This week on Jennifer Falls, Jennifer had to grow accustomed to Adam's presence in Gretchen's life, especially with an upcoming father-daughter dance. Meanwhile, Dina and Stephanie attempted to be best friends after Dina saved Stephanie's life.
Jennifer and Dina participated in a slow-moving debate in which Gretchen engaged in an intense argument about oil fracking. Dina fell asleep due to the lack of juice and cupcakes that were promised for her participation. Maggie revealed there was one cupcake left, but she saved it for Adam. She didn't care for her daughter's tone, and she wanted to brag about Adam's popularity with the parents at Gretchen's school. This was the beginning of Jennifer's jealousy; she appeared at school functions for months, but no one would bother to remember her name.
Her green monster did not get any better when Adam showed continuous interest in their daughter's life. It annoyed her that everyone found him so charming. She even boasted to Dina that she was usually the charming one. Dina popped her bubble by saying that Adam was actually charming, not someone who constantly insisted they were charming.
Jennifer found out the hard way about Gretchen's debate finals when everyone showed up at the sports bar to celebrate. Gretchen forgot to tell Jennifer about the new date because she wasn't used to having both parents around. Jennifer got stuck serving the debate coach and Adam their drinks. While discussing nachos and guacamole, Jennifer overheard Adam accept a compliment about raising Gretchen. A simple "Her mother raised her" would have sufficed in that situation, but it made Jennifer even more upset.
Things got worse from there when Jennifer noticed Gretchen changed her profile picture to one with her and her father. In a passive-aggressive move, she posted a video to social media that saluted her as a mother. Afterwards, she realized her feelings were more about herself and not her daughter's. Maggie confronted her with a choice of being happy or being right.
Gretchen decided to go to the father-daughter dance with Adam, disappointing Wayne as he was originally going to take her. While she got ready, Jennifer accidentally posted a picture of her applying zit cream to her backne. She blamed her mother for ruining her life. After she shut herself up in her room, Gretchen came out ready for the dance. Jennifer believed she was responsible for getting her to come out of her room, but Gretchen informed her she was texting her dad, who talked her into going to the dance.
Wayne arrived to give his niece her corsage, but he was too late. He and Jennifer went to the dance to deliver to Gretchen. Adam sensed Jennifer's insecurities, so he introduced her to everyone at the dance as Gretchen's "real father." Jennifer and Gretchen shared a dance as a result, cementing their relationship once again.
In a subplot, Dina and Stephanie decided to become girlfriends after Stephanie had a near-death experience with one of Wayne's new appetizers at the bar. Dina performed the Heimlich on Stephanie, who was choking on the "slider bites"; thus, beginning a new friendship.
The two women began hanging out, balancing the serious elements of Jennifer and Gretchen with comedy. Stephanie even tried creating nicknames for the two of them. It got worse when the women got drunk and confided secrets to each other. Stephanie told Dina about taking birth control behind Wayne's back, putting Dina in the middle of their conflict.
After an awkward exchange with Wayne, Dina begged Stephanie to tell him the truth because she couldn't handle the stress of keeping something big from him. Stephanie felt judged by her new friend and regretted complimenting her on her new hairstyle. This was an interesting element to the episode, and I hope we see more of Dina and Stephanie's growing friendship.
I'm glad things also worked with Gretchen and Jennifer. Chris D'Elia's performance as Adam is charming like the character. With the season finale next week, anything can happen with the Doyle family...like Stephanie finally confessing to Wayne her secret.
Quote of the Week: "You're gonna leave after this song, right?" Gretchen to Jennifer when they have their mother/daughter dance.
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