'Mrs Fletcher' Episode 3 'Care Package' review: Eve's caregiving gets in the way of her porn-driven fantasies
'Mrs Fletcher's episode 3, 'Care Package', sees Eve Fletcher (Kathryn Hahn) trying to come to grips with her fantasy-driven sexual renaissance while negotiating with her caregiving reality. This is perfectly depicted in the opening moments as Eve prepares for a weekend with her son, packing a care package with warm socks, plenty of packaged insta-meals and warm cookies.
But like with any cooking endeavor, waiting time can be an immense drag. So once she's popped the cookies in the oven, she flips from the recipe page on her laptop to the MILF porn site that seems to be perpetually open on her machine now. She hunkers down with a few cushions placed strategically as she tries to get off to a porn video and she's just getting into the mood, perfecting the 'crouching tiger-trying-to-find-the-hidden dragon' pose of self-pleasuring, when the timer goes off.
Reality has collided with fantasy. There is a tiny moment when she considers letting the cookies burn before she grabs them with an oven mitt and then tries to get back to getting off -- but an orgasm delayed is an orgasm lost. Her morning is further upended by her ex-husband Ted (Josh Hamilton) who signals his disrespect of her personal space by not just barging into her home but belatedly zipping up in front of her after a trip to the toilet. He is equally casual about destroying her weekend plans with her son. He "tells" her instead of "asking" her, as Eve points out, that he and Brendan are going to be spending the weekend together instead.
After leaving an epic rant on Brendan's voicemail, she goes to her writing class. Things are deader than a dodo till the writing class instructor, Margo Fairchild (Jen Richards), moves the class to a bar owned by one of the students, Barry (Josh Pais). With alcohol to ease the way and the dive's low lights to encourage intimacy, the group goes into a confessional mode while discussing who or what controls them. Curtis (Ifádansi Rashad) talks about becoming a radiologist because of his mother while Margo tells them that when she transitioned, she had to decide to stop living the life her father wanted for her. The pair hit it off and are soon talking up a storm in a corner.
Eve and Julian (Owen Teague) also get their flirt on, with each tentatively asking each other's age (19 and 45) even as Julian is all wide-eyed with lust as he looks at Eve. Eve is reserved but visibly intrigued at the possibility of a fling with Julian -- who can blame her since porn is her new hobby? There is dancing and more drinks until Julian stumbles and Eve volunteers to drive him home.
In the car, Julian, his tongue loosened by the alcohol, is honest about how attractive he finds Eve and Eve is drunk enough not to nip his words in the bud. The fantasy of the bar's intimacy hangs in the air. But it evaporates quickly when Julian throws up on the side of the road. Eve slides back into the caregiver mode, holding his hair, as he pukes and, simultaneously, compliments her boobs.
Just like her morning session of kitchen masturbation, Eve is suddenly wrenched from her fantasy. The reality of Julian's youth and vulnerability hits her and maybe reminds her of Brendan (Jackson White), her son, because her maternal air comes right back. She goes home, rips out the cookies from the care package to stuff her face while she gets off on the kitchen floor while watching porn -- it is the best she can do at the moment to balance her sexual, porn-loving self and caregiving, cookie-baking self.
Brendan continues his clueless, jock journey through college. He tries to find 'his crowd' and thinks he has found them in the mess hall when he spots a football player from another school that he played against. Only the gang he is with are discussing climate change. His tone-deaf comment about "surfing tsunamis" to enjoy climate change is met with blank stares. He drops by the autism support club and uses the "retarded" word, even after being told not to, after he stumbles over saying "neuro-not-typical" to avoid using the "R-word". To him, it is all jargon that has made it more difficult for him to communicate.
When Sanjay, the dorky Indian boy who throws a "nature documentary" party in his room has more luck making friends than him, he finally calls his mother. Only his mother is at a bar dancing it up, downing wine and flirting with Julian. College is going to be a school of hard knocks for Brendan.
'Mrs. Fletcher' airs every Sunday at 10:30 pm on HBO.