Superior Donuts – Brotege

By: Jay Smith

Randy (Katey Sagal) pours herself a cup of coffee while Fawz (Maz Jobrani) tries to make small talk with last weekend’s news. He’s unsuccessful since his finger is always in the way of the correct information. Sofia (Diane Guerrero) rushes into the shop and tries to hurry to the bathroom but Arthur (Judd Hirsch) stops her. He tells her the bathroom is for paying customers even though Sofia bought something earlier in the day. Because she really has to go, Sofia buys another pastry and tosses it so she can finally do to the bathroom. Arthur is offended by the gesture but Carl (David Koechner) claims the pastry landed on a napkin and eats it. Sofia comes back out from the ladies’ room because it’s broken and wants a refund. Fawz gives his two cents that if it’s a serious emergency she can go to the candle shop and it’ll cover the scent. The next suggestion is using the men’s and before Sofia goes in a man comes out with the newspaper to signal he was in there for awhile. She does a quick prayer and then heads in. Franco (Jermaine Fowler) and Sweatpants (Rell Battle) enter the restaurant and they’re excited to tell everyone about them being “big brothers.” Franco is really excited because he wants to make a difference in a child’s life. Franco repeats himself on why he decided to be a big brother and Sweatpants is confused until he realizes Sofia is now in the room. Sofia compliments the guys on the selfless act and Sweatpants is happy that he and his little have so much in common, like mashed potatoes, until he realizes he’s reading his own interest section. Arthur gives a little bit of advice on kids needing more than just shared interests with someone who wants to be in their lives. Franco understands and gloats a tad that kids love him. Fawz agrees and says Franco looks like he’s going to teach kids about hygiene through a rap song. Moving forward with the conversation Franco proclaims he’s going to be a great dad because his wasn’t great to him. He opens up to an inquiring Sofia on the situation and let’s her know he didn’t agree with his artistic abilities and kicked him out at 16. Sweatpants used this opportunity to make jokes like, “You saw yourself as the next Dali, and he saw you pushing a dolly.”

Arthur is upset plumbers are charging a ridiculous amount of money per hour for their services. He makes a crude joke about how he can get a hooker for that amount. Without thinking Carl answers Arthur question with a reply for the hooker reference and not for his plumbing skills. He declines the job offer because he has a hand modeling gig later and shows everyone his oven mittened hands. Randy is at her table upset with her laptop and tries to pound it into submission when Carl offers help to fix the problem. He quickly discourages the action and he segways the conversation into Randy letting out some feelings before she explodes from being bottled up from her life altering event. He gives an example of an old colleague who exploded unexpectedly but Randy isn’t moved since she’s a cop and has seen and dealt with much worse in her opinion. Fawz adds his own traumatic experience by saying he helped Carl use the bathroom recently. A kid walks into the shop and Sweatpants immediately weirds the kid out with his love for mashed potatoes but Franco assures him that he’s his big. While having him in a half embrace, Franco introduces the child, Andre (Jailen Bates), to the group and he immediately let’s Franco know the organization has a rule against them touching. Franco is super excited to have an amazing day with Andre but he tells him he has to be home by 3:30 since his mom has two jobs and he’s the cook in the family. We start to see a disconnect when Franco mentions basketball and Andre isn’t interested. Andre asks to go to a local food market on there way to their adventure because there’s a sale. Once hearing this Arthur gives Andre some money because he wants some too. Another guy comes into the shop and walks over to Andre and hopes he’s a fellow potato lover like him. Andre declines and after Kenny (Maurice Williams) explains his match up sheet, we discover the mentor is looking for Sweatpants. The mix up happened because Sweatpants filled out the wrong section with a parent signature. Even though it’s awkward the two grown men head to the circus to not waste the tickets. Franco is ready to go to the basketball court and to have pizza afterwards. Andre criticizes the pizza establishment because it’s expensive.

Andre and Franco return and of course Fawz has jokes by referencing the guys as “The Jackson 2” and “Earth, Wind, but no Fire.” Andre doesn’t hold back is displeasure of the day and Franco asks him to sit at a table. Franco doesn’t understand why Andre isn’t more appreciative of the day when his own dad took him to Sears to buy a microwave he’s still paying off. The group suggest he finds something they both enjoy and Fawz takes a jab and mentions “bitching.” Arthur is in the bathroom yelling and trying to fix the toilet when someone asks if he’s fixed it yet. Carl takes this opportunity to mention Arthur expressing his emotions and Randy doesn’t want to hear the conversation again. Sofia disagrees with Randy essentially not taking her emotions seriously and tells her about her own “explosion” story. Franco goes back to Andre and once he discovers he likes to draw as well he takes this chance to connect with a drawing project but needs someone to watch him as he gets supplies. He asks Arthur and leaves but Arthur tries to pass Andre off on someone else but everyone bails. In the bathroom, Andre asks Arthur a few questions but he quickly gets frustrated from the distraction. In a “matter of fact” tone and taking the lead, Andre schools Arthur on the proper way to fix the toilet. He tells him he has experience because maintenance doesn’t do the job in his building. Arthur thinks that’s sad but it doesn’t stop him from asking for help around the shop.

Franco comes back with good news for Andre about they’re potential project together but he isn’t interested since he’s now working with Arthur. Franco is hurt by a child choosing Arthur over him and attempts a fight with him to ease his own ego. Franco talks to Randy and she tries to ease the blow that bonding with a mentor doesn’t happen in a day. At that moment, Sweatpants and Kenny come in and they’re excited to talk about their day. Andre continues his list of handy work while Randy isn’t moved by the videos Carl has sent her to get her to cry. Carl is unsuccessful and Sofia is surprised by this. Carl is also and states that if it was a blind date the tears would have been flowing moments ago. Sofia tries but quickly leaves when Randy offers to share the experience with her by shooting her in the arm as well. Franco is back in the kitchen and he’s on the phone trying to return his little. Arthur is appalled by this and doesn’t want to hear Franco’s “we don’t the like Tupac and Biggie” excuse. Andre hears that Franco doesn’t want him and leaves the kitchen.

Andre continues to do work for Arthur and ignores Franco. Arthur finally lays into Franco about abandoning Andre because they’re different. The two get into a big fight and Arthur agrees with Franco that maybe there are some people you give up on. Carl is still trying to get Randy to cry when Franco talks to her about Arthur. Randy let’s Franco into Arthur’s life by telling him that the kids topic is sensitive to him because of his own broken relationship with his daughter, Lucy. While explaining the rift Randy realizes that her own relationship with her daughter isn’t perfect and before she was shot they got into an argument. This moment finally sets off the tears and she looks to an uncomfortable Franco for comfort. Carl takes this opportunity to hold Randy and she finally agrees with the cuteness or sadness of the videos he’s been sending all day. Franco goes outside to try to make small talk with Andre but he doesn’t budge initially. He apologizes to him and the two joke with each other to show they’re cool again while opening up a little. With their final hour Andre wants to take apart an Xbox and Franco agrees to the bonding experience.

After dropping Andre home, Franco returns to the shop with dinner from Andre to Arthur. Arthur is proud Franco didn’t quit but gets slightly peeved when he mentions him leaving out the fact that he has a daughter. Arthur finally let’s his guard down about Lucy. We can see that he’s remorseful on the deterioration of the relationship and Franco tries to give a little push by putting a phone in front of him to call her.

The next day, Arthur tells Franco he called Lucy and left a voice mail. Franco is happy and cracks a joke wondering if she has more or less chest hair than Arthur. Kenny walks into the shop and Sweatpants is happy to see him and asks about the Blackhawks game. Kenny let’s Sweatpants down gently and tells him he found a little because the two of them hanging out from the program is weird. A child comes in exclaiming to Kenny that he didn’t want to miss face off when Kenny introduces him, Herbert (Brayden Fenderson), to Sweatpants. Before the new big and little leave, Sweatpants, in a weird broken hearted voice, tells Herbert to be good to Kenny.