Finishing this episode puts us halfway through the season, and it’s anyone’s guess as to what else could happen to these two lovely ladies. Ava (Hannah Einbinder) and Deborah (Jean Smart) are settling into their late-night gig. It’s been a few weeks, and Deb’s desperate for some stats. The focus group goes poorly, to probably no one’s surprise. But overall, the show’s doing pretty good across the board…well, except for moms. The moms aren’t watching.
Deb wants to lean into having mom content and getting famous moms on the show. Kristen Bell’s name pops up, but she’s already attached to Kimmel’s show since they’re friends. Deb’s not one to take no for an answer and hilariously stalks Kristen through the grocery store until she gets a yes. Kimmel’s not so happy about it, though. And I have to admit that the whole scene was gut-busting. I super appreciate shows that take place in Hollywood or entertainment and name-drop in funny ways. Hearing them refer to Conan as being dead since his show is over was killing me.
Meanwhile, Ava is now in a threesome with that couple (Medalion Rahimi, Alexander Koch) from the sex shop. Called it, but it works nicely for her. She likes them both, and when she needs to bail because Emily 
Blunt doesn’t want to do the gravy bowl challenge, they still have each other. But she’s not super openly discussing it, and with her fracture with Deb, I’m not surprised. Deb’s not the most kind. But they give Dance Mom (Julianne Nicholson) the time of day even though they both don’t want her. At least Jimmy (Paul W. Downs) and Kayla (Megan Stalter) are doing all right at their jobs, finding them options. But Ava misses her political show and is trying to elevate late-night while Deb is in comic mode, chasing laughs. Neither is right, but can they find middle ground enough to save the show? Deb sees Ava out with her couple, and the puns start rolling in. Joke’s on Deborah, though, because Ava told them not to watch the show until it gets good.
And since they’re fighting over wine o’clock jokes, it might be a minute. Ava changes the cue cards on Deb, but she rolls with it, throwing the wine o’clock joke in for some flat laughs. Meanwhile, Stacey (Michaela Watkins) has had her limit and then some. Not only have the two of them raised $4,000 in cash for the Volume Jar, but Stacey, in her attempt to assist them, bites it hard on the floor. And once she’s up, she’s ripping them both apart. And she’s right. Ava is trying to be too high-brow, and Deb isn’t focusing on the big picture. Can they salvage things? I don’t know, but Dance Mom can. Or can help at least. She even gets Deb up moving and grooving. For now… Until Deb gets her hands on the next stats report.
