'The Mick' Season 2, Episode 6 'The Matriarch' Recap: Mickey's Unlikely Lover [SPOILERS]

Things make a weird turn for the best on the latest episode of “The Mick,” titled “The Matriarch.” It’s another episode full of crazy antics with Mickey (Kaitlin Olson) being mistaken as 100-year-old Grandma Rita’s (Guest star Judith Roberts) long-time best friend and something else (more on this later). Desperate for a taste of the high life once again, Mickey and the Pemberton kids sneak their way into a whole new level of trouble that surprisingly ends in a good way for all of them. After all, a Pemberton’s always a Pemberton—alright, maybe a Molng too.

Guests should be treated right

The episode starts with Mickey and the entire gang fully dressed for the Pemberton’s Great Grandma Rita’s 100th Birthday Party. Of course, their Grandma Tippy (Guest star Concetta Tomei) and her brain dead husband Colonel (Guest star E.J. Calahan) are there to organize the party, and she doesn’t want them there. But just as she orders them to leave, Rita interrupts them and thinks that Mickey is Helen, her old friend from Florida. She also thinks that Chip is Helen’s mentally challenged son Dippy. She welcomes them to the party, which Tippy doesn’t agree with.

As they make their way in, Mickey marvels at the luxury that’s spread out before them. She even fails to keep her “classy” composure when she burned her hand on a hot chocolate fountain. Meanwhile, as Jimmy (Scott MacArthur) and Sabrina (Sofia Black-D’Elia) eat their fill of chicken wings, Jimmy feels bad for a butler who Sabrina treats as a slave. For once, Jimmy is actually talking some sense now. He’s more of the good guy here.
Later, Rita catches up with Mickey and Chip (but in her case, it’s Helen and Dippy) and asks them to stay for the weekend so they could have fun like they used to. Tippy interrupts and tells Rita that it’s time for her to sleep. But she’s only saying this so she could catch her afternoon flight to Nantucket. This gives Mickey an idea—take advantage of Rita’s dementia and Tippy’s absence so they could spend the weekend in her fully-stocked mansion.
The next day, Mickey shows up on Rita’s doorstep together with her entire crew. Rita is excited, and she couldn’t wait to welcome them with open arms. After all, Mickey/Helen is her best friend (again, more on that later). They eat breakfast, and Rita tells them about their itinerary for the day. Chip, on the other hand, is iffy about what they’re doing. He thinks it’s cruel for Mickey to take advantage of Rita like that. He tries to call her out on her bull by asking her when she last saw Rita. Mickey mumbles her answer, but Rita catches her and goes on a full nostalgia trip.

Meanwhile, Ben and Alba go for a stroll in the garden where they come across a maze. As Alba thinks of something fun for both of them to do, Ben disappears into the maze. Alba finds him easily, but as they prepare to leave, they get lost. Seeing how it seems impossible for them to navigate their way through it, Alba breaks through the bushes as Ben follows along. Back in the Mansion, Sabrina continues her evil slave treatment to Richard (Guest star Brandon J. Sornberger), Rita’s butler. She wants to give him her laundry and proceeds to strip just as Jimmy walks in on them. He doesn’t like what he’s seeing and orders Sabrina out. Jimmy tries to take care of his own laundry, even going as far as inviting Richard for a beer for Sunday.
They proceed to the garden (well, the other garden without the maze) to do skeet shooting. Mickey aces it, but Rita only aims down at the ground to shoot it. She also encourages Rita to live a little, making her want to drink gin rickey and get a pack of smokes. Chip interrupts them again and shows Mickey a picture of the real Helen and Dippy. He doesn’t like what they are doing and proceeds to leave, but Rita tells them that they’re going shopping. It lights both Chip and Mickey up, but Rita only wants to go with Mickey. Chip, on the other hand, is offered a doom buggy for him to play with.

The entire gang enjoys the rest of the day, with Chip driving at Rita’s servants with his doom buggy and enjoying a hot bath, Sabrina making Richard clean up after her wherever she goes and Mickey and Rita having the time of their lives relaxing and shopping. But little does Mickey know that she is in for a shocking revelation.

The Lover

That night, Mickey sleeps soundly when she wakes to Rita on top of her, topless. It’s not since “Game of Thrones'” red woman reveal that I was close to throwing up at the sight of a naked old woman, but Mickey takes it like a champ. It turns out that Rita and Helen were secret lovers back in the day, and she wants to rekindle the flame now that Helen is back. Mickey freaks out and makes up an excuse saying Dippy (or Chip) needs her more, so she couldn’t return the favor.
Mickey runs out of the room and bumps into Chip in the hallway. She tells him about Rita and says that they should leave right away. However, Chip has grown accustomed to being Dippy. Here, he’s treated as a king, with everything within reach and given to him on a silver platter. Despite Mickey’s reasons, he refuses to leave and has a hot bath.
As Chip lounges in the bathtub, Rita comes in and tries to electrocute Chip by dropping a toaster in the tub. Lucky for Chip, he has fast reflexes. He gapes in horror as Rita tells him that she needs to spend more time with Mickey/Helen. Now, this makes him want to leave too. He goes to Mickey and tells her that they should leave. He also tells her about what Rita did, which makes Mickey think of it as a sweet gesture from Rita. No one has ever gone as far as killing someone for her, and so Mickey thinks that the least she could do is to say goodbye.
The next day, Mickey meets with Rita for a romantic lunch date. Rita then tries to hold her hand and fondle her down there, but Mickey gets to the point. Before she could speak, though, Rita presents her a gold necklace as a present. Mickey is surprised but tells her that she needs to get back to Florida. Rita is heartbroken yet again (apparently she’s been going on and off with Helen back in the day) and gives her the gold necklace so Mickey/Helen would always remember Rita.

Meanwhile, Jimmy walks in on Sabrina dripping a candlestick on Richard’s stomach. This shocks Jimmy and he feels bad that Richard chose to spend his time being Sabrina’s slave and sex toy. He walks out, disappointed. Sabrina and Richard follow after him to try to explain. And just as Jimmy is about to leave them, Tippy and Colonel arrive from their trip. She’s furious that the Pemberton’s are in her mother-in-law’s house and Sabrina blames Mickey.
Tippy catches her passionately making out with Rita. She tries to explain to Tippy but she has none of it. Jimmy is also disappointed because everyone around him is out having wild sex adventures. Rita tells Tippy that at least she’s living her life, and Tippy is also shocked to see her smoking. As Tippy tries to get rid of them all, Rita accidentally sets her oxygen tank on fire and causes an explosion. She dies right away. In the maze, Ben and Alba see the pillar of smoke, and they follow it.

The police and EMTs arrive to assess the scene. Mickey and the gang prepare to leave, but Sabrina sees the Colonel alone with a letter for Mickey. Apparently, Tippy’s had enough of everything and left the house and everything else in it (and the Colonel) to Mickey.
At least they now have a new mansion.

‘The Mick: The Matriarch’ Overall Verdict

It’s fun to finally see some kind of progression for all the characters of “The Mick” in terms of their financial state. They’ve been living in the Pemberton’s burned-down mansion for the rest of the episode, and now an upgrade has just been given to them. Now I can only imagine how this would affect everyone too. It’s very likely that the Pemberton kids will go back to their excessive, entitled lifestyle, while Mickey, Jimmy, and Alba enjoy more of the high life that they have been deprived of since Ben burned the previous mansion down. Nonetheless, it’s another important episode that sets up a whole new direction for Mickey’s entire crew.
“The Mick” continues next Tuesday with “The Homecoming” at 9/8c on FOX.