The Mick – The Balloon

By starrymag | January 20, 2017

By: Colton Newman

 

 

In the opening of episode three of “The Mick” we find Mackenzie Murphy (Kaitlin Olson) and Ben Pemberton (Jack Stanton) at visits to the doctors. The kids still are making an adjustment to not having their parents around. It seems that Ben is taking it the hardest as he has developed a problem of eating things (not food things). As the doctor looks away from an x-ray, it is can be clearly seen Ben has taken a liking to a Lego brick. She asks more about what he’s been eating and Ben casually lists off things like pencil sharpeners, cabinet knobs and matches. Mackenzie looks utterly confused and shocked! Mackenzie begins to panic that this might be something worse as Ben is ushered outside and told to go play somewhere else so his aunt and the doctor can talk. The doctor explains that there’s no need to panic as he will just pass the things he has eaten, but it seems to be more of a psychological problem than anything else. She moves to ask if Mackenzie is up for the task of raising the kids to which she replies it’ll be no problem. Just before Mackenzie is about to leave the doctor notices that Ben’s birthday was last week and proceeds to ask if they did anything fun. Mackenzie realizes they did nothing and gives an unsure nod and leaves.

 

As Ben and Mackenzie are walking to their car, Mackenzie can’t seem to find her keys until she looks down to Ben who is wearing a very shamed face (we all know what he did!). So, as if nothing had happened Mackenzie lifts Ben up to the door to unlock it!

 

When Mackenzie and Ben arrive back home, Jimmy (Scott MacArthur) is nonchalantly clipping his toenails on the luxury couch downstairs. Alba (Carla Jimenez) is drinking coffee and throwing judgmental looks towards Jimmy as he clips his nails with the amount of focus one would have for a Calculus test. Same goes for Chip (Thomas Barbusca) and Sabrina Pemberton (Sofia Black-D’Elia). They sit on a couch opposite of Jimmy, looking at him with about as much disgust as one would look at a chimp playing with his own poop at the zoo. Mackenzie seems to interrupt this somewhat tranquil moment by turning off the TV and accusing them of being too “busy” to remember their brother’s birthday. About this news, everyone including Alba and Jimmy look disappointed. While attempting to figure out what to do for Ben’s party, Mackenzie asks Chip and Sabrina what they did for their birthdays to which they reply, “Oh I just took 15 of my friends to Paris for Fashion Week” and “Took batting practice at Yankee Stadium.” Mackenzie is absolutely stunned when she hears this and has only one response to it, “gross.”

 

No one really knows what Ben is up to so Mackenzie, Jimmy and Sabrina go to Ben’s room in hope of finding out a theme for his birthday party. When they first enter his room Ben is staring at a wall in silence. As if Mackenzie is starting to slowly develop motherly skills, she senses what is happening and tells Ben to spit it out. He slowly releases yet another Lego brick from his mouth. When Sabrina attempts to fool Ben into thinking it’s his birthday (even though it is a week late) he jumps up with joy and is thrilled by the news. He promptly asks, “Wow, how old am I?” As Mackenzie looks completely shocked by this she casually guesses “maybe 7?” They attempt to find what things he likes such as “syrup” and “the Iraq war.” After slowly realizing there’s something wrong with this kid, the gang leaves Ben to be alone in his room. Of course, he goes for another Lego brick.

 

As Mackenzie leaves the room, Jimmy and Sabrina start to discuss ideas. They settle on cake, a clown and balloons. Sabrina, skeptical of this, says “Clowns are stupid” even though Mackenzie assures her they know the best clown. He is named Sully the Clown, played by “….”

 

The day of the party is here and Mackenzie and Alba are coming home with a cake and three balloons. As they walk through the house, feeling confident in their picks, they go to the back yard to discover that Sabrina and Chip have put together an epic party with bounce houses, balloon arches and endless food! Alba appropriately drops the cake as her and Mackenzie are in the awe of the party.

 

“What the hell is this?!” is the first response Mackenzie has for the party. As Chip and Sabrina gloat to Mackenzie that they threw the best party ever, Mackenzie points out that it is too bad Ben is not enjoying it. We then see Ben sitting alone at a table not really having any fun as he is spending time eating Crayons. On cue Jimmy comes up and is followed by none other than Sully the Clown (John Ennis). Sully appears to be a homeless person with make up on. Something seems off about him.

 

Chip moves to mock how Sully looks lame. To this Sully walks over now realizing that he has to prove himself to these brats. As Sully reaches up his hand he catches a pigeon mid flight! Chip and Sabrina now look genuinely shocked and surprised! As if that wasn’t enough, Sully throws up the bird as it turns into confetti and rains down on Chip and Sabrina who are still standing there in awe of what is happening. As Ben catches sight of the clown, he runs over in joy and asks if the clown is for him? Mackenzie says it sure is and tells him to round everyone up for the show later. Even though Chip and Sabrina are impressed by Sully they still need to outdo Mackenzie because you know “rivalry.” Chip lets Sabrina know that he has a live pony on the way!

 

As Chip is signing papers for the pony he intends to use to show up Mackenzie, he asks the sales man to lift him up on to the pony. As he does, the pony casually starts to walk down the sidewalk with no signs of stopping. Chip and the pony have left the party.

 

Back inside Ben’s party, Sully is about to go on, but he needs to “bang out his pre-show ritual.” Sully heads off to the bathroom. The kids at the party seem to be getting restless as the clown has left and nothing is happening. Sabrina steps in to let them know a surprise is on the way. To this the kids cheer and Sabrina goes to retrieve Chip and the pony. When she goes outside neither are there to be found!

 

Sabrina goes back inside disappointed; here she is mocked by Mackenzie and Jimmy for not having a surprise. As Mackenzie is gloating to her, Alba runs up in a calm panic. She leads the group into the bathroom where they find out that Sully has shot himself up with drugs and is now passed out in their bathtub. As everyone break out into arguments on whose fault it is there is a junky clown in the house Sully starts to choke. Mackenzie jumps into action and notices there is something in his mouth so she begins to pull out a long line of tied bandanas. As Mackenzie is helping Sully not die Ben walks in and picks up a balloon with drugs in it and eats it to the horror of everyone there! As Alba rushes Ben out, Mackenzie attempts to come up with a plan.

 

Mackenzie leaves the planning up to Jimmy as he runs to a liquor store and back with a bottle of liquor with floating gold in it. He explains that he has never seen anyone drink this and not throw up so why not give it to Ben (Because he’s a 7,8,9 years old!). As Mackenzie realized Jimmy’s plan would only make everything worse, she just sticks her fingers into Ben’s mouth in an attempt to make him throw up. In this attempt Mackenzie actually makes herself thrown up! Next plan.

 

They have decided to have cake before taking Ben to the hospital and everyone is gathered around and begins to sing. Sully shoots up from his sleep when he “smells” the cake. Chip has somehow led the pony back to the party in a full gallop. As Sully runs into the party looking for the cake, the pony starts to charge Ben. Jimmy sees this and jumps in front of the pony and is launched backwards. As everything has turned to chaos, Ben gets so excited he throws up. With his food there is also the drug filled balloon. Success! Ben is saved and he gets a pony.

 

When the day comes to a close it is revealed that the clown was actually diabetic and needed insulin. That’s why he wanted cake and passed out when he didn’t get any. While Ben is opening his presents he gets one from his “parents” (aka Mackenzie) and in it is syrup, a post card from Iraq and a box of frozen Taquitos. Ben ends the day on a good note.