, but then realizes that the young couple actually are Alex (Marcel Ruiz) and Nora (Raquel Justice). The woman nearly gets a heart attack when seeing what her son has done to his hair without asking her first and he explains that he actually asked for her permission, but she misunderstood the situation. Lydia walks out of the kitchen and, at first, she seems to be shocked by her grandson’s look but then she says that he actually looks like his Abuelo. So, she plans on giving him the late man’s suit and having a dance with him. Penelope tells Alex that they will continue talking about his decision of changing his hair color after he comes back from trick-or-treating, but he says he has decided he won’t do it anymore. Penelope is shocked! He asks for her permission to attend to Nora’s parents’ Halloween party and she agrees to let him go, but asks him to come back early so he can spoon his Abuelita.

Later that day Lydia is about to take the garbage out but didn’t realize that the bag has a hole in it, so the garbage falls to the floor revealing its content that includes a pregnancy test. Meanwhile, in the living room Penelope is in the middle of a call with Max and they are discussing about their Halloween plans again. Lydia overhears the conversation and believes that Penelope is actually talking about being pregnant. Sometime later Max shows up dressed up as Danny Zuko while Penelope is Sandy. They dance and make jokes about their costumes. Then, Avery walks in wearing a car racer costume and announcing Schneider is dressed as a drag queen. He attempts for them to figure out their customes and Max says that he believes they are a “drag race,” making Schneider very happy to know someone finally understands his concept. Penelope expresses that she finds them to be very cute, something that upsets Schneider making leave the apartment in a haste. The doorbell rings and Penelope gets excited as she believes their first trick-or-treaters have arrived. When she opens the door, she finds Dr. Leslie (Stephen Tobolowsky) standing there disguised as The Beast from Beauty and the Beast. He quickly yells, “The beast is here,” making Lydia come out of her room replying, “So is the beauty.” Penelope is excited to find out that they chose to wear a couples costume, but Lydia explains that she didn’t know the Beauty and the Beast were a couple and thought the story was actually about a beautiful woman who had a pet dog in tuxedo. She takes Leslie to the kitchen and shows him the pregnancy test. He believes that she is pregnant so, he bends on his knees and says that he doesn’t care who the father is but he is willing to raise the child as his own. However, Lydia explains that the test actually belongs to her daughter.

Syd and Elena go trick-or-treating. They knock on a door and the neighbor (Reggie Watts) that comes out finds them to be very cute as he believes they are dressed as Anna and Olaf. They try to speak with him about climate change, but the man just gives them the candy and shuts the door. Then, they knock on another door and are surprised when the woman (Marla Gibbs) living there congratulates them for being accurate about the current situation and believes they are disguised as Dorothy and a Tornado. They try to speak with her about the cause they are defending, but the woman hands them a couple of candy bars and closes her door as well. Syd seems to be disappointed since they have not accomplished what they wanted, but Elena encourages them as she says the good thing is they might get a lot of candy bars.

Max thanks Penelope for inviting him over for Halloween and the woman confesses that when Alex told her that he will no longer be trick-or-treating, she felt like part of her life was over. Though, now she knows a new one is beginning. They make a toast and when Penelope is about to drink her wine Lydia comes out of the kitchen, takes the wine out of her hands and drinks it all herself. She tells her daughter that she cannot drink because of her pregnancy, something that surprises Max and the woman herself. She assures her that the test does not belong to her and is sure that is not Elena’s either. So, the only ones left on the list are Alex and Nora. Penelope and Max show up at Nora’s parents’ house and they meet Nora’s mother (Jeimy Osorio). She introduces herself and asks for permission to talk to her son. She calls for him and Alex makes fun of her when she sees her believing she is dressed as an old biker dude. Penelope shows him the test and asks for an explanation. Nora’s mother overhears them and wants to know if the test belongs to him and her daughter. So, she calls for Nora as well. The young couple is embarrassed of having that conversation and Alex shyly confesses that they haven’t had sex, something that makes Penelope feel relieved. Elena and Syd return to the apartment looking happy. Even though they didn’t accomplish their goal, they at least managed to collect a lot of candy.

Penelope, Max and Alex enter the place and clarify that the pregnancy test did not belong to them either. As they try to figure out who it belongs to, Schneider and Avery enter the place in the middle of a cloud of smoke dressed up as Daenerys Targaryen and a dragon, getting compliments from everyone but Schneider is upset since they lost the first place to Elton John who was disguised as Garfield eating lasagna. Avery realizes that Penelope is holding the test and confesses to them that it belongs to her. Everybody starts to congratulate her, making Schneider confused about it. So, Avery walks towards him and shows him the test and reveals that she is pregnant making him very happy.  He assures her that becoming a father is better than winning an iPad mini. Alex says he will be a Tio while Elena says she will become a Tia. Penelope says that the news is worth to be celebrated. So, as a way to keep making fun of Alex, she refers to him as grandpa and asks him to take them out to get some ice cream. She then says that she would like for him to keep his hair like that because even though his hair color is silver, the jokes are gold.