5 minutes ago, ljenkins782 said:
That's a lot of change in a short period of time and it can be weird when your friendships have to change based on what's going on each person's life, especially when you're the one who's kinda left behind (like Mary Jo's life wasn't changing, but Charlene's was and it opened up new options that Mary Jo didn't have).
Yep, and add in how insecure Mary Jo was feeling about her parenting abilities due to Quint's behavior, you can see how she could pick at her, and Charlene respond in kind, despite their love for each other.
Mary Jo is on edge because everyone assumes Randa Oliver is a holy terror because of her mother, instead of saying parents, or offering up any other reasons. Then she tells them what Quint did, and how his friend's mother said maybe it wouldn't have happened had she been home, instead of working. Intellectually, she knows that snotty woman is wrong, but emotionally it can be hard to deflect.
Minutes later, Charlene finds out she missed Olivia's first step and announces she's going to take a year off and as part of her reasoning again blames Mrs. Oliver never being home for Randa's behavior.
Mary Jo figures she'll find out being home full-time is not the life for her and want to come back, only to have Charlene breeze in happy as a clam. She goes into full denial mode, and it does not go at all well when they go over to beg Charlene to come back.
I think the initial joke about interrupting her soap is fine (which is why I like Charlene later admitting she was watching), but once Charlene starts honestly talking to her about feeling used by the working mothers in the neighborhood and says she has stress, too, Mary Jo should have never responded by saying yeah, deciding between Oprah and Dr. Phil is just hell. Charlene has the grace to tell her she knows Mary Jo doesn't mean to, but she's hurting her feelings with these jokes, and she doubles down, asking Charlene if she's lost her sense of humor since she quit working, which results in that ugly fight I love so much:
Mary Jo, I am working.
I know that. You know what I mean.
What if I joked with you like that?
Like what?
Like, "If you hadn't been working, maybe Quint wouldn't be in trouble." Mary Jo, I'm sorry, I didn't mean that.
Obviously, you've wanted to say it for a long time.
I didn't mean it.
I'm really glad you got it out. Obviously, my kids won't take Children of the Year and I am probably to blame. I don't have a rich husband, or even a husband. My work's not a hobby I can drop or pick up.
Now I'm a rich old frump, is that it?
(Julia comes back in and asks what's going on.)
You're leaving.
Fine with me; I have to earn a living.
As much as I love the fight, I love even more when Mary Jo goes over to apologize. I like when she says it's so hard; whatever choice a mother makes, she feels guilty about it because she thinks everyone in the world is judging her whether they actually are or not, and Charlene says, yeah, she and Bill were at a party and when a woman she just met asked her what she did, she overreacted with, "I work within the home. You think running a house is easy? It's the most important work you can do!"
And when Mary Jo says there will always be some who think stay-at-home moms are lazy or dumb and working moms are selfish yuppies, but they can't worry about those people, and moms have to keep from turning on each other.
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