Julio schedules a date with Maggie to get some closure. He brings 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 a “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.
In an effort to encourage Luis to pursue closure with his ex and get his ring back, Payne offers 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 to a deal. Afterwards, she apologizes to Luis for not writing him back. She then returns the ring and kicks them both out.
Payne was helping Luis out of a kindness of his heart, but he also wanted to get money from whatever Luis gets for the ring. When they found out it wasn’t actually worth anything, Payne became panicked. He’s currently in a bad situation with his ex-wife/landlord.
Payne’s landlord doesn’t want Payne to pay rent because he doesn’t have a window. Luis has an idea to help him fix that.
Julio goes out on a date with Monica, who is not entirely authentic, lying about her veganism, wanting to start a coffee shop, and not staying friends with her exes.
Julio easily ditches his date to help Maggie when she calls to tell him her rabbit is missing. ..
Julio goes to Maggie’s apartment to talk about his date with Monica, but they can’t find the rabbit anywhere. Julio accuses Maggie of pretending to have a rabbit in order to lure him away from his date with Monica. Shocked that Julio would think that, Maggie yells at him to get out. ..
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. Maggie is angry at him for returning the rabbit to her.
The Episode Review
This episode starts out strong, but quickly falls short. The writers seem to be pushing the envelope with Luis’ habit of “being stuck in 2005,” and it doesn’t quite work.
Michael Imperioli takes on the humorous personality of Payne, who is more of a cautionary tale than role model and a prime example that running a nonprofit isn’t just for the cheerful. 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 than Luis did with Vanessa.
