“Follow Through” has quite the follow-through. I’d start at the end, but due to the strange distribution situation—unlike last week, Hulu wouldn’t let me access the new episode without Hulu Plus, for instance—I’m happy to give some warning to Selfie fans who are reading this before watching the episode. This episode is a turning point.
It’s strange how early things start shifting. First it seems like an episode about getting Eliza to build up her confidence enough to claim her ideas in front of Mr. Saperstein. But one obstacle later, Henry personally walks her to Mr. Saperstein’s office so she can pitch her great idea. It sounds condescending, and it’s the kind of thing that someone might bristle at in a pilot. But Henry and Eliza’s relationship has grown so much that he’s a friend more than a mentor. They can be more involved in each other’s lives. Anyway, Eliza sells Saperstein on using diaper cream for your face. She also decides to take advantage of her social media presence to spread the word about using this KinderKare product for an unintended purpose. Before you can say, “Why wasn’t she doing that already?” Mr. Saperstein gives her an attaboy: “Miss Dooley, if I had my druthers we’d squirt diaper cream on the face of every woman in this country whether she liked it or not.”
Next Eliza starts to take her work home with her, which could go both ways. On the one hand, Henry takes it as a sign she’s finally taking work seriously, but on the other, look at what workaholism has done to Henry and Julia. But, while Eliza’s newfound joie de labor does seem like a lasting change, at least to some degree, the episode isn’t even about that.
All the while Eliza’s been concerned about maturing in another way, in her relationship with Freddy. After a scene of them sitting in bed staring at their screens, Freddy hits the hay on his own. It’s the first time they’ve slept together without sleeping together. Charmonique tells Eliza they’re just maturing (“Every relationship is different, but none of them are different, yes?”). So maybe this episode about Eliza dealing with an adult relationship for a change. She’s going to meet his parents, after all. These are a lot of big changes in a single episode, but they could all probably fit under the umbrella of “sitcom reality where character gets serious for a single episode.”
Speaking of meeting the parents (like in that movie, Meet The Fockers), the way “Follow Through” expands the world of Selfie reminds me of Suburgatory. Selfie won’t get the chance to build on that progress, but clearly it’s building infrastructure already in a way other shows at this stage of development (A To Z) aren’t. Nine episodes in, we meet Freddy’s parents, develop Wren and Prue a bit, and connect Bryn’s book club group to the KinderKare by way of an artisanal farm conference table food concept lorem ipsum business with a shared equity structure. Now, Freddy’s parents, Brandon and Maisy or Maisin Bran, might not ever need to come back, but they’re there if Selfie needs them. There is a world around the main characters. I hope Freddy sticks around just because he’s funny—“Why do people favorite when they can retweet? Nut up, dude. My mom’s such a coward”—but “Follow Through” makes a persuasive case against that: How can Selfie expect us to sit through this guy laughing and eating bread in the future?
The real masonry is in shoring up the book club group in Henry’s subplot. Wren in particular turns out to be pretty passionate. She falls for Henry quickly, bonds with him over the superior Little Women ending (Jo and Laurie getting married), hides in the shadows of his office hoping to hook up with him at lunch, and then declares war when Henry rejects her in that stilted way of his (“I learned in my women’s studies seminar that no one likes to be falsely encouraged. So I must respectfully express that I am not interested in forging a romantic convergence. With you”). Bryn tells him, “It’s not what you said. It’s how you said it,” and Henry whimpers in despair. Was he home-schooled? Naturally Henry makes it up to them in the end, apologizing to Wren and cockily continuing an inside joke with Bryn (“Oh, and one more thing. Bryn, for someone with such a large welcome mat, you aren’t very welcoming. Burn returned, m’dear”) that bounces right off her.