Season 2 | Episode 1 | “Hepatitis and Lemon Zest” | Aired Oct 30, 2014
“Mom” is a sitcom about a lot of things – alcoholism, drug abuse, teenage pregnancy, the broken trust between an estranged mother and her equally lost daughter. But above all else, it’s a show unafraid to tell real stories about honest-to-God people who are unabashedly flawed. Few shows, let alone sitcoms, would dare take the risks that “Mom” is taking at the start of season two.
In “Hepatitis and Lemon Zest,” Christy (or should I say, Crusty) is coming up on a year and a half of sobriety, though as it turns out, she’s never quite quit her gambling addiction. It’s not a problem until she gambles away three months worth of rent money, and she and her family are threatened with eviction.
Christy, Bonnie and Marjorie are able to piece together a month’s worth of rent, but Christy’s need to satisfy her addiction prompts her to risk it all for a chance at winning $6,000. She miraculously wins, but her luck soon runs out when she’s robbed at gunpoint outside of work. Now penniless, she and her family will be forced to live in a fleabag motel until she and Bonnie can get together enough money to start anew.
In the interim, Christy has a bountiful dose of hurdles to conquer. She must overcome her gambling bug while sponsoring newly sober alcoholic, Jill (Jaime Pressly, “My Name is Earl”). Meanwhile, daughter Violet has yet to get over giving her baby girl up for adoption, and things are heating up between Bonnie and Alvin (Kevin Pollak, “The Usual Suspects”).
Needless to say, “Mom” has no shortage of stories to tell, and is in no danger of the feared ‘sophomore slump’.