‘Fresh off the Boat’ Episode Review: “A League of Her Own”

Fresh Off the Boat, Season 4, Episode 6: “A League of Her Own”
Original airdate November 7, 2017.

Synopsis:  Nicole comes out to Honey and Jessica, sort of by mistake, but Honey handles it admirably, as do the other patrons of the Denim Turtle where it happens.  Jessica handles it well too, although she’s adorably mystified that lesbianism even exists.  Now she’s stressed about telling her father.  Louis is amped about the start of another Orlando Bar and Restaurant Softball League season, but the dude representing Kenny Rogers’s interest in Kenny Rogers’s Michael Bolton’s Cattleman’s Ranch threatens to shut the team down if it doesn’t win a single game.  When Jessica learns that Louis won’t let her manage the team, she assumes leadership of the Denim Turtle team, leading to one bad Marvin pun and one pretty good one.

Yes:  The Nicole story has been interesting all season, and this plot is handled well throughout the episode, beginning with Nicole’s admission that she comes to the Denim Turtle to drink, and then when the entire bar comes to a halt when she says, “There’s something I have to tell you.”

Jessica is pleasantly sweet and naive.  It’s a side of her personality I enjoy.

Nicole’s Saturn as a sanctuary for private talk with Eddie is a really good device in the tradition of the Peanuts gang’s brick wall, and I hope the show keeps going back to it.  Nicole acknowledges the specialness of this place when she says they need “ground rules about what’s Saturn-worthy.”

Other lines I enjoyed:  “I sent a letter to Jodie Foster but haven’t heard back from her,” “The tent you gave me is too small for my bass guitar and my witch stuff,” and “Congratulations on your win” followed with “Congratulations on your one.”

No:  Eddie’s story is kind of dumb.  The softball stuff over all is kind of dumb.  And we need to find a way out of this Kenny Rogers stuff.  The name of the restaurant has become funny now, but the characters and situation are idiotic.  It’s like the proposed butler element to Jerry and George’s sitcom on Seinfeld.

FOB moment:  Jessica doesn’t bring orange slices to the softball game.  She brings Winner’s Pears.

Soundtrack flashback:  “Come to My Window” by Melissa Etheridge (1994), twice.  Doesn’t it make you wonder what the alternate jukebox song was?  Any nominations?

Final grade, this episode: Not an especially funny episode, but I loved the Nicole-Honey stuff, the Nicole-Jessica stuff, the Nicole-Eddie stuff, and (for once) even the Nicole-Marvin stuff.  It’s nice to see Nicole get a good episode mostly to herself.  And Marvin’s good pun when he hugs Nicole while holding the ball is a nice way to end:  “You’re out.”  B+.