Frances and Robert are signing divorce papers, but their lawyers keep arguing over various terrible things Frances and Robert have done. Robert really wants his Eagles albums. Frances wants to just get this over with, and they officially divorce (finally) after she agrees to give him the albums. They both head out into the world, ready to start their new lives and get the hell away from each other.
Frances meets up with Dallas and tells her about how anticlimactic the divorce was, and Dallas tells her that it's a good thing. She also tells her about the tattoo she got after her own divorce, a thing Frances will almost certainly not do. Then, Robert walks by, which leads to a conversation about starting over and focusing on Frances. Dallas then has sex with Robert's lawyer. I'm sooo glad that that's still happening. Frances tells her kids about how she'll be spending more time with them now after leaving work, and they seem really thrilled about that. Later, at home, Frances can't sleep, so she decides to look through her things.
The next day, Robert is at one of his construction sites, and one of the men there gives him an offer to work for him. Robert declines, and tells him he's going to a meeting later. Diane, who has invested in/given a loan to the gallery, arrives to congratulate Frances and give her some drugs to help her sleep. Frances doesn't want them, but Diane pretty much forces her to take them. Robert goes to a meeting with an old friend, who asks him about Frances. He tells him about the divorce, but Robert tries to focus on the real reason he's there: getting employed. His friend doesn't have a job for him, so Robert walks out, clearly not happy.
Later, Robert coaches the basketball, and he gives the girls a pep talk. He tells them a story about a parrot he got for Frances that ended up living in a mansion and turning his life around, telling the girls to "be the parrot," advice he's pretty trying to take but failing at. The next day, he goes to see a guy, Mitch, about a place to stay with the kids, and Mitch tells him about Dallas and his lawyer Tony. Robert finally shaves his mustache that Frances hates off, clearly just to spite Frances now that they're divorces. Meanwhile, Frances takes one of the pills Diane gave her, hoping to finally get some sleep. Lila goes to see Robert, but Robert doesn't want her to stay there because he doesn't have an acceptable place for her to stay. She gets upset at the though of having to wait to stay with him until June, but that's probably what's best. The next day, he takes Lila to be with Frances, and she gets upset when he tells her what happened. She's also annoyed that she has to be the strict parent, while he's always the fun one. She gives him his stuff, and after noticing that he shaved his mustache, he leaves.
Nick tells his lovely wife Diane that he wants to spend more time with her, and she thinks he's talking about vacation. In reality, he plans on retiring, which Diane isn't too keen on. Frances tries to prove that she's fun, too, so she gets on a trampoline to show the kids that. They don't want to go on it, and they both walk away. She ends up just crying on the trampoline in a ball of sadness and despair.
This was a very good start to season 2. It really set the show up well for the rest of the season, with interesting plots for Robert, Diane, and Frances seemingly coming our way. It'll be fun to see how Robert and Frances deal with being officially divorced, as they obviously won't be able to stay away from each other entirely due to their (quite lovely) children. This episode wasn't a particularly funny one, but I can mostly forgive that since it had to set up the season, which it did quite well. I look forward to seeing what else the show has in store for the rest of the season.
My Score: 8.5/10
My Grade: B+
