There’s very little that can get in the way of a determined young woman. Especially when that young woman is determined to do something kind of insane. Such is the case this week when it comes to Matilda and her future plans. Oh boy.
Spoilers ahead for Everything’s Gonna Be Okay Season 2, Episode 7. You have been warned.
Bolognese and Big Plans
It’s family dinner time in the Moss household. Alex is making his mother’s Bolognese, but he feels like it’s too runny. Nicholas keeps suggesting chia seeds as he deconstructs cardboard boxes, and Alex repeatedly tells him that chia seeds do not go in meet. Finally he says yes when Nicholas admits he has a case of the sillies, and agrees to let Nicholas put chia seeds in the sauce.
At the table, Genevieve says she has an issue to talk about. They ask if it’s Oscar, and she says no, but admits he won’t stop leaving her voicemails. Suddenly Matilda appears and wants to talk about her thing, but Genevieve tells her it’s still her turn. Genevieve says no, it’s Barb. She says last night Barb posted a video on Facebook, and her grandmother liked it. Which wouldn’t be a big deal, except she told everyone her grandmother died of COVID two weeks ago. Nicholas brings up the fact they sent her very expensive flowers, and Genevieve says now everyone at school is mad at her. Alex tries to advise Genevieve that she should give Barb a chance, but Nicholas says she should dump Barb and move on, and that Barb doesn’t have any kind of deeper reason, she was just bored, and Genevieve agrees.
Before they can continue, Matilda says it’s her turn, and announces she plans to propose to Drea. Naturally, everyone else at the table is a little stunned. They question her on it, but she’s very sure of herself. Genevieve asks about the fact that they’re so young (they’re only 18), and Matilda replies that it’s so great they found each other so young. Nicholas asks how she knows Drea is the one, to which Matilda points out that they fight less than Nicholas and Alex do. She tells them she’s arranged for Drea and her mother, Suze, to go out for breakfast in the morning so she can ask her father, Toby, for her hand in marriage. Nicholas is doing his typical thing of not knowing how to handle the situation, so when Matilda says she needs a ride, Nicholas and Genevieve actually drive her there.
No one knows what they’re doing, continually.
Genevieve and Nicholas sit outside in the car as Matilda knocks on the door. Toby answers and lets her in. “Surely he’ll say no,” Genevieve says, and Nicholas nods. He’s left the hard part to Toby, sure that as a proper dad he’ll tell the teenager she can’t get married. Meanwhile inside, Toby is just being very friendly. Matilda tells him how great of a girl Drea is, and he agrees. Finally she asks him for his permission to marry Drea. In return, he launches into a history lesson about dowries and where the tradition started.
Back in the car, the two worry if they’re bad people for hoping that Toby tells her no. Genevieve says they’re not hoping for Matilda to come out sobbing, that they’re good people who just want what’s best for her. They continue to worry. Nicholas says it’s taking longer than it should to tell her she can’t get married, and Genevieve chimes in saying, “doesn’t he know what happens to people who don’t get told no?” citing Justin Bieber and Kim Jong Un. Nicholas feels helpless, as Matilda threatened to go back into a depression and hole up in her room if they said anything. They try to take their minds off it, but before they can, Matilda comes out squealing saying Toby said yes. Because of course he did. Nicholas and Genevieve are shocked.
Cut to the back of a blonde woman walking briskly up to the Moss’ front door. Nicholas opens it and it’s Suze, who is not pleased. She’s brought cookies and just continually asks Nicholas what he was thinking. She recognizes Toby blew it, but also looks at Nicholas to see why he let her ask Toby in the first place. Nicholas admits he doesn’t know how to parent her, that they didn’t vote him to be their new dad. But Suze reminds him he has the papers to say that he is, and that it’s his job to keep her from doing something so permanent at such a young age.
The scene cuts to Matilda’s room, where Nicholas has brought some of the cookies. He starts with the strategy of talking about the people who got married in high school when he was a student, but realizes that doesn’t really work because they were just getting married so they could have sex, and she’s already doing that. He tries to say that if their relationship is meant to be, they won’t need to prove it with something so permanent, but Matilda still isn’t getting the hint. Finally he just comes out and say that she can’t get married. He tried to be cool about it but this is something where he really has to draw a line and say no. She asks if it’s because she’s autistic and he thinks she can’t know what she wants or who she loves, and he emphatically says no, it’s just because she’s 18. She starts to cry and gets very defensive, saying she just wanted his support, and he tells her this is how he’s supporting her. She tells him that he doesn’t know what she needs better than she does, and asks if he wants her to be unhappy, which of course he doesn’t. He tells her again that he can’t stay out of it, to which she responds, “I hate you.” He tries to say that she doesn’t mean that, but she repeats it and yells at him to get out. He leaves and closes the door, and hears her sobbing and feels uncomfortable and hurt, but walks away.
Nicholas and Matilda are at a safety deposit box vault. Matilda looks annoyed and upset as Nicholas unlocks and pulls out a box. He brings it over to a table and opens it, and inside are several small wrapped boxes. He explains that before their father died, he set up this box with gifts for them for all the major milestones – graduations, major birthdays, and so on. She asks if she can pick them up or feel them, and he says no, except for one, which he opens for her. It’s her mother’s engagement ring. He reminds her that she can only propose with this ring once, and that the ring is a part of their family’s story. Anyone she proposes to, she has to be ready to make a part of that story. Matilda smiles and says this was the first time she’s been able to fully understand how she feels about Drea. She wants Drea to be a part of that story. And with that response, Nicholas says okay and gives his permission for her to propose to Drea.
This, of course, is immediately met with more disbelief and contempt from Suze. She goes on, with his agreement, to call him a bozo and incapable. Logic, reason, and Suze all seem in agreement that two 18-year-olds should not be getting married, no matter the circumstances. But with Nicholas and Toby being so useless, and Matilda being so determined, it seems like this may be a difficult hole they have dug themselves into.
In the credits scene, Alex convinces Genevieve to call Barb, saying she could probably use a friend. Alex dials Barb’s number and they get her voicemail, but even though Genevieve told him to hang up, the beep still beeped. He tells her to say something, but instead she just breathes into the phone. Before she gets the courage to speak, the line disconnects – she’s mortified. She’s just breathed into Barb’s answering machine, meaning she has to call again to apologize and now Barb has all the power. Being social never seems to be easy for Genevieve.
Season 2, Episode 8, “Rocky Mountain Wood Tick,” airs Thursday, May 20 at 10 p.m. ET/9 p.m. CT on Freeform.
