Splitting Up Together – War of the Wagners

By starrymag | November 19, 2018

By: Ariba Bhuvad

 

 

Things have gotten extremely complicated for Lena (Jenna Fischer) and Martin (Oliver Hudson) and in this week’s episode “War of the Wagners” as their arguing reaches a boiling point. Ever since Lena rejected the idea of them being together, Martin has decided that he wants to bring a contractor in to fix the house in order to prepare it for selling. Lena is not on board with this decision and this week when they bring back Vlad (Costa Ronin) the contractor she has some questions for him.

 

She wants to know more about the man who will be “exposing himself to their children” (probably not the right choice of words) and interrogates Vlad about a Yelp review that stated he does a good job but is a bit of a misogynist. He says he remembers the woman who left the comment and makes a comment about how all women have nice legs proving Lena’s concerns. Vlad is fairly indifferent about whether or not they hire him and says if they want the best then they can let him know. He may still make some comments, but he will get the job done in the best way possible and walks off with his yard sign.

 

Martin is annoyed that Lena is so resistant about contractors and thinks she is trying to sabotage the potential future sale of the house. This kickstarts the war between the both of them which continues when Lena gets locked out of the house because her keys are still inside and Martin refuses to open the door to let her in because it’s not her week. The war is officially on, according to Lena, who continues to be defeated by Martin as he gives the children junk food for their lunches. Luckily for Lena, Milo (Sander Thomas) shows up and lets her in and says he has big news–he lost a tooth!

 

He wants to show it to his friend Ajay (Syre Collins), but Lena says he will have to wait until the weekend since Ajay is at a new school now. This makes Milo sad because Ajay never has time to hang out ever since he started at the school for gifted children. To make matters worse, Martin tries to keep it real and tells Milo he and Ajay will likely grow apart and maybe one day bump into each other and not remember who the other person is. This is the newest addition to Martin’s new attitude, he doesn’t want to lie to the kids anymore and wants to keep it real, no matter how harsh it is. He goes on to tell Milo that the Tooth Fairy doesn’t exist and hands him some cash instead.

 

Lena is livid that Martin is trying to destroy Milo’s innocence but this is how Martin wants to parent. As they’re arguing, Mason (Van Crosby) is sending his ex selfies with clever captions to try and win her back. While Martin tries to tell Mason that Hazel is not coming back, Lena tries to be more optimistic. Martin thinks that Mason should be out living his best life instead of worrying about Hazel and asks him what the most fun thing he can think of–Can Jam. This game was banned by Lena which gives Martin more of a reason to play it.

 

When Lena returns home later that day she sees Martin, Mason, and his friends playing it and in retaliation turns on the sprinklers during their game. While at the market with Camille (Lindsay Price) and Maya (Diane Farr) later that day, Lena goes off of about Martin and their war. But Maya thinks that if things are really over between them then maybe Lena should give in and let Martin get the house fixed to sell. However, Lena is convinced that Martin is just being vengeful and wants a war–and she’s ready to kick it up a notch by bringing a dog home (he’s super allergic).

 

Lena returns home to see Martin doing laundry and for a moment she feels bad until she realizes he ruined her cashmere sweater and brings the dog in. The kids are ecstatic over their new pet dog, Dander, even though it means hell for Martin’s allergies. Eventually, his face swells and breaks out in hives but this almost pales in comparison to Lena’s hair, which has been ruined because Martin put sodium hydroxide in the water softener tank.

 

Lena’s dad, Henry (Geoff Pierson) shows up asking them to come to a truce because Milo is trying to move out of the house to live with him and even had an application for the Wisley School for Gifted Children sent to his house. And the adorable Milo is already packing by the time Lena and Martin go to talk to him. Lena assures him that she and Martin aren’t going to fight anymore and if Milo really wants to try to go to Wisley, they will help him–which includes Mae (Olivia Keville) taking portrait shots of him for the application.

 

Martin feels that this will be a good thing for Milo because he will most certainly fail at getting in (they truly believe he is super dumb) while Lena is scared over the idea of rejection. While on a walk with Henry, Lena continues to vent about Martin but Henry helps her realize they if they have a chance at keeping the family together, they have to stop fighting.

 

Lena heads to Wisley where Milo is taking his entrance exam to gauge whether or not he’ll be let in, and an annoyed Martin is already there waiting. She tells him she does not want to fight anymore and she will call Vlad and apologize so he can come back and work on the house. Lena isn’t agreeing to sell the house and says they can figure out the rest as it comes, which Martin is okay with it (phew!).

 

This moment finally gives Lena the opportunity to be honest about how she doesn’t like to see the kids and Martin hurt so she tries to cushion the blow when she can so no one gets hurts, but Martin reminds her that it’s part of life to be hurt and that she can’t always be the cushion. Just then Milo comes out feeling extremely confident that he did well but the Dean begs to differ and tells Martin and Lena that Milo is not getting in.

 

Back at home, Lena and Martin try to tell Milo he didn’t get in and at first he doesn’t seem to understand until Lena directly says the school doesn’t want him. Before Milo gets too sad about not being gifted, Martin steps in to say that he didn’t get into Wisley because Milo’s test scores were out of this world and because of that he got into space school with a full scholarship. Lena tells Milo he will go in 2061 and Milo rushes off to start packing.

 

Luckily, all this ends the war between Martin and Lena but not before he apologizes about her hair falling out–which she had no idea about.