I wish that I loved something as much as the town of Merinac loves its chicken. Fried chicken is good, that is true. But is it good enough for a town war? Not in my opinion. But then again, I don’t love fried chicken that much. Definitely not enough to take sides in a chicken war and spray paint the side of someone’s house and drive over their hydrangeas.
Hard pass. I ain’t about that jail life.
What I did love about this episode of The Chicken Sisters is that it didn’t focus solely on chicken. Instead, it focused on family and the relationships that are in need of healing in the town.
Because that’s the thing – Kitchen Clash is bringing out a lot of suppressed feelings in the characters of this show. We’re seeing them all start to confront those feelings and as scary as they are, they must face them.
I guess that’s what I have started to admire about this show – it shows the challenges of the gossip that living in a small town brings and isn’t afraid to confront the consequences of actions. It’s not afraid to show the drama, but it’s also not afraid to show the pain.
One thing that I want to address that I really haven’t, is Gus.
Over the past few episodes, we’ve learned a few things about Gus, but we’re not sure exactly who she is. Guarded, yes. Cranky, obviously. But I think one of the most important things that we see in this episode is Gus feeling the pain of her hoarding. The way this episode ends, with her so frustrated, and surrounded by the junk that is all around her, broke my heart.
Seeing her feel so overwhelmed and in pain, unable to help her kids because of it, broke me. I think sometimes we don’t think about why a person is the way that they are – we just assume that they are mean or cruel because that’s who they are. But Gus is suffering and it is a mental health issue. So I am interested to see how they address this. I think that it is super important that it becomes more of a storyline.
But the storyline that they are focused on, isn’t that. They aren’t ignoring it – it just hasn’t been the center of the story.
AMANDA AND MAE
When Amanda has nowhere to go – even her Mom had turned her away – she heads to the hotel. It’s all booked and Mae offers her the spare bed in her room. We all know that these sisters don’t get along, but they should. Sisters are forever and no one should take theirs for granted.
I understand Amanda’s pain over her sister. She feels abandoned. Mae left her and didn’t look back. It felt like she didn’t think of Amanda and as if she looked down on Amanda. It was as if Mae left Amanda in the chaos and there was no one there to protect her anymore.
But in that same breath, I also understand Mae leaving and not looking back. Looking back would mean not being able to move on. She needed to be able to move on and feel a disconnect. She needed to escape the past that she felt had suffocated her. It wasn’t that she didn’t love her sister, it was that if she had kept that tie to the things she wanted to forget.
So seeing the two together and having to come face to face with the feelings that they have was honestly a beautiful thing. It was both funny and dramatic, but it was beautiful because they remembered their bond.
Amanda and Mae remembering their bond was something that I had been hoping for this entire time.
And I am so glad that we have gotten to see it.
FRANKIE SCHOOLS FRANK JR
Frank Jr. is so clueless that it’s frustrating. He doesn’t see the error of his ways and doesn’t ever seem to get that the things that he does cause hurt. Amanda its hurting because of him. He lied to her. He got a vasectomy, knowing she wanted another child, and hid it from her.
He doesn’t know how to articulate anything. He is so used to being taken care of, that he’s clueless. So when Frankie tries to help him come up with the reasons why he loves Amanda, it all comes down to housework and bills.
I can understand that Frankie doesn’t want her parents to divorce, but I would have hoped that she would see that her Mom deserves better. I also do recognize that she’s a child and doesn’t get how love and relationships are supposed to work. Seeing her have to translate her father’s words into something that her Mom would want to hear made me just frustrated.
It frustrated me because you could just understand that Frank Jr. and Frankie don’t have relationships and they don’t respect Amanda. I know that Frankie is a kid and that she doesn’t get it, but it still just frustrates me that settling seems to be the theme here.
Settling is the one thing I don’t think anyone should do in life. We’re all worthy of a big love. I just wish Amanda had hers.
NANCY
I actually watch this show and I am waiting for Nancy to break. Like full-on lose her mind. Why? Because no one can keep as much as she does hold inside themselves and it not take over.
It will leave a person sad and alone.
I think that Nancy has this idea of what Frannie’s girls should be and lives by that code, versus thinking about who she is and what she wants. Maybe that is the reason that Amanda and her get along so well. The two are the same.
They both suppress who they are.
Nancy knows that Amanda is angry over the vasectomy and Frank Jr’s actions are justified. But I think in the same way that Amanda is afraid of losing Nancy – Nancy is afraid of losing her. They need each other.
When Nancy tells Frank Jr to atone, I kinda got the ick. I got the ick because this grown man needs his Mom and his daughter to tell him what to do and well, that just shows what a little boy he still is.
Nancy has guarded her son and he’s been the apple of her eye. But, at a certain point, we have to force our kids to grow up. Nancy needs to force that boy to grow up.
AMANDA GOES BACK
Honestly, I wanted to puke when Frank Jr showed up with flowers and a rehearsed speech. It was gross. It was gross because I really don’t believe that he loves Amanda. I believe he loves himself and is being taken care of.
When Amanda runs into him in the lobby and he says what is on his mind, I have to roll my eyes. Frankie was standing there to the side as if she was there to feed her father all of the lines he needed if he messed up. I think that it was also a ploy because Amanda loves her daughter and so of course she’s going to be there for her little girl.
But when Amanda agreed to go back, I actually screamed NOOO!!!
Amanda has this belief that she has to settle. She’s so afraid of losing Nancy – which is her only reason for going back. But if Nancy really loves her as a daughter, she would still be there. They are still family.
Amanda needs to realize her own worth. Her worth isn’t based on staying because it’s the town’s perception of the right thing to do. She’s not going to lose the people that matter to her if they really love her. And if she loses them, good riddance. They didn’t deserve her in the first place.
I just wish Amanda would realize she deserves to be happy. She deserves to be wanted because of who she is, not because of what she can do.
HUNGOVER AND BROKEN
Sabrina waking up hungover made me laugh, only because her daughter put her in her place. It First, who drinks chocolate and wine – makes me wanna vom. Second, I had to laugh because her daughter called her out.
The thing with Sabrina, she is going through a lot. I don’t care how much time goes by, when you have been married to someone, the pain of seeing them move on is hard.
Sabrina knows that she needs to be strong for her daughter and not show just how hurt she is. So when Linzey tells her that she has a Zoom with her Dad later that day, it’s like a stab in the heart.
But what happened to Linzey was what broke me.
When Sabrina gets back to the room – after the supposed Zoom – she finds her daughter in tears. Her father missed the Zoom and he wasn’t answering any texts. Linzey was destroyed, feeling forgotten by her father. She was scared of what the future would hold because her father would forget her.
And with that, I hated her Dad. No one should ever have to feel that way and seeing a kid feel that way was heartbreaking. Sabrina tried to comfort her, but I don’t think any amount of comfort would cut it. Why? Because what Linzey needs is her Dad and it’s obvious that he’s taking her for granted.
THE D**N HYDRANGEAS
Gus and Nancy do not get along. They have a lot of history and that is a fact. But why each one is the way that they are – well that’s a mess in itself and one we have yet to unlock.
Both are completely different people. Gus is keeping to herself and Nancy is in the center of everything. I think that regardless of what else has happened, the two are really at big odds over Amanda. Both love her – one is just able to show it and the other one isn’t.
When Gus’ hydrangeas are destroyed by a vandal, Nancy is determined to fix them. Gus doesn’t want her there and it ends up with her trying to hose her down and Kitchen Clash catching the whole thing on camera.
OTHER THOUGHTS
- Missed Sergio
- Frankie and Linzey hanging out always feel forced and weird. Like I don’t think that these two have anything in common and it feels weird
- Does anything else happen in this town besides chicken?
- I had to laugh, because well, the church was the hopping place for gossip tracks in a small town.
The Chicken Sisters airs on Hallmark+.
