What I’m Watching: Grace and Frankie

Grace and Frankie: Season 4, Episode 12 “The Rats” (B+)

We still needed an episode before things got to the point that they were at the start of last week’s, with Grace and Frankie officially in an assisted-living facility. Furious that she was conned the way that she used to chastise others for being conned, Grace didn’t make much headway on a new contractor, and Frankie’s guy wasn’t up to her standards. Swearing Coyote to secrecy didn’t take much threatening, but he wasn’t actually the one who broke first when the children were gathered together after the performance. Barry’s reaction to the scooter comment gave him away, and the acknowledgment of putting Grace in a home as a likely possibility makes a lot of sense given how we know that things will turn out and the unfortunate scene we saw at the end of the episode encapsulated by the clever use of “We got trouble” to summarize the situation. It was a treat to see part of “The Music Man” actually performed, and though I don’t think Martin Sheen will be winning an Emmy, another Tappy does seem likely to be in his future. Roy’s presence really riled both Robert and Sol, and his innocent departure made them even more confused. His equal dedication to both of them suggests that he might be a helpful element for their relationship, though they both still seem equally resistant to the idea of actually going for it. We’ll see if that figures at all into the season finale, which is all that we have left before this show returns sometime in early 2019.