What I’m Watching: Grace and Frankie

Grace and Frankie: Season 3, Episode 9 “The Apology” (B+)

I’m actually pretty impressed with how this show handled the number of times that characters in this episode wanted to say something nice about Robert’s mother and had to stop themselves to insert something remotely praiseworthy about her. While Sol indulged in his own memories of his mother and then vehemently tried to deny that Robert’s mother was murdered and wasn’t still alive even though he hadn’t seen a body, Robert had a far more cathartic outing with Grace, forcing an employee of the store to model the white dress suit they were going to buy for his mother to wear in the coffin. Apologizing to Grace not loving her back was a very nice moment, and how sweet that he bought her a scarf as an in-the-moment present to show that he cared. Frankie learned some surprising news about her lack of prominence in Jacob’s thoughts about the future, and at least they talked about it now so they can figure out if moving to Santa Fe is totally out of the question because Frankie doesn’t want to leave Grace. Brianna’s excitement at proving Mallory wrong was short-lived when she realized the implications of what being right meant, and encouraging Mallory not to stay unhappily married just for the kids was important. While I expected someone to realize that Coyote was what Mallory needed, I was pleased to see that Brianna reflected on her own missed opportunity with Barry, which is sure to lead to an awkward reunion when whoever it was drinking wine with him presents a huge roadblock to whatever Brianna thinks is going to happen when they see each other.