Loveday Writing

Throughout the episode, Greg continues to ignore Em and slowly read her book. They eventually discuss it, Greg doesn’t want the book to be published as it, of course, portrays him as a shit husband, however he does acknowledge that the book is Em’s dream and worked hard on it, but it’s still his face on the cover, and if the “team don’t work, the dream don’t work.” Later, when talking to Marlo, Em admits to her that she understands where Greg is coming from but doesn’t want to give up her dream, so she invites Audrey over to talk to him.

Meanwhile Brad and Nadia are preparing for their impending wedding in Greg and Em’s backyard. When Brad tells Greg he wants his and Nadia’s relationship to be just like Greg and Em’s relationship, Greg tells him not to put his relationship with Em on a pedestal, and that Nadia agrees with him on everything and that’s not normal. This comment throws Brad through a loop and he keeps trying to start a fight with her. He eventually sits down and tells her this, Nadia reveals Greg’s right and that in her previous marriages she would fight with her then-husbands and it led to her divorces, so she feels it’s better to have a passionless, conflict-free marriage with someone she likes. Brad ends up breaking up with her as he wants to marry someone who loves him. While Nadia’s intentions are good, they are misguided and Brad was right to break up with her.

When Greg goes to the treehouse to talk to Brad about the cancelled wedding, Brad explains his needs to him and Greg talks about the book. Brad makes Greg see that Em loves him so much she was able to write an entire book on him, whereas Nadia wouldn’t be able to write an entire post-it on him. Brad also makes Greg see the humorous side to the book. Afterwards Em apologies to Greg for not telling him about the book, and Greg says it deserves to be published.

While the family manages to turn Brad and Nadia’s wedding reception into a party for Em, Audrey reveals she contacted Reese Witherspoon about the book and she wants to buy the rights to it, which means Em gets a payout of $20,000. Greg and Em use the money to pay for the cruise they’ve dreamed on and the episode ends with photos of them having fun on it.

Meanwhile Sophie has been missing Ravi and ignoring his calls, however he turns up to her house at the end of the episode as his flight was delayed and his grandmother’s health has improved, so he managed to convince his parents to let him stay until the end of term. On a smaller note, Terry keeps avoiding Marlo, eventually telling her that he thinks they should have sex less often than they do and he knew she wouldn’t like that idea. They do eventually end up having sex in Greg and Em’s bed, shower and closet, and Marlo ends up agreeing with Terry’s idea.

Overall this was a good but not great season finale. The story arc of Brad and Nadia, Sophie and Ravi, the family cruise, and Em’s book have come to a neat close. However no potential story arcs were set up for next season (if there is another one).

Overall this season has been a huge improvement to the previous season. Although there were still over-the-top, unrealistic, zany moments and subplots I didn’t enjoy, there seemed to be less of them this season. The writing has also improved, with good foreshadowing and pacing, however there were some subplots and moments that were predictable.

It will be interesting to see if it’s renewed for another season.

Stray Observations:

-Brad and Nadia’s wedding makes it Nadia’s third wedding.

-Chloe still has Hannibal, the class turtle.

Best one liners and interactions:

• “It would be nice to cry myself to sleep in my own bed for a change.” (Sophie to Brad)
• “If the team don’t work, the dream don’t work, that’s why it rhymes.” (Greg to Em)
• “It’s a draw, so we asked Audrey to adopt us.” “It could be handy to have someone at the residence to sign for packages.” (Chloe-Audrey on Chloe making a list of whether Greg or Em would be better to live with if they got divorced)
• “You swore!” “If you’re coming to live with me kiddo, it’s the tip of the iceberg.” (Chloe-Audrey)