Mandy joins the Cooper family for their customary dinner as they all eat together. George Jr. supports Mandy and apologizes to her at the dinner table after the family unintentionally makes Mandy uncomfortable by being overly nice and Sheldon asks her inappropriate questions. During supper, the family phone rings, and George Sr answers it. He gets an urgent call from Principal Peterson involving George’s friend and co-worker Wayne, George Sr then excuses himself from the dinner table and leaves. When George Sr goes to the motel where Wayne is staying, he finds Peterson waiting outside. George Sr learns that Darlene, Wayne’s wife, cheated on him and is currently pregnant with his best friend’s child. George Sr makes an effort to comfort him, but it is unsuccessful. Then, because he can’t leave him in the motel alone, George Sr brings him to his home. After dinner, George Jr drops Mandy off at Meemaw’s house, where she expresses her gratitude for the dinner and tells him it was fun to eat with his family. She also extends an invitation and asks him to eat ice cream with her, but he politely refuses and informs her that he has work the following day. The next morning, Sheldon wants to watch television while Wayne is sleeping on the couch. Sheldon dislikes change, so when he becomes anxious he knocks on Missy’s door and lets her know what’s going on. The two go to their parents’ room and confront them about Wayne sleeping on their couch. Sheldon also asks if he can watch TV while Wayne is sleeping, but they scold him and send them away. George and Mary are told about the forthcoming game by Peterson when he pays a visit to the house. In addition, since Wayne is the coach, he inquires if he believes that Wayne would feel better by then. He is informed by George and Mary that they are unsure. Peterson requests George’s assistance by helping Wayne in coaching the game. Because Peterson fired him, George initially refuses, but after receiving further requests from Peterson, he agrees. George assures Wayne that returning to work is all he needs while he is driving Wayne to work. He also makes an effort to motivate Wayne, but Wayne doesn’t seem to take him seriously. When Mandy and Meemaw go to the clinic for a routine pregnancy check-up, they discover that the clinic is unable to process her bills since there is no insurance information on file. When Meemaw offers to pay the bills, Mandy notices that she has taken out a bundle of cash. Meemaw lies and says it’s money from her laundry and video store businesses and that she doesn’t believe in saving money in the bank when Mandy questions her about why she’s carrying so much cash. Missy asks Wayne’s wife an inappropriate question in class, and she angrily calls Wayne and gives him an earful, assuming it has something to do with him telling her. Mandy heads over to George Jr’s workplace, and an inspector ends up paying a visit to the video store to request more bribes. Meemaw tells the officer to come back later and lies to Mandy, but Mandy grows suspicious and requests that they tell her the truth. They end up showing Mandy the gambling room and then they tell her about the business, and Mandy is pleased because if George earns well, their child will be able to go to a private school. When George takes Wayne to motivate the kids for the upcoming game, he ends up projecting his own problems onto them, swaying the entire discussion. Coach Wayne joins Missy and Sheldon as they watch Star Trek. George and Mary discuss how the coach won’t be able to coach well in the upcoming game, after which they say it’s shocking how his marriage fell apart, when in fact it should’ve been their marriage given how turbulent it has become. Wayne’s emotional state prevents him from being able to coach the kids during the game. At first, George urges him to keep going, but when he doesn’t, George steps in and coaches instead, drawing Peterson’s attention. After the game, Peterson attempts to replace Wayne with George while also offering George his old job. However, George insists that Wayne be allowed to work as well, so Peterson caves, and both of them end up with jobs at the school. George Jr informs Sheldon that he has brought pizza and then asks Sheldon to go and have dinner. Sheldon informs him that he wont be able to because he is trying to figure out whether the ceiling in his room is leaking. George tells him he’ll wait in his room instead, and asks Sheldon to have dinner. Mandy finds George in Sheldon’s room and thanks him for being so wonderful. They end up talking, and she ends up staying the night with George. When Mandy doesn’t return to Meemaw’s house the next morning, Meemaw jokingly mentions how she was out late and then continues to mock Mandy.
The Episode Review
The episode lays the groundwork for a possible relationship between George and Mandy. In this episode, we see Mandy, who was previously hesitant, begin to show interest in George Jr. She is moved by his efforts for her and their soon-to-be-born child. This could be the beginning of something, and it will be interesting to see where it goes. The title of the episode leads you to believe that the affair is about George Sr. However, we see that Wayne and Darlene are having an affair, not him. We also see Mary and George admit to each other that they have a troubled marriage and that it should have been their relationship that was falling apart rather than Wayne and Darlene’s. It’s an intriguing setup with the show, and you can’t help but think that the writers are dropping subtle hints through the episode title for what’s to come, or do you think it’s just a coincidence?
