The Carmichael Show – Evelyn and Vernon

By starrymag | July 25, 2017

By: Jessica Wolff

Jerrod Carmichael (Jerrod Carmichael) asks his grandfather, Vernon (Bill Cobbs) what he originally thought about his father, Joe Carmichael (David Alan Grier). Vernon responds that he didn’t like him.  Bobby Carmichael (LilRel Howery) asks if he learned to love him and Vernon says that never did.  Joe tells them that Cynthia Carmichael (Loretta Devine) and the other girls will be back from the women’s march soon.  Vernon asks what they are marching for and Bobby says that he thinks it’s about abortions.  Maxine (Amber Stevens West) gets mad and says that if he doesn’t know, then he’s part of the problem.  Joe proposes that women are marching because they are mad that many women voted for Trump and many other women are mad at them for not being the right type of woman.  Bobby says that he doesn’t like when women paint all men as misogynists and rapists when it’s only 45% of men that do that.

 

Cynthia, Maxine and Evelyn (Starletta DuPois) arrive home, excited about the march.  Cynthia was empowered by the speeches, music and Lena Dunham wearing a t-shirt that said vagina on it. Maxine comments how great it was to have three generations of women all marching together.  Jerrod asks Maxine what they’re marching for and she tells him that women’s rights are under attack and if he doesn’t understand, he’s part of the problem, causing Jerrod to say, “I told you so.”  Joe asks where Nekeisha (Tiffany Haddish) is and Cynthia tells him that she was arrested for throwing a can at a congressman.  Nekeisha said that it wasn’t about the speech, but he knows what he did.

 

Vernon tells Evelyn that he’s tired of talking about women, and demands that she make him lunch.  She says that she’s still talking, but he tells her to wrap it up.  Maxine questions how Vernon can talk to her like that.  The family announces that they’re leaving and say goodbye to Evelyn and Vernon.  On the way out, Evelyn tells Cynthia that she’s thinking of divorcing Vernon.  Cynthia is in shock, but Evelyn tells her that they’ll talk about it later as she finishes saying goodbye to her.

 

At home, Cynthia expresses her disbelief that her mother asked if she should get a divorce from her father.  Jerrod thinks that Evelyn should leave Vernon and his toxic opinions behind.  Cynthia tells him not to talk about his grandparents that way and Joe says that it’s just their dynamic.  Bobby likes Vernon since he is the only one who doesn’t judge him.  Maxine agrees with Jerrod and says that Evelyn should leave Vernon because of the way he treats her.  Cynthia can’t believe that they would get divorced after being married so long and mention how happy Evelyn seems with her baking and knitting hobbies.  Jerrod thinks that knitting and baking cookies are things to keep you busy until you die.

 

Joe argues that Evelyn shouldn’t leave Vernon, as it will be hard to find another man who doesn’t have Parkinson’s.  Cynthia tells Maxine that it’s her fault, since she was the one encouraging female empowerment.  She tells her that elderly women shouldn’t be empowered when they can’t even text.  Maxine tells her that you don’t decide you want a divorce over a couple of hours.  Bobby remarks that it depends on how good the march is and asks them what Lena Dunham said.  Maxine says that it’s good that Evelyn is empowered, as it means that she’s growing.  Joe says that elderly people aren’t growing, but shrinking.

 

Cynthia argues that Evelyn chose to get married and have kids like she did and Maxine points out that Joe doesn’t treat her the way Vernon treats Evelyn.  Cynthia comments that women were looking for controlling and oppressive men back in the day and Joe says that a violent, oppressive doctor was a catch back in the day.  Jerrod asks if women had self-esteem before Destiny’s Child or not.  Bobby comments that getting divorced sounds like a good idea because it closes a door and opens a window, but doesn’t account for seeing your ex have sex with everybody through that window.

 

Cynthia believes that Evelyn needs to remember all of the good things about Vernon, like being a good provider.  Joe comments that Vernon having good qualities presents a gray area, unlike his father who was abusive.  Jerrod comments that some grandfathers are worse than others, but all grandfathers are terrible people.  Maxine argues that isn’t true since her grandfather always had candy, but Joe argues that he was a pedophile.  Maxine asks who hurt them and Jerrod responds that their grandfathers did.

 

Nekeisha comes in and Cynthia asks what happened with the congressman.  She responds that they’re good and it was a misunderstanding.  She explains that he didn’t text her back and confirms that she was dating the congressman.  Cynthia asks her what she thinks about her mother divorcing her father and Nekeisha thinks divorce is great since it’s worked out so well for her.  Cynthia argues that marriage vows mean something and Bobby agrees.  He tells Nekeisha that the congressman has lost their family’s votes, but the others agree with what he’s doing for the district.

 

Maxine tells Cynthia that there are valid reasons to leave a marriage and explains that she would leave Jerrod if he wasn’t supportive or she fell out of love with him.  Jerrod responds that he would leave Maxine if she got sleep apnea.  Cynthia declares that if everyone followed Maxine’s guidelines, half of all marriages would end in divorce and Jerrod says that is the actual statistic.  Cynthia asks Maxine what she’s done and accuses her generation of ruining the sanctity of marriage.  Joe argues that gay couples probably don’t get divorced, since they worked so hard to get gay marriage.  Nekeisha questions the stigma around divorce, since it’s courageous to emotionally destroy someone for their own benefit.

 

Bobby argues that it’s important to stick it out during the hard times, like how Cynthia didn’t divorce Joe for keeping his illegitimate son a secret from her.  Joe says that it was a difficult couple of days, but Cynthia made it through.  Cynthia is offended by the indication that their issues are in the past and Joe tries to smooth over the situation.  However, he makes it worse by saying that the situation is water under the bridge.  Cynthia gets angry and declares that maybe divorce should be an option before storming out of the house.  Joe yells after her to not listen to these dumb kids.  He turns around and apologizes for his tone, but not his words.

 

Cynthia goes to Evelyn’s house to find her knitting a pink hat from the women’s march.  Evelyn asks if she wants one, and Cynthia declares that she can’t leave Vernon and accuses her of ruining her life. She sits down next to Evelyn and asks if she really wants to divorce him.  Evelyn admits that she can’t imagine life without him. Cynthia asks her how long she’s thought about leaving him and she admits it’s been a while.

 

Cynthia asks if it’s weak to give up on a marriage or stay in one that you’re not happy in.  Evelyn admits that she was hoping that she would know, and Cynthia tells her about Joe’s secret son.  She admits that it’s been painful to talk about, and that she doesn’t know what to do.  Evelyn realizes that she taught her to stay in a marriage no matter what, and questions if she should have taught her that her own happiness is just as important.  Cynthia admits that she doesn’t know what would make her happy, and Evelyn comforts her.  The moment is interrupted by Vernon yelling at Evelyn to do something about the Mexican, and Cynthia yells back that they’re in the middle of something.

 

Jerrod answers the door and Joe walks in, and asks for help figuring which pill he’s supposed to take since Cynthia normally lays out the right pill for him.  He’s not sure which of them has high blood pressure or low blood pressure.  Jerrod suggests taking them both, since there’s not wrong pill at his age.  Joe takes the pills and asks Jerrod if he has any sandwiches.  Jerrod responds that he doesn’t have pre-made sandwiches lying around and Joe tells him that Cynthia normally makes him lunch.  Jerrod asks what type of bread he wants, but Joe doesn’t like either option and tells him to just give him the meat.  Jerrod gives him two meat choices and Joe doesn’t like either of them.

 

Bobby asks Joe what he’s going to do about Cynthia and Joe responds that he’s too hungry to think.  Jerrod argues that it’s harder to be a good boyfriend today, as they have to constantly keep up with all of their girlfriend’s social media accounts.  Jerrod hypothesizes that the suicide rates have gone up correlated to the dawn of iPhones.  Joe says that he doesn’t know what Cynthia wants since he’s already apologized.  Jerrod points out that an apology might not be enough and Bobby suggests that Joe kill his illegitimate son for her.  Joe and Jerrod look at him in horror and he says that he was just brainstorming.  Jerrod notices a band aid on the back of Joe’s head, and he tells them he cut himself shaving.  Bobby declares that Joe is going to die without Cynthia.  Joe gets up, determined to work things out.  However, he has trouble walking due to the pills affecting him.  Bobby asks if Joe is okay to drive, but Jerrod thinks he’ll be fine since he took both pills.

 

Vernon remarks that one day the Muslim ban is going to stick, and that he hopes he’s alive to see it.  Evelyn answers the door and tells Joe that they know about his son.  Joe says that he figured and asks to talk to Cynthia.  Vernon tells him to go away, but Cynthia asks what he’s doing there.  Joe apologizes and tells her that he wants to make things better for her.  Cynthia admits that it’s hard and Vernon asks Joe if he got anyone pregnant on the way there.  Cynthia admits that she’s been having a hard time with it and Joe apologizes again.  He admits that he realizes that it’s not going to go away quickly and he wants to help her deal with it and that there’s no end to it.

 

Vernon remarks that he’ll end it and asks Evelyn for his gun.  Evelyn yells at him, pointing out that Joe at least is interested in working out their problems and being sensitive to Cynthia’s needs.  Vernon comments that him being sensitive makes him a homosexual.  Evelyn tells him to shut up and that his disrespect stops now.  Vernon tells her not to talk to him like that.  Evelyn tells Joe and Cynthia to go home, as they have something worth fighting for.  Cynthia says goodbye, but Joe wants to see the fight.  After Cynthia pulls Joe out the door, Evelyn tells Vernon that she’s leaving him.  Joe comes back and grabs Cynthia’s purse off the couch before leaving again.  Evelyn and Vernon ask Bobby and Nekeisha for advice on how to live together as a divorced couple.  They both give tips, but it becomes increasingly clear that neither is happy with the situation.  Vernon remarks that he hopes that he dies soon.