One Day at a Time – Penny Pinching

By: Gladys Luna

The episode opens with a dinner where Alex (Marcel Ruiz) introduces his girlfriend Nora (Raquel Justice) to the family. Nora thanks them for the invitation and Penelope (Justina Machado) says that she is glad to have her there, even if her and Alex have been dating only for four weeks. Alex expresses that he is relieved that everything is going well since he thought it would be a disaster. Lydia (Rita Moreno) interrupts him and asks with a sigh of disdain how they actually met. Nora says that she approached him and complimented his snickers. He just nodded flirtatiously at her and they have been together ever since. Lydia continues and asks Nora if Alex had already said he loves her because he has already said it to her. Penelope rushes them into ordering since Happy Hour will soon be over. When it’s Alex and Nora’s turn to order, they are found kissing behind the menu. Elena (Isabella Gomez) is interested in ordering a salmon salad dish, but before she does, she wants to know how the salmon is raised. Her mother tells her that it will only be raised in price if she doesn’t hurry up. Sometime later into dinner Nora is telling them a story where her grandfather once told her that in his house no Red Socks fan were allowed. Lydia laughs out loud, pleased with the story. Lydia tells Nora that even if Alex hasn’t told her he loves her, she does loves her and is happy to be finally surrounded by a young Latina who actually speaks Spanish. Elena says that she speaks Spanish followed by her mother who says she is still young, but Lydia doesn’t care at all. Elena asks Penelope permission to have the car the next day since she wants to attend the Overwatch League finals. Lydia tries to make fun of her saying that only the nerds like that. Penelope tells her that she can borrow the car only if she promises to take Alex and Lydia to run their errands and not to tell her how the match went after. Elena is so happy that she will be able to make an itinerary for everyone and also attend the event that she refers to it as “the best weekend ever.” Nora says she is just hilarious, but then Alex tells her that his sister is not joking and is actually excited about it. The bill arrives and Elena tells her mother not to freak out about it. When Penelope looks at it, she screams when she sees the amount she has to pay. She walks straight to the waiter Bryce (Andrew Leeds) and asks him for an explanation. The man tells her that even though she ordered her meal before the Happy Hour was over, when he entered the order in the system it was registered after. Penelope keeps discussing with him until he decides to take off the charge. Alex assures his girlfriend that his mother is not usually like that, but Elena denies it. The woman goes back to the table and tells Nora it was really lovely to meet her.

When the family returns to the house Alex yells at Penelope that she embarrassed him before his girlfriend and calls her crazy. Lydia tells her that if Nora breaks up with Alex because of what happened they will never forgive her. Alex goes to his room and Schneider (Todd Grinnell) comes off of the couch scaring Penelope. She says that she is just getting used to seeing him arrive unannounced but not coming out from under the furniture. He tells her that he is trying to fix her couch since she is too cheap to buy a new one, but she is convinced that she doesn’t need a new one.

He tells her that she just has the “scare city mindset,” but she can now afford a new couch. However, she doesn’t want to be reckless on how she spends her money. Schneider says that she should be a little bit more like him and she mocks of him saying that she is not used to cleaning her butt with a hundred-dollar bills like him. Schneider gets offended by her since he believes she has a very “hurtful rich stereotype.” They keep fighting with each other until he shows her all the wrong things with the couch and asks her to go buy a new one.

The next day Elena drives her brother and grandmother to run their errands. She tells Alex that she will drop him first to buy his “stupid sneakers” and then she’ll drive Lydia to the fish market. The woman says that she wants to be the first one because she wants to buy the “Cuban crabs” before anyone else, but Elena tells her that she is not allowed to drive someone under twenty-one years old on her own without an adult around. So, Lydia comes up with the idea of inviting Leslie (Stephen Tobolowsky) and he agrees to go with them. He is so happy to be included that he makes jokes and messes with Alex’s hair. When Elena thinks she is done with dropping everyone where they were supposed to be, she realizes that Dr. Leslie is still in the car. She tells him that he can wait in the car while she goes to the event. He says that he was hoping to join her. Elena asks him if he knows anything about e-sports and he replies asking if she knows anything about loneliness. She feels bad for him and allows him to join her. In the meantime, Penelope is getting ready to enjoy an afternoon with TV and her boyfriend Chester Cheetah until she sits on her couch and it breaks in half.

Later that day Schneider has taken Penelope to a furniture store to buy her a new couch. She seems to be reluctant at first, but he tells her that he did a research and that is why he took her to a store with a funny name “Sofa, So Good” since he believes the prices there will be lower than in other stores. They call the salesman (Eugene Byrd) and ask him to show them around.

Elena and Dr. Leslie are on their way to the gaming event when she gets a call from Lydia telling her that she needs to pick her up because she wasn’t allowed in the bus. She explains later that she has told the bus driver that she had a huge case of crabs and he just drove away from her.

Schneider encourages Penelope to touch the couches and tells her that they are soft and friendly, but the woman says she is not ready for it yet. The man finds a warm black leather couch, but she says that she is not a movie producer from the 90’s. A salesman approaches her and says the he was a producer. Penelope tells Schneider that she wants to avoid ending up like the salesman did, making him feel bad as he recalled the time of his life when he lost his money. Schneider asks her to sit on a blue couch nearby. She does it and feels immediately comfortable. She says that her butt likes it. When the salesman returns and shows her the couch spill guard by dropping a can of soda in it, she gets mad that he wasted a good soda in it. Although, she is finally convinced to buy it. The man offers her to apply for the store credit card, but she declines.

Meanwhile, Lydia says that maybe if she tells the bus driver that her crabs were bought as emotional support that he might let her into the bus. Elena tells her that she is not doing any more stops, but that is right then when Alex calls her asking her to pick him up. He explains that he decided not to buy the sneakers since the ones he has were the ones that brought Nora and him together. So, he doesn’t feel right to replace them. Alex wants to be driven home, but Elena refuses and tells him that since they are very close to the arena, they are all going to the match. Unfortunately, she realizes the parking lot is full. Dr. Leslie yells that there is a spot available nearby and Elena gets excited since it seems like a miracle to find a metered space on a Sunday afternoon. They all start singing “we’re gonna make it” except for Alex who still wants to go home. The young girl makes an abrupt turn and Lydia ends up throwing all the crabs over Dr. Leslie.

Back at the Alvarez’s house Penelope seems to be enjoying her new couch when Schneider comes in and is happy to see her like that. He tells her that he thought that when he was leaving the couch on the curb that the couch should be part of the Alvarez’s Museum, but Penelope tells her that The Alvarez’s Museum is just a bunch of stuff put in the hallway. He says that he definitely didn’t think that it was a “collection of memorabilia set on an empty apartment on the sixth floor called the Alvarez’s Museum Norte.” Penelope doesn’t pay much attention to it and tells him that she just had the best nap ever on her new couch and it was even better that she drooled over it and it was wiped right off. Elena and the others return from the match. Dr. Leslie seems to have had a lot of fun since he is all dressed up in a uniform and chanting the L.A. Gladiators song. Elena asks her mother not to freak out and then explains that when they went to the Overwatch League event, she had to leave the car on the street since the parking lot was full. When the match was over and they returned to the car they saw that the window was broken and then found a pigeon inside. They tried to chase it away but left the door open and it was hit by a scooter. The room goes silent waiting for the woman’s reaction, but she doesn’t seem to be mad or annoyed by what happened surprising everyone in the room. Then, Elena explains that she believes the reason why the car window was broken was because she left her laptop in the seat and the scene takes a whole different turn as Penelope yells at Elena that if there is something she has taught her is to not to leave any valuable objects visible in the car. She says that she cannot believe “someone so smart did something so stupid,” making Elena feel truly badly. Lydia says that is why she took her crabs to the nerd show, but she thinks that after six hours maybe they should not eat them.

Later that day Elena is doing the dishes in silence and Penelope takes the chance to apologize to her for how she reacted, but she says that she had gone through rough patches in her life because of money and she cannot just forget it. Elena tells her that she will do whatever she can to pay for her laptop and doesn’t care if she has to sell her blood, eggs or hair. Penelope tries to calm her down and says that doesn’t have to be so drastic. Elena also shares that she will pay her back but without touching her savings. Penelope is happy to know that she has taught her well.

That night Lydia is watching TV while sitting in the new couch and the rest of the family join her. Elena says that now they have a new couch they might need a bigger TV and they list the other things they would need to buy while Penelope sinks her face into the couch. Elena says that is funny, but her mother’s tears are easily wiped off the couch.