Splitting Up Together – We Need To Talk About Karen

By starrymag | November 5, 2018

By: Ariba Bhuvad

 

 

Have you ever desperately craved some form of The Office reunion? Well, we may not have the entire gang, but the most recent episode of Splitting Up Together reunited Jenna Fischer and Angela Kinsey and it was glorious!

 

For those of you who have been keeping up with the series, you’re aware that things between Martin (Oliver Hudson) and Lena (Jenna Fischer) have gone from amazing to horrible after the whole “Lisa Apple (Monica Barbaro) might be pregnant with Martin’s baby” ordeal. And after Lena decided to stand up for herself and reject Martin’s desire to try again as a couple, it’s thrown Martin for a loop and now he wants to sell their house and part ways.

 

However, Lena is convinced that Martin is screwing with her and just wants her to give in and beg for things to go back to the way they were before the Lisa Apple thing. With it being Mom week in this Halloween episode, Martin stops by to inform her that his gal, a/k/a/ real estate agent, will be coming by to check out the house and schedule an inspection before they put it up for sale.

 

Of course, this was just Martin’s attempt to throw Lena off and he has no one actually coming to the house for anything, as he confides in Arthur (Bobby Lee). Arthur doesn’t agree with the way Martin is acting and thinks he should stop acting so immature about the whole situation, but Martin can’t get over it, and he intends on doing what he said he would.

 

It’s a fitting time to have the house inspected as the pipes around the house are making all sorts of noise, and the water heater is in desperate need to be replaced, as Lena points out to Maya (Diane Farr) during a conversation later that day. But the conversation shifts to Maya really quickly when Lena asks about the man she’s been dating. Of course, that situation is rather complicated because Maya has not told him that she is pregnant and she fears the worst when she does. To deflect off of her, Maya told him that her friend Karen is in this situation, and now he wants to have dinner with her. Wonder how that will turn out, right?

 

Martin finally locates a “gal” to bring over to the house who is played by The Office’s Angela Kinsey. Watching this reunion and hearing Fischer ask, “Have I seen you before” made The Office fans swoon and squeal with excitement. After hearing and seeing the house is in desperate need of renovations and tiny little fixes, the agent suggests they get to work on that before they put the house up for sale.

 

Naturally, this pisses Lena off because she knows Martin is baiting her and wants her to implode on him for wanting to sell the house. But she remains as stubborn as ever and has no intentions of letting him win.

 

Things for Maya take an interesting turn during dinner when she finds out Frank (Travis Schuldt) has known all along that she is the one that is pregnant. He knows Karen doesn’t exist and reveals so during dinner when they’re waiting for her. While Maya expected a negative reaction, she gets the complete opposite in the most overwhelming of ways.

 

He’s so eager about the baby, in fact, that he intends on being there 1000% of the time for Maya. Suddenly, she doesn’t seem all that thrilled over it. And it’s absolutely understandable as to why. 

 

After overhearing her parents bicker about selling the house, Mae (Olivia Keville) is ecstatic about the possibility of moving because she doesn’t like her school or the people in it. She starts researching school districts out of excitement, narrowing down the ones that would be the best fit for her. In an effort to help her out with friends, Lena invites over one of Mae’s friends from camp.

 

But instead of showing up the night after, the friend randomly pops up during their conversation in the spookiest of ways and has a creepy aura about her. It turns out that she and Mae weren’t exactly BFFs in camp and met at the infirmary. The next morning proceeds to be even creepier as her friend tells a scary story during breakfast and the look of concern on Lena’s face is absolutely hilarious.

 

Meanwhile, a bulge has appeared in the boys’ room and Lena confronts Martin about fixing it because she’s convinced that he’s the one that caused it in the first place. She finally snaps and yells at Martin about the fact that they are not selling the house. But he seems pretty set on it and doesn’t care what Lena wants because his wishes matter, too.

 

Later on, he dives underneath the house to inspect the pipes and runs into the inspection guy and Mae’s friend while down there. Martin is pissed off that Lena would go ahead and call the inspection guy anyway after he said he’d fix the problem and it turns into a huge argument between the two.

 

The inspection guy reveals that their house is on a slant and while it may be safe to live in now, it will not be eventually unless they have it fixed. Mind you, the guy will not make eye contact with Lena during the entire conversation, which pisses her off even more.

 

Frank and Maya meet up to do some baby shopping and Maya realizes just how involved Frank wants to be with the baby. But it’s not what she wants at all, and has to tell him how she’s feeling. She decides to break up with him because it’s too much to take on, but he seems dead set on trying to be a part of the baby’s life in some shape or form.

 

Finally sitting down to talk like adults, Lena and Martin discuss what they should do about the house. Lena doesn’t feel it’s the right time to sell and they can’t afford to pay for all the repairs, but Martin reminds her that the house is not safe to be in long-term. And when she asks him point-blank if he is ready to give up on everything and sell the house, he says he is. Ouch.

 

And even though she says it’s not what she wants, he reminds her that not everyone can get their way or what they want. The episode ends with Martin and Lena still angry with one another and as Lena heads off to bed she turns the light off on Martin who asks her to keep it on while he reads.

 

And to keep the creepy Halloween spirit alive, the last scene is of Mae’s friend’s creepy doll sitting underneath the house.