Photo: Liane Hentscher / Netflix
Has a television episode ever felt like a giant, comforting bear hug as much as this? Twenty-four minutes that are good for the soul. Sure, we have a two-part summer adventure at Camp Moosehead to close the season, but the nuptials of Liz Thomas and Watson Brewer and the antics that revolve around their big day feel like The Nanny Club Reaching the full circle. Kristy trying to prosecute her mother to remarry and how that will change her family unit has been threatened throughout the season since episode one. Naturally, the wedding day finally comes to a head. What are weddings for without a low-risk, happy and sad drama that causes tears?
Kristy has always been concerned about how things will change once her fiercely independent mother, ALWAYS, always checks the price, gets married, let’s not stick with the words, the supremely charged Watson Brewer. If Kristy is honest with herself, most of that concern is more about how scary change is and less about money or independence. (Her mother seems very sure of who she is.) If Kristy could remember what Dawn taught us a few episodes ago, that parents are just older bugs who do the best they can, then she would realize that her mother is just as afraid of change as she is and they could navigate those fears Instead: they fight.
On the morning of the wedding, Liz enters and finds Kristy looking gorgeous in an ice blue bridesmaid dress and flower crown. Yes, our Kristy! In a dress! Her mother is speechless at her beauty, but she is confused because the dress was supposed to be yellow. What she doesn’t know is that when Watson brought Kristy for her final dress fit (weird but sure) and Kristy complained about how she looked like a banana, Watson offered to buy her a new dress even though it was non-refundable . This is the second expensive “gift” Watson has given one of Liz’s children without asking (she also bought Charlie a new BMW), so really her beef must be with her future husband, but the Emotions are high and as Liz will later admit, she takes Kristy to a higher level. The argument over who a pampered princess is turns into Kristy screaming that she never wanted her mother to marry Watson and that maybe she shouldn’t be involved in the wedding, or her “new and classy family”. Those are words you can’t get back, and Kristy knows it as soon as they fly out of her mouth.
During the ceremony, something magical happens (and I’m not just talking about two very nice people who commit to each other in the long term): Kristy sees her mother as a real human being and not just “a mother”, and remembers the years that her mother is sad and stressed, she realizes that of course her mother deserves to be happy and loved. Watson is a good man and his family will be stronger together. And then, making fun of the idea of adults crying when they are happy, Kristy Thomas begins to cry with joy when his mother and Watson say “Yes, I do.” What a time to be alive, people!
All Kristy wants to do is spend a minute alone with her mother to apologize and tell her how she really feels, but that is apparently impossible at the reception. Kristy’s need for her mother becomes even more apparent when something monumental happens: Kristy has her first period. They didn’t name the episode Kristy’s Great day for nothing. However, instead of her mother, she has her BSC girls, who have been there and have a notebook and instructions on how to use it ready to use. Kristy is having a day filled with huge and significant accomplishments, including the fact that of course she created the Baby-Sitters Club to care for children … “but also to care for [her.]”They” are more than a club, [they’re] best friends. “It’s just a bunch of optimistic and hopeful girls taking care of each other. Don’t even look at me, don’t even look at me. I’m a pool of tears. People cry at weddings, okay?
In all the chaos of the first period, Kristy almost lost her last chance to speak to her mother. Liz and Watson head towards their honeymoon when Kristy runs off and the car comes to an abrupt halt and the two ladies Thomas finally take a moment to speak. It’s a beautiful mother-daughter scene (the cast on this show is so good everywhere and I’ll never stop talking about it) in which Kristy and Liz apologize and admit they are very much alike in all things. Liz also tells her daughter that although she is completely in love with Watson, she wants him to know that she still believes in everything she has tried to teach him: “You have to be independent and do it on your own. You are a strong little woman, Kristy, “she says, before reminding him that she is his” whole heart. “It is such a lovely moment you could ask for and I would like it to melt in liquid form and add to my coffee every mornings.
After all those feelings, there is only one thing left to do and our caregivers already know this ancient truth: it’s time to dance.
• What a delight to see Richard and Sharon sweat knowing that the wedding will be the first time they have seen each other since the Turtle Gift. Richard is a Champagne shipwreck (okay, he only has a third glass, but that is a lot for him) and Sharon is so excited to be back with him that he gives her a hazelnut cake, of which she is extremely allergic. to. “Oh Richie, I’m just going to look at you until my left eye closes,” she says. These lovebirds! Get married now, will you?
• Bless this show: Aunt Esme is the officiant of the wedding, which of course triggers Karen, who still believes that Esme is a witch. As Esme explains, women were historically branded as witches when they refused “to conform to society’s expectations of who they should be.” “We have a lot of witches here!” Esme yells at the crowd. It fits that. Snaps all around!
• “We are all children of divorce, Kristy.” Karen Brewer, saying it as it is.
• One second, Stacey is pining for the disappearance of Cousin Toby from Canada, the next she is dancing in the arms of Sam Thomas. The Boy-Crazy title still remains safe with her.
• CLAUDIA KISHI IS A STYLE ICON. That dress! That eyeliner! I want to be her when I grow up.
• “Does this shirt smell of meat?”
