Julio, meanwhile, schedules a date. To get some closure with Maggie, he brings his ex her old stuff–but can’t stop himself from staying to do her dishes. Maggie laughs at his dating profile, calling him a faker. At Hugs Not Thugs, Minister Payne heads up “group hug.” Luis shares with everyone that he was engaged before he went to prison. His fiancé never visited him in prison; nor did she return his ring. Payne encourages Luis to pursue closure with his ex and to get his ring back, even offering to go with him. When they get to Vanessa’s, she’s angry with Luis for cheating on her and landing in prison. The only way she’s giving the ring back is if she can kick both Luis and Payne in the testicles. They reluctantly agree. Afterwards, she apologizes to Luis for not writing him back. She then returns the ring and kicks them both out. It turns out that Payne wasn’t simply helping Luis out of the kindness of his heart. He wants compensation from whatever Luis gets for the ring. When they found out it isn’t actually worth anything, Payne panics. He’s currently in a bad situation with his ex-wife/landlord. But Luis has an idea to help him. They go to Payne’s apartment, and Luis smashes his window with a hammer. He says that until his landlord fixes it, Payne won’t have to pay rent. Meanwhile, Julio goes on his date with Monica. He’s not at all authentic, lying about eating vegan, wanting to start a coffee shop, not staying friends with his exes. The last one especially is a lie, because Julio easily ditches his date to help Maggie when she calls to tell him her rabbit is missing. Julio goes over to her apartment, but they can’t find the rabbit anywhere. He talks about his date, and Maggie accuses him of faking to impress Monica. He accuses her of pretending to have a rabbit in order to lure him away from his date. Shocked he would think that, Maggie yells at him to get out. In the hall, Julio gets a text from Monica, who wants to reschedule their date. He blocks her number. When he looks up, he sees a rabbit in the hallway. He returns it to Maggie, but when she opens the door, she’s already holding a rabbit. “I told you!” she says indignantly.
The Episode Review
This episode’s opening doesn’t quite land, pushing the envelope with a bit too much of Luis’ habit of “being stuck in 2005,” as the writers like to explain away his cringeworthy behavior. But Michael Imperioli is an absolute delight in taking on the humorous personality of Payne. As he says, he’s more of a cautionary tale than role model, and a prime example that running a nonprofit isn’t just for the cheerful–nor is the job all sunshine and rainbows. It’s refreshing to see a flawed character at the helm of a nonprofit, and one who can admit that he just needs to pay rent. Julio will continue to have to work on himself, mainly in admitting that he’s not over Maggie. Maybe he needs that closure even more Luis did with Vanessa.
