Trophy Wife 1.22: "Mother's Day"

“They dumped the kids and Kate on me, and now my day is ruined.”
-Hillary

The final episode of “Trophy Wife” was a fitting end to the series, for the most part. The Harrison clan is closer than ever, and it seems like Pete may finally get to do something more fulfilling with his life than his evil law firm job. The stars of this episode are really Diane, Jackie, and Kate, who over the course of the past season have become an odd sort of sisterhood. I thought this episode demonstrated that journey well. At first, Diane and Jackie try to use Kate’s enthusiasm for parenthood as a way to get a Mother’s Day vacation for themselves. By the end of the episode, they realized that was a bit of a dick move, and the whole Harrison clan has fun together. It was a sweet way to say goodbye to a show that, in a few years, I think we’ll say ended too soon.

Early in the episode, Pete and Kate are in bed watching television and talking about the fact that Mother’s Day is coming up. Kate’s a little upset that the kids are going to be spending the day with Diane and Jackie, because she thinks she should be considered a mother now, too. Pete and Kate don’t have much time to discuss this, though, because there is a breaking news report about an oil spill. The company responsible for the spill is a client of Pete’s law firm, so he has to go to work. Hillary has seen the news report, too, and she begs Pete not to help the piece of crap company that is responsible for environmental destruction. Pete’s got to do his job, though, so he heads to the office.

While Kate is trying to make a reservation for a Mother’s Day brunch for one (is she wallowing, or what?), Diane, Jackie, and the kids come barging in. The kids are acting like they haven’t purchased or made any Mother’s Day presents, and Jackie and Diane say they want to give Kate the gift of having the kids this Mother’s Day. Kate is overjoyed, because she’s still enthusiastic about the step-parenting thing (and she thinks this means Diane and Jackie truly approve of her). She is on a mission to help the kids get good, creative presents for their moms. For Jackie, the present will be a chicken, and there’s a funny bit where Kate consults Siri to find a chicken, and the phone thinks she’s looking for Tevin instead. They do indeed get a chicken, and it’s a regular presence in the rest of the episode. For Diane, they get all the stuff necessary to recreate a famous Flemish still life painting (including a skull…eww).

Meanwhile, at the office, Pete is named lead counsel for the oil spill case. Mostly because his boss doesn’t want to deal with all the press himself. Pete is going to be the one who has to do interviews and look like a jerk for saying things like “oil is an organic substance.” Pete isn’t thrilled about this, but he doesn’t really feel like he has a choice. There is an ample food spread available for the war room Pete has convened, and he takes complete advantage of it, stress eating like there’s no tomorrow. Focusing on Pete’s work so much was a bit of a departure from the “Trophy Wife” norm, but there were a ton of funny little jokes in this plotline if you pay attention, like a list on a white board of all the things they could maybe blame the oil spill on instead of their client, such as “tiny submarine.”

Diane and Jackie actually pawned the kids off on Kate so that they could have a kid-free relaxing Mother’s Day weekend at a swanky resort. The jig is up when Kate and the kids try to deliver their Mother’s Day presents, and neither Diane nor Jackie are home. Kate drags the gang to Pete’s office to find out if he knows where Jackie and Diane went. It’s Bert who actually gets the information, though. He’s a master manipulator, that one. He tells Sad Steve that he wants Sad Steve to be his father, and he needs to know where Jackie is so he can tell her. Sad Steve, who clearly has some issues, is so touched at Bert’s acceptance of him that he gives up the location. There are a couple other funny bits in this scene, where Hillary acts like she’s been taking care of everyone and Warren wants to be a lawyer when he sees Pete getting make-up put on for an interview.

Anyway, Kate takes the kids to the resort, where she has a big confrontation with Jackie and Diane by the pool (Jackie is enjoying a drink in a beach chair while Diane does laps). The fight escalates, and all three women end up in the pool while the kids delightedly squeal “Mom fight!” The party is over, though, when Kate gets a call that Pete is in the hospital after possibly having suffered a mild heart attack. Everyone rushes to the hospital, and there is a funny bit where Meg is the first person Pete sees when he opens his eyes. The doctor comes to talk to Pete, and it turns out that Pete didn’t have a heart attack at all. He had severe indigestion from all the food he ate at the office. This leads to Pete and Kate later having a conversation about whether Pete should find a different job. Kate was thinking a “not evil” law firm. Pete is thinking about focusing on his legal erotica.

With Pete in the clear, medically, the whole family goes back to the resort for some fun. We get a montage of sorts of everyone enjoying the hotel room. It’s fancy camera work of the sort that makes a statement that this is the finale. Pete and Kate drink champagne, Diane and Hillary play chess, Meg enjoys the mini bar, Warren and Bert start a pillow fight. We get the sense that the Harrison family adventures are really just beginning now that Diane and Jackie have truly accepted Kate into the fold.